Which right of a citizen would you miss first if it vanished overnight? Write the morning after.Angle: start with something small that you could no longer do by breakfast.
Where should your town's tax money go first? Make your case in one paragraph.Fact: paying taxes honestly and on time is on the list of a citizen's responsibilities.
A grandchild quizzes a grandfather for his citizenship test on the bus to work; write the ride.Fact: the civics test asks questions about American history, U.S. government and civics.
A right and the duty that goes with it sit down to talk; write the conversation.Fact: a fair trial by jury is on the list of rights; serving on a jury is on the list of responsibilities.
A right is not the same as a wish; list three of each and explain the pair that is hardest to tell apart.Angle: ask of each one whether everybody could have it at the same time.
Announce that you are running for an office you have invented; write the first paragraph.Fact: the right to run for elected office is on the list of a citizen's rights.
Before choosing between two candidates, what would a good citizen want to know? Write five questions.Fact: the right to vote in elections for public officials is on the list of a citizen's rights.
Describe what the pursuit of happiness looks like on an ordinary Saturday.Fact: the list of rights ends with the freedom to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Explain one right of a citizen in ten words for a classroom wall.Angle: write twenty words first, then cross out ten.
Imagine a job that serves the whole country and not one company; write your first morning in it.Fact: the right to apply for federal employment requiring U.S. citizenship is on the list.
List what would make a trial unfair, then write the opposite as a promise.Fact: the right to a prompt, fair trial by jury is on the list of a citizen's rights.
One person uses a right politely and another uses the same right rudely; write both scenes.Angle: both are allowed. Say which one changed more minds.
Someone respects another person's right in an empty room, with nobody watching; write the scene.Angle: an unread diary, an unopened letter, a turn not taken.
Tell about something you said out loud that took nerve.Fact: freedom to express yourself is the first right on the government's list for citizens.
Two friends disagree completely and stay friends; write the lunch where it nearly goes wrong.Angle: each has a right to an opinion. Let both say theirs, and let neither one win.
Which right of a citizen would you miss first if it vanished overnight? Write the morning after.Angle: start with something small that you could no longer do by breakfast.
Write about a holiday a friend keeps that your family does not, and one question you asked about it.Fact: freedom to worship as you wish is on the list of a citizen's rights.
Your freedom to speak meets someone else's wish for quiet; write where the line falls in a library.Fact: respecting the rights, beliefs and opinions of others is on the list of responsibilities.
Duties 15
A citizen does a duty that nobody would ever have checked; write the story.Angle: a form filled in honestly, or a fee dropped into a box nobody is watching.
Find the smallest job you could do this week that someone on your street would notice by Friday.Fact: participating in your local community is on the list of a citizen's responsibilities.
In a town where everyone claims rights and nobody does duties, write one morning.Angle: funny. Start with the bins.
Invent one more responsibility for the list of a good citizen's duties and argue for it.Angle: say who would grumble about it and why it is worth the grumbling.
Is voting a right or a duty? Give your answer, then the best reason for the other one.Fact: the vote is on the list of rights; taking part in the democratic process is a responsibility.
List the responsibilities you have at home that nobody ever wrote down.First line: Nobody told me the plant was mine. It just became mine.
Listen to an opinion you cannot stand, all the way to the end; write what you did instead of interrupting.Angle: you did not change your mind. Say what you learned anyway.
Name a rule you follow even though you think it is silly, and say why you follow it.Fact: respecting and obeying federal, state and local laws is on the list of responsibilities.
One person says a good citizen follows every rule; another says a good citizen asks about them. Write the debate.Angle: let each be right about one example.
Report what you learned this week about the place where you live, and where you learned it.Fact: staying informed of the issues affecting your community is on the list of responsibilities.
Tell the same piece of news twice: as you heard it from a friend, and as you found it when you checked.Angle: note what grew in the retelling.
What does it mean to support and defend the Constitution when you are ten? Write your best answer.Fact: Support and defend the Constitution is the first responsibility on the list.
Where should your town's tax money go first? Make your case in one paragraph.Fact: paying taxes honestly and on time is on the list of a citizen's responsibilities.
Which responsibility of a citizen would be hardest for you? Write the day it gets hard.Angle: staying informed is easy until the news is boring. Pick your own.
Write a juror's thoughts in the first minute, before anyone has spoken.Fact: Serve on a jury when called upon is on the list of a citizen's responsibilities.
A good neighbor 15
A good citizen is someone who... Finish the sentence three ways, then choose the truest.Angle: one about rules, one about people and one about what happens when nobody is looking.
A library book has been left on a park bench; write what a good citizen does next, and what a lazy one does.Angle: same bench, same book, two endings.
Compare a good citizen of a school with a good citizen of a country; find three things that are the same.Angle: then find the one thing that only the country asks.
Describe a good citizen of your classroom without using the words nice, kind or good.Angle: write only what the person does.
