The following content sets forth an orderly approach to preparing class prompts utilizing the Developmental Educators' Handbook as well as the Internet. The example composes (authors) a prompt dealing with tattoos. It employs the DEH Readability Calculator and prompt public domain resources such as The Voice of America web site and Wikipedia.

Background: The word “prompt” has synonyms meaningful for developmental education.  Used as a verb, “prompt” speaks of motivating, persuading, encouraging, and even prodding.  As a noun, its meaning is not nearly as appropriate:  a cue or reminder.  Focusing on prompt as an action verb defines a successful prompt’s attributes:

Persuading:  Who enjoys reading or writing about a dull subject?  If  the  writer is an archeologist, an article about finding a bone fossil is  useful.  However, others, might find it uninspiring.  Alternatively, consider a pithy news expose about the pros and cons of tattoos or body piercing.  Most teens and adults  hold views, pro and con, likely to make a worthy topic for a prompt. 

Therefore, the challenge from the onset is “prompt” topic selection.  Instructors wanting well-read students must themselves be well-read.  This means reading the newspaper, online or offline, as well as popular periodicals.  These “prompt-persuaders” appear in the campus or school library as well as neighborhood book stores. 

Motivating:  Perhaps, the word “cue” as a meaning of the noun prompt is best in this case.  In pool or billiards, the “cue” is the instrument or stick which propels the ball.  While it is not the ball, the cue gets the ball moving in the right direction.   Likewise, a prompt needs a motivator or cue.  This is the news article or  background narrative.  It becomes the student’s resource for a negative or positive prompt argument.                          

Unfortunately, copyright law precludes use of the most provocative articles. However, there are sufficient public domain articles posted by the VOICE OF AMERICA for prompt authors. 

For example, go to:  http://www.voanews.com/english/index.cfm , the address for VOA’s news site.   Enter in the search box, the word “tattoo” and the following appears:

Love of Tattoos Marks Young Americans

Tattoos, once the body art of choice for sailors, motorcycle gang members and other tough guys, have gone mainstream. As evidenced by any trip to the beach, tattoos are literally everywhere on today's youth. According to a Harris poll, almost one out of five Americans has tattoos, and, unlike the past, women are just as likely as men to get tattooed, or "inked." VOA's Adam Phillips takes a look.

There are some common, all-too-human reasons why people choose to get "inked," whatever their gender.  For some, it is a broken heart. Others want to celebrate the birth of a child. Others just want to express some teenage angst.

According to master tattooist Scott Campbell, the proprietor of the upscale "Saved Tattoo" parlor in Brooklyn, people who get tattooed usually "have something they want to communicate with the rest of the world and tattooing is a way of putting a message out there."

There are plenty of ways to express that message. On Campbell's walls are displays of tattoo stencils and fantastical drawings varied enough to suit almost any customer - from wild fire-eating dragons to Polynesian geometrical motifs to portraits of famous artists, poets and playwrights such as Samuel Beckett. 

Memorial to a Loved One

Nick, a bicyclist from San Francisco, is preparing to get a giant tattoo of a redwood tree on his side. He says it will be in memory of his late brother, an avid California outdoorsman.

"My feelings for my brother and how much I loved him and cared about him are going to be with me for the rest of my life," he says.  "Now I can wake up in the morning, put my shirt on [see the redwood tree] tattoo and say 'Yeah! There is that thing my brother loved.'"

Nick's friend Liz has nearly life-sized owls grasping dandelions and thistles tattooed on her hips. She says they symbolize the wisdom and endurance she needed after a bad breakup. And Liz is especially proud of a large tattoo on her left arm, rendered in the style of a traditional Chinese watercolor.

"I originally started with just this bird," she says, pointing to the multi-colored image. "And it sort of has a seasonal theme where it's spring and then summer. And then, just two weeks ago, I got the top part finished with the winter and the fall with the horse and the rabbits."

For Liz says it is not the symbolism, but the style of the tattoo, that appeals to her most.

In Search of a Unique Image 

Personal styling in tattoos is important to today's young adults. Even a decade ago, many were content to get a simple rose, a butterfly, or some other stock tattoo image from a book. "That's no longer true," says Anna D'Agrosa, a consumer trends expert at the Zandl Group  in New York, who sports a visible and a hidden tattoo of her own.

