2.1 Deconstructing PRT Prompts and Thematic Questions

Quick Summary: Assignment I: Personal Response to Texts (PRT) is worth 20% of the total ELA 30-1 diploma exam mark. You read a set of prompting texts that always includes visual text(s), then write a prose response exploring the topic question. Success depends on three things: reading the topic closely, forming a thoughtful controlling idea, and choosing a prose form that carries it.

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The Nature and Weight of the PRT Assignment

The PRT is the first assignment in Part A: Written Response. It is worth 20% of the total examination mark, split into 10% for Ideas and Impressions and 10% for Presentation. Assignment II, the Critical/Analytical Response to Literary Texts, is worth 30%. The PRT suggests 45 to 60 minutes and 600 to 1200 words. Part A as a whole is designed for 3 hours, with up to 6 hours available.

The bulletin describes the PRT as a chance to "use a prose form of their choice to create personal responses that convey their ideas about the topic as prompted by their reading of a text or texts." It also introduces the thematic context you will build on in Assignment II. Markers are not looking for a summary of the prompting texts. The scoring criteria quote Louise Rosenblatt: markers look for evidence that the student "has actually read something and thought about it."

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Anatomy of a PRT Assignment

The January 2025 PRT shows how the assignment is structured:

1. The prompting texts. There were three: Naomi Shihab Nye's poem "Streets," an excerpt from Sarah M. Broom's memoir The Yellow House, and an untitled photograph by Ann Weathersby.
2. A brief orientation. A sentence introduces each text. For example, it notes that the speaker in "Streets" "contemplates the nature of interactions between people and the space in which they live."
3. The Assignment. It gives a topic question and instructions for support: "What do these texts suggest to you about an individual's construction of a sense of place? Support your idea(s) with reference to one or more of the prompting texts presented and to your previous knowledge and/or experience."
4. Requirements. You must use a prose form, and you must connect one or more of the prompting texts to the topic and to your own ideas and impressions.
5. Initial planning page. It asks three questions:
   • Which text(s) are you responding to, and what is the connection?
   • What idea will you explore?
   • Which prose form will you use? You may take a personal, creative, or analytical perspective, but the page warns, "Do NOT use a poetic form."

Practice-style topic questions for rehearsal (these are not past exam prompts):

• "What do these texts suggest to you about the interplay between fear and courage?"
• "What do these texts suggest to you about the ways significant memories shape an individual's identity?"
• "What do these texts suggest to you about the influence of illusions on an individual's perception of reality?"

Because the topic is very open-ended, the bulletin observes that "students who recognize nuance in the topic and extend or shape it tend to produce responses that are more successful."

Identifying Key Abstract Concepts and Demanded Relationships

To deconstruct a prompt effectively, divide the question into its functional grammatical parts:

[Core Question Stem] + [Abstract Concept A] + [Relational Operator] + [Abstract Concept B]
Example: "What do the texts suggest about [fear] <interplay between> [courage]?"

• Abstract Concepts: Identify the non-tangible qualities at stake (e.g., fear, courage, self-knowledge, adversity, illusion, reality). These are not merely topics; they represent internal psychological tensions or external existential forces.
• The Relational Operator: Words like interplay, tension, pursuit, reconciliation, or catalyst dictate the required analytical relationship.

For instance, if a prompt specifies the "interplay between fear and courage," you cannot merely write about fear in paragraph one and courage in paragraph two. An "interplay" denotes a dynamic, reciprocal exchange. An insightful writer recognizes that genuine courage does not exist in the absence of fear; rather, fear serves as the indispensable crucible that summons and defines courage. Ignoring the relational operator reduces a nuanced prompt to a pair of disconnected, superficial definitions.

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Formulating a Controlling Idea: From Truism to Insight

A Controlling Idea is the central thesis of your PRT. It is an assertive, defensible claim about human nature that answers the prompt question directly. In the Ideas and Impressions criteria, a Satisfactory exploration of the topic is "generalized," with ideas that are "straightforward and relevant." An Excellent exploration is "insightful," with ideas that are "confident and discerning." Much of that difference shows up in whether your controlling idea is a predictable platitude or a discerning observation.

