The document provides writing prompts from Kelly Gallagher's book "Write Like This" to encourage daily writing practice. It includes prompts to create entries in an "Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life" including bucket list items, neighborhood spots, appreciation, trying, lessons learned, childhood games, hard moments, and impactful life events called "watermark events." Students are prompted to brainstorm and write short passages in response to prompts about their own lives.

1. FOR ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AN
ORDINARY LIFE
A D A P T E D F R O M W R I T E L I K E T H I S B Y K E L L Y G A L L A G H E R
Prompts for Daily Warm Ups

2. Write Like This by Kelly Gallagher (pg. 35)
The Bucket List: Part 1
Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman starred in the
Bucket List, a movie about two men who compose
“bucket lists”—things they want to do before kicking
the bucket—and then who set off to fulfill their goals.
Jot down some things you wouldliketo do before your time
on this earth is over.

3. Write Like This by Kelly Gallagher ( pg. 36)
Sports
*attend Olympics
*attend a Super Bowl
* attend a Wimbledon Dare to
Do *skydive
Involved in *parasail *segway
*literary causes
*political movements GALLAGHER’S TRAVEL
BUCKET LIST Inside U.S Outside U.S.
Mt. Rushmore Rio
Montana Costa Rica
Musicians I Need to See Yellowstone Moscow
*U2 New Zealand
*Dylan British Columbia
*John Fogerty Classes I Want to Take
*Astronomy *IMovie Learn
Baseball tour *Play guitar *Spanish
*See every stadium Write
* Write more teaching books

4. Write Like This by Kelly Gallagher (pg. 35)
The Bucket List: Part 2
Choose a “hot spot” fromyour list that excites you. Writewhy this
particular item is meaningfulto you as an entry in your Encyclopedia ofan
OrdinaryLife.

5. Kelly Gallagher Write Like This (pg. 35)
The Neighborhood Spot: Part 1
In your Encyclopedia, add an entry for “Neighborhood Spots.”
Brainstorm “spots” in your neighborhood, yard, or propertythat you
will always remember.
Here are some of Gallagher’s:
*The fort I built with Mitch Zusman when I was eight
*The local 7-11, where countless Slurpees, Lemonheads, and comic books were consumed
*Bob’s Big Boy restaurant—where we hung out in high school after Friday night games
*Lifeguard tower number 4 at Huntington Beach
*Kaneohe Lane, the street that saw countless numbers of neighborhood football games
*My “dunkball” basketball court in the driveway of my home
*Bob Dohmeyer’s backyard pool, where we jumped off the roof when his parents weren’t
home

6. Kelly Gallagher: Write Like This
The Neighborhood Spot: Part 2
Choose one spot from your list and create an entry in
your Encyclopedia for it. Write about memories,
dialogue, or details from that place. Consider why that
spot holds a special memory for you.

7. Kelly Gallagher’s Write Like This (pg. 37)
Add an entry for “Appreciation” in your Encyclopedia. Copy this sentence starter
as your first line.
I appreciate ____ because ____.
Here are some responses from students:
I appreciate honesty because it is rare. (Erik)
I appreciate life because of death. (Benny)
I appreciate my style because it’s all mine. (Kira)
I appreciate school because it helps my future. (Joshua)
I appreciate old people because they have wisdom. (Gabriela)
I appreciate Lady Gaga because of her creativity. (Neida)
I appreciate Skype because it helps me to talk to people in other countries.
(Raphael)
I appreciate S.E. Hinton because she wrote the Outsiders.

8. Kelly Gallagher Write Like This
Appreciation
Add to this entry by explaining your appreciation.
Think of events, conversations, people, places, things
that you associate with your appreciation.

9. Kelly Gallagher Write Like This (pg. 38)
In Encyclopedia, create an entry for “Trying.”
Complete the following sentence, adding any details
you can recall.
“I remember trying to learn . . . . . .”

10. Kelly Gallagher Write Like This (pg. 28)
In Encyclopedia, create an entry for “Once.” Complete
the following sentence, adding any details you can
recall.
“Once, I almost . . . . . .”