"What we're finding is that young adults are not necessarily hopping into a tattoo shop on a Friday night, unplanned, and picking out something off the wall." "Rather," says D'Agrosa,  "they're intricately designing and thinking about what they want, and really planning it."

Because tattoos are permanent, caution is the byword for Jamie Dwyer, 29. Like many in his generation, he chose his first tattoo impulsively. So he carefully designed his next tattoo himself; it's an abstract pattern of leaves, birds and geometric shapes that covers parts of his right arm and shoulder. It took about six months to settle on that design.     
"It's my artwork. And that that's important to me, as far as choosing something that's going to be with you for the rest of your life." 

Customer trust is something that Myles Karr, a master tattooist with a giant octopus and fireflies on his arm, takes seriously. "You are working in an industry where there are no mistakes [and]  …  no going backwards. You have to take your time and make sure it looks good!"

Modern health regulations require that tattoo shops keep their equipment clean. Needles must be sterile to prevent skin infections, blood borne diseases and other problems.

Tattoo Culture Steeped in Superstition

However, many aficionados still feel a nostalgic connection to American tattooing's early days, when sailors would get drunk in foreign ports and stumble into a back alley parlor. They'd emerge with crude hearts and anchors etched on their arms, or huge tattoo portraits of Jesus across their backs so their shipboard taskmasters might be a bit gentler when lashing them.

"There are all kinds of really amazing superstitions and stories that evolved from that culture," says tattooist Scott Campbell. "For example, old sailors used to get a rooster on one foot and a pig on the other foot and supposedly that was to protect you from drowning. Who knows how that got started?"

Campbell acknowledges that we live in a different era, but adds  "I'm still very proud to be a part of tattooing because of the history it has, and whatever it has evolved into now,"

Outsider Appeal Continues

Today, tattoos are part of the American mainstream. Some celebrities wear them proudly, and there are reality TV shows devoted to the art. Yet tattoos still retain some of their outsider appeal. They are popular with outlaw motorcycle clubs like the Hell's Angels, street gangs and prisoners.

Beau Velasco is a highly respected tattoo artist at the Black Ink Tattoo Gallery in Harlem whose body bears inked patterns and scrawls almost everywhere except his face. He says when he was a boy, he admired pirates, and that that, in a sense, is who he has grown up to be.

"By getting fully tattooed, past your collar line and down your hands, you are pretty much saying to the world 'I am not prepared to fall into line, with a regular 'nine to five' rat race sort of job," Velasco says with a chuckle. "It's your commitment to yourself to 'keep it real.'"

            Excellent pro-con arguments pepper the above narrative, ideal for the student’s prompt paper.  After reading the article, plan to capture the best sentence(s) to introduce the prompt topic to the student.   Actually, the article title is a good place to start.  In this case, the words “Young Americans” and “love” are clues to possible motivating prompt questions:

Why do young Americans love tattoos more than adults?  In a two page, five paragraph essay support your explanation using the above article, as well as your own ideas to make your case.

            Reading the article reveals additional prompt lead-ins such as:  Why or why not do more women than men choose tattoos?   Is the tattoo trend only among youth or also among adults?  Explain in a two page essay your answer with supports from the article and your personal experience. 

            Because the above article can be freely accessed, used, and printed by both student and instructor, the VOA website is an invaluable resource for prompt preparation.  In fact, the above article resulted from a similar feature in the Houston Chronicle about tattooed individuals seeking tattoo removal before job interviews.  Rather than paraphrasing and rewriting the Chronicle article for a prompt narrative, the authors sought a similar news article done by VOA reporters. 

Similarly, this works for other copyrighted articles ideal for a prompt.  Choose a “buzz-word” or phrase to enter in the VOA search field.  Often, an alternative public domain article comes forth.   The Voice of America team provides invaluable English language resources for the developmental educator. They are a credit to not only American English instructors but to students around the globe wanting to learn English as a second language.

* * * * *

            Having both selected the tattoo prompt background article and crafted the prompt,  let’s determine their readability level.  Indeed, too erudite an article defeats the purpose of a prompt: to persuade and motivate the writer. Using the DEH Readability Calculator on the VOA article yields the following result:

            While the average word length is altogether suitable to a developmental reading/writing class, the grade level is a bit high, eleventh grade plus.  An ideal grade level would be eighth grade.  The reason for the elevated VOA ease level is the sentence length, nearly 24 words.  This makes comprehension more difficult than needed.  To correct the situation, the instructor might edit the VOA article slightly for shorter sentences. 