Follow a good citizen through an ordinary Tuesday, hour by hour.Angle: nothing heroic happens. Count the small things.
Give the award speech for Good Citizen of the Week to someone who would hate the attention.Angle: keep it under a minute and name one exact thing they did.
Good citizenship where nobody can see your face: write three rules for a group chat.Angle: one rule about what to send, one about what not to pass on, one about who is left out.
Is a good citizen the same as a good friend? Write where the two overlap and where they do not.Angle: a friend takes your side. Decide whether a good citizen always can.
The last person to leave a room: write what a good citizen checks on the way out.Angle: lights, chairs, the window, and the one thing only this room has.
Name five things a good citizen does that nobody ever sees.First line: The cart went back to the rack, though the rain had started.
Set out six steps for being a good citizen on a school bus.Angle: step one happens before the bus arrives.
Study a line of people waiting: who waits, who cuts, who lets someone go ahead; write what the line learns.Angle: tell it from the middle of the line.
Tell about a time you returned, reported or cleaned up something that was not yours.First line: It would have been easier to keep walking.
Write an acrostic on the word CITIZEN in which every line is something a person does.Angle: seven lines, and no line may begin with the word Is.
You borrowed something and it broke; write what a good citizen does before the owner asks.Angle: a ball, a tool, a book. Begin with the walk to their door.
Becoming a citizen 15
A brand-new citizen is handed a form to register to vote; write what she thinks as she prints her name.Fact: new citizens receive a voter registration application at the ceremony, after the oath.
A grandchild quizzes a grandfather for his citizenship test on the bus to work; write the ride.Fact: the civics test asks questions about American history, U.S. government and civics.
A promise is said aloud in a room full of strangers; write the minute before it and the minute after.Fact: the naturalization ceremony is the culmination of the naturalization process.
A reading test has a single sentence in it; write the sentence you would be proud to read aloud.Fact: in the English test a person must read aloud one out of three sentences correctly.
A writing test has a single sentence in it; write about the hand that has practiced it a hundred times.Fact: in the English test a person must also write one out of three sentences correctly.
Compose an oath for joining your classroom, your team or your family.Angle: three promises, short enough to say in one breath.
If your class had a citizenship test for new students, what five questions would be on it? Write them, with answers.Angle: where the pencils live, who feeds the fish, what the second bell means.
List what a new citizen can do on the first day that she could not do the day before.Fact: only citizens can vote in federal elections, and only U.S. citizens can serve on a federal jury.
Some people are born citizens and some become citizens; write what each might take for granted.Angle: one never had to learn it. The other never had it handed over.
Tell a new citizen's first trip abroad from the point of view of the new passport.Fact: an application for a U.S. passport is in the welcome packet handed out at the ceremony.
Tell the story of a piece of paper that took years to earn and now lives in a drawer.Fact: a Certificate of Naturalization is official proof that a person is a U.S. citizen.
Write a congratulations card to someone who became a citizen today.Fact: after taking the oath, a new citizen receives a Certificate of Naturalization.
Write the dinner after a citizenship ceremony: who cooks, what is on the table and what gets said in the toast.Angle: let one guest cry and one guest make everybody laugh.
Write the morning of a naturalization ceremony as someone who has waited years for it.Fact: a person is not a U.S. citizen until taking the Oath of Allegiance at a naturalization ceremony.
Write the welcome a judge gives to a room of people who became citizens one minute ago.Fact: in a judicial ceremony, the court administers the Oath of Allegiance.
How it works
A good citizenship writing prompt works best small: a library book left on a bench, a line of people waiting, a rule that seems silly.
Read the full guide
Citizenship writing prompts on rights and duties
The first two groups work from the list U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services publishes: freedom to express yourself, a fair trial by jury, the vote; staying informed, obeying laws, serving on a jury. One prompt sits a right and its duty down to talk.
Writing prompts for citizenship class: becoming a citizen
The last group follows an adult who becomes a citizen: practice for the test, the Oath of Allegiance, the certificate, the dinner afterwards. The people are made up, and no prompt asks about a writer's own family.
Write what the good citizen does, not what the good citizen is. Verbs beat adjectives.
For a right, put the duty beside it and see which is harder to write.
Questions and answers
What is a good citizenship writing prompt?
A good citizen is someone who... Finish the sentence three ways, then choose the truest. Or follow a good citizen through an ordinary Tuesday, hour by hour, and count the small things.
What are the rights and responsibilities of a citizen?
USCIS lists rights such as freedom to express yourself, a fair trial by jury and the vote, and responsibilities such as staying informed, obeying laws, paying taxes on time and serving on a jury when called.
When does someone officially become a U.S. citizen?
For a person being naturalized, at the ceremony. USCIS says you are not a U.S. citizen until you take the Oath of Allegiance there, and the Certificate of Naturalization comes after it.
Are these citizenship writing prompts for kids?
Yes. They are set at school, on the bus and on the writer's own street, and they take no side on any law or party.