11. Kelly Gallagher Write Like This (pg. 38)
In Encyclopedia, create an entry for “Best Thing.”
Complete the following sentence, adding any details
you can recall.
“The best thing I ever did was . . . . . ”

12. Kelly Gallagher Write Like This (pg. 38)
In Encyclopedia, create an entry for “Lesson.”
Complete the following sentence, adding any details
you can recall.
“One lesson I learned the hard way was . . . . .”

13. Kelly Gallagher Write Like This (pg. 45)
Childhood Games Part 1
In Encyclopedia, create an entry for “Childhood Games.”
Brainstorm a list of childhood games that you played as a kid
or still play.
Here is a sample list:
ding dong ditch army hide and seek Monopoly
Chutes and Ladders Sorry Mr. Potato Head Tag
Four Square Dodgeball Checkers G.I. Joe
Battleship Operation Connect Four
Concentration

14. Kelly Gallagher Write Like This (pgs. 45-46)
Childhood Games Part 2
In Encyclopedia, create an entry for one of your favorite
games. Recall associations of playing your game. Did the
game teach you anything beyond the game?
“For example, playing hundreds of hours of dunkball
(basketball on a court with a lowered rim) taught me how to
pass, dribble, shoot, and defend, but it also taught me much
more. It taught me about the value of teamwork. It taught me to
accept both victory and defeat graciously (albeit gradually).
Most important, it taught me that if I wanted to keep pace with
my peers, I had better practice, practice, practice. Playing hours
of dunkball taught me the value of preparation as well as how to
work under pressure.”

15. Kelly Gallagher Write Like This (pg. 46)
A Hard Moment Part 1
We have all lived through some hard moments. Here
is a list of Gallagher’s:
*A friend of mine committing suicide
*Breaking up with a girlfriend
*Intentionally ending a friendship
*Holding my dog of 13 years as the vet put her down
*My parents announcing they were divorcing
*Losing my laptop on New Year’s Eve at the airport (the book computer contained
Chapter 1 of the book I was writing)
*Stepping to the free-throw line in a packed gym in the closing seconds with a
crucial game on the line
****NEXT SLIDE

16. Kelly Gallagher Write Like This (pg. 47)
A Hard Moment Part 1 Here is a list of students’ hard moments:
*Realizing that my parents had left me *Getting lost in Disneyworld
*Seeing my mom go to jail *Getting my first “F”
*Living in a group home *Getting caught shoplifting
*Watching my brother become anorexic
*Leaving my home country *Getting diagnosed with cancer
*Playing on a winless football team *Having appendicitis
*Discovering my mother was reading my private emails
*Learning my brother was killed in a drive-by shooting
*Getting caught cheating in school
*Discovering my mother’s drug abuse
*Having to choose with parent to live with
InWriter’s Notebook,create a list of thehard momentsinyourlife.

17. Kelly Gallagher Write Like This
A Hard Moment Part 2
In Encyclopedia, create an entry for “Hard Moment.”
Describe all you can, and think about how you got
through this hard moment.

18. Kelly Gallagher Write Like This (pg. 47-48)
A Watermark Event Part 1
“Sticks have long been planted in shorelines to measure the
depth of tides. When the water recedes at any given spot, it
leaves a mark on the stick, indicating how high the previous
tide reached. Long after the water is gone, the mark on the
stick—the watermark—remains.”
Watermarks are events in our lives that leave marks on us.
*****Next Slide

19. Kelly Gallagher Write Like This (pg. 48)
A Watermark Event Part 1
Here are some of Gallagher’s Watermark Events:
The birth of my children
Moving to Huntington Beach as a young boy
My parents getting a divorce
Surviving an automobile accident
Meeting my future wife at a wedding
Attending my first Angels game
Graduation—high school and college
****Next slide

20. Kelly Gallagher Write Like This (pg. 48)
A Watermark Event Part 1
Here are some watermark events of students:
*Divorce *Moving to Anaheim
*Losing a loved one *Breaking up
*Kind words spoken by a friend *Breaking an arm
*Meeting my father for the first time *Coming to America
*A family member getting arrested for drug possession
*Trying out for basketball (and getting cut)
*Hearing someone play the saxophone
In Encyclopedia, create an entry for “Watermark Events.” List as many as
you can think of. Create another entry for one event and write on it.