            Now, let’s test the readability of the DEH authors’ narrative using the readability calculator.  Below is the result.

             The above is somewhat less complex.  A  9.63 grade level is appropriate.  All developmental educators have a greater than sophomore high school experience.  However, an average word length of 1.65 is a bit much. A word-length of  1.5  syllables is ideal on the “gobbledygook” scale.  To simplify, multi-syllable words need to be removed  or replaced with single syllable synonyms.

            Below are  edited version of both articles. These serve as examples for improving  readability:

(Edited ) Love of Tattoos Marks Young Americans

Tattoos were once the body art of choice for sailors.  Also motorcycle gang members and other tough guys had them.  But now these groups  have gone mainstream.  Take a trip to any  beach. Tattoos are literally everywhere on today's youth.  According to a Harris poll, almost one out of five Americans has tattoos.  Unlike the past, women are just as likely as men get to get tattooed. ("inked)." VOA's Adam Phillips takes a look.

There are some common human reasons why people choose to get "inked." This is whatever their gender.  For some, it is a broken heart. Others want to celebrate the birth of a child. Others just want to express some teenage angst.

Master tattooist Scott Campbell is the proprietor of the upscale "Saved Tattoo" parlor in Brooklyn. He thinks people get tattooed because: “They want to communicate something with the rest of the world. Tattooing is a way of putting a message out there."

There are plenty of ways to express that message.  On Campbell's walls are displays of tattoo stencils and fantastical drawings.  They are  varied enough to suit almost any customer.  They range from wild fire-eating dragons to Polynesian geometrical motifs.  There are even portraits of famous artists, poets and playwrights such as Samuel Beckett. 

Memorial to a Loved One

Nick is  a bicyclist from San Francisco.  He is preparing to get a giant tattoo of a redwood tree on his side. He says it will be in memory of his late brother.  His brother was an avid California outdoorsman.

"My feelings for my brother and how much I loved him and cared about him are going to be with me for the rest of my life," he says.  "Now I can wake up in the morning, put my shirt on [see the redwood tree] tattoo and say 'Yeah! There is that thing my brother loved.'"

Nick's friend Liz has nearly life-sized owls grasping dandelions and thistles tattooed on her hips. She says they symbolize the wisdom and endurance she needed after a bad breakup. And Liz is especially proud of a large tattoo on her left arm, rendered in the style of a traditional Chinese watercolor.

"I originally started with just this bird," she says, pointing to the multi-colored image. "And it sort of has a seasonal theme where it's spring and then summer. And then, just two weeks ago, I got the top part finished with the winter and the fall with the horse and the rabbits."

For Liz says it is not the symbolism, but the style of the tattoo, that appeals to her most.

In Search of a Unique Image 

Personal styling in tattoos is important to today's young adults. Even a decade ago, many were content to get a simple rose, a butterfly, or some other stock tattoo image from a book. "That's no longer true," says Anna D'Agrosa, a consumer trends expert at the Zandl Group  in New York, who sports a visible and a hidden tattoo of her own.

"What we're finding is that young adults are not necessarily hopping into a tattoo shop. This is not  a Friday night, unplanned, something picked off the wall." "Rather," says D'Agrosa,  "they're intricately designing and thinking about what they want. They are really planning it."

Tattoos are permanent.  So, caution is the byword for Jamie Dwyer, 29. Like many in his generation, he chose his first tattoo impulsively. So he carefully designed his next tattoo himself.   It's an abstract pattern of leaves, birds and geometric shapes. His tattoo covers parts of his right arm and shoulder. It took about six months to settle on that design. "It's my artwork. And that's important to me.  You’re  choosing something that's going to be with you for the rest of your life." 

Customer trust is something that Myles Karr, takes seriously,  He is a master tattooist with a giant octopus and fireflies on his arm. "You are working in an industry where there are no mistakes [and]  no going backwards. You have to take your time and make sure it looks good!"

Modern health regulations require that tattoo shops keep their equipment clean. Needles must be sterile. This  prevents skin infections, blood borne diseases and other problems.