The Anatomy of an Insightful Controlling Idea

To elevate your controlling idea to the Standard of Excellence:

1. Avoid Moralizing: Do not preach about what people should do; analyze what human beings actually experience.
2. Avoid Clichés: Eliminate tired aphorisms such as "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" or "fear is the root of all evil."
3. Explore Causality and Consequence: Explain why humans act, how internal conflicts manifest, and what psychological trade-offs occur.

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Selecting an Intentional Prose Form

You choose your own prose form. The bulletin is explicit that "the selection of a particular prose form does not necessarily indicate the level of performance that a student can be expected to achieve," and markers take the chosen form and its expected features into account. What matters is how well the form carries your idea and your connection to the prompting texts.

                      ┌──────────────────────────────────────┐
                      │       PRT Prose Forms (prose only)   │
                      └──────────────────┬───────────────────┘
             ┌───────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────┐
             ▼                           ▼                           ▼
┌─────────────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────────────┐
│ Hybrid / Personal       │ │ Analytical              │ │ Creative / Narrative    │
├─────────────────────────┤ ├─────────────────────────┤ ├─────────────────────────┤
│ • ~40% of responses     │ │ • ~10% of responses     │ │ • ~40%: anecdotes and   │
│ • Anecdote + analysis   │ │ • Thesis-led reading    │ │   creative stories      │
│ • Needs a real link to  │ │ • Avoid summary         │ │ • Link to texts must    │
│   the prompting texts   │ │ • Develop own ideas     │ │   be evident            │
└─────────────────────────┘ └─────────────────────────┘ └─────────────────────────┘

1. Hybrid Personal/Analytical Response

This is the most common approach, used by about 40% of students. It combines a personal or anecdotal reference with analytical or philosophical discussion of one or more prompting texts.

• What works: The bulletin notes that successful hybrids "balance or, in some cases, interweave analysis or commentary on one or more of the prompting texts with personal experience." They reflect on the significance of the experience instead of placing a simple "parallel" beside the text.
• Risk: In weak hybrids the personal and analytical sections feel arbitrarily paired and the writing lacks flow.

2. Personal Reflection with Brief References

Many students write mainly from personal experience, with brief or implicit references to the texts.

• What works: The strongest of these develop ideas clearly prompted by the texts, then reflect purposefully on a meaningful anecdote, experience, or philosophical perspective.
• Risk: Weaker ones simply recount an anecdote that parallels the texts or illustrates the topic, without exploring ideas.

3. Analytical Response

Roughly 10% of students treat the prompting texts as texts to analyze in relation to the topic.

• What works: Successful analytical responses select support judiciously and develop the student's own interpretations.
• Risk: Lengthy summaries of the prompting texts "do not constitute analysis and exploration of the topic." Analyzing other literature instead of the prompting texts "is not encouraged."

4. Creative Response (Short Story, Prose Monologue, Journal Entries)

Narratives, whether personal anecdotes or creative short stories, account for close to 40% of responses.

• What works: Successful creative responses use the conventions of the chosen prose form as part of their unifying or aesthetic effect.
• Show the connection: Use the planning page to record how your piece connects to the prompting texts. The bulletin warns that a response with no evident connection to the prompting texts is assessed as Insufficient, even if it is on topic.
• Stay in prose: A poem is Insufficient. If you want dialogue, build it into narrative prose.

Step-by-Step Prompt Walkthrough

Before drafting, work through this short routine and record the results on the initial planning page:

1. Mark the key words in the topic. In the January 2025 topic, construction matters as much as sense of place: it implies that a sense of place is built, not simply found.
2. Ask what the topic leaves open. Who does the constructing? What goes into it: memory, people, objects, routine? What happens when a place changes or disappears?
3. Test the idea against each prompting text. Note what the poem, the prose excerpt, and the visual each suggest, even if you plan to focus on one. The bulletin notes that students who engage clearly with all the prompting texts are able to make connections and develop ideas more fully.
4. Draft a working controlling idea. A frame can help you start, for example "When [pressure or experience], people often [response] because [underlying need], which suggests that [insight]." Then rewrite it in your own words, because the bulletin warns that formulaic approaches often impede clear ideas and an authentic voice.
5. Choose the prose form that best carries the idea. Record it on the planning page along with the text(s) you will connect to.