Tattoo Culture Steeped in Superstition

However, many aficionados still feel a nostalgic connection to American tattooing's early days. This was when sailors would get drunk in foreign ports and stumble into a back alley parlor. They'd emerge with crude hearts and anchors etched on their arms. They would have  huge tattoo portraits of Jesus across their backs.  They hoped this would make their shipboard taskmasters a bit gentler when lashing them.

"There are all kinds of really amazing superstitions and stories that evolved from that culture," says tattooist Scott Campbell. "For example, old sailors used to get a rooster on one foot and a pig on the other foot.  Supposedly that was to protect you from drowning. Who knows how that got started?"

Campbell acknowledges that we live in a different era.  So he adds  "I'm still very proud to be a part of tattooing. This is because of the history it has, and whatever it has evolved into now,"

Outsider Appeal Continues

Today, tattoos are part of the American mainstream. Some celebrities wear them proudly.  Also, there are reality TV shows devoted to the art. Yet tattoos still retain some of their outsider appeal. They are popular with outlaw motorcycle clubs like the Hell's Angels, street gangs and prisoners.

Beau Velasco is a highly respected tattoo artist at the Black Ink Tattoo Gallery in Harlem.  His body bears inked patterns and scrawls almost everywhere except his face. He says when he was a boy, he admired pirates.  That, in a sense, is who he has grown up to be.

"By getting fully tattooed.   Going past your collar line and down your hands, you … saying to the world, 'I am not prepared to fall into line, with a regular 'nine to five' rat race sort of job," Velasco says with a chuckle. "It's your commitment to yourself to 'keep it real.'"

Note: By reducing a number of sentences in length, the readability level descended dramatically.  Originally, the article had a readability level of 11.21 with an average sentence length of nearly 24 words. The edit chopped up complex compound sentences, lengthy appositives and lists into simple sentences This reduced the readability level to an understandable seventh grade student’s reading ability.  The average word length remained the same. 

Simplifying Author’s Article:

The rework of the authors’ explanatory narrative reduced word length. The process eliminated multi-syllable words.   Here is the edited version which achieved a word length of 1.56.  This in turn reduced the readability ease level to 7.60 slightly less than an eighth grade education.  In substituting shorter words, the authors, likewise, crafted shorter sentences.  This led to a reduction in sentence length from 14.64 to 12.35 words.  Gobbydygook has gotta go!

The simplified article follows:

Background: The word “prompt” has meanings useful for developmental education.  Used as a verb, “prompt” speaks of motivating, persuading, encouraging, and even prodding.  As a noun, its meaning is less telling:  a cue or reminder. Thinking of prompt as a  verb better defines it:

Persuading:  Who enjoys reading or writing about a dull subject?  If  the  writer studies old bones, an article about a fossil works.  However, others, might find it a bore.  But, consider a “juicy” tale about the pros and cons of tattoos.  Most teens and adults  hold views, pro and con, likely to make this a worthy topic for a prompt. 

Therefore, the goal from the onset is choosing the best “prompt” topic.  To get a well-read student calls for  a well-read teacher.  This means reading the newspaper as well as popular periodicals.  These “prompt-persuaders” are in the campus or school library and local  book stores. 

Motivating:  Perhaps, the word “cue” as a meaning of prompt is best.  In a pool hall, the “cue” is the stick which propels the ball.  While it is not the ball, the cue gets the ball moving in the right direction.   Likewise, a prompt needs a motivator or cue.  This is the news article or  background narrative.  It becomes the student’s resource for a pro or con prompt argument.               

Sadly, copyright law bans use of most provocative articles. But, there are useful public domain articles.  The VOICE OF AMERICA website has many of them.

For example, go to the Internet address for  VOA’s news site.   Enter in the search box, the word “tattoo”.  The following appears:

(ARTICLE)

Excellent pro-con points pepper the above narrative, ideal for a  student’s prompt paper.  Read the article then choose  its best sentence(s) to introduce the prompt topic to the student.   Actually, the article title is a good place to start.  In this case, the words “Young Americans” and “love” are clues to possible motivating prompt questions:

Why do young Americans love tattoos more than adults?  In a two page, five paragraph essay support your position using the above article.  Likewise, use your own ideas to make your case.

            Reading the article reveals additional prompt lead-ins such as:  Why or why not do more women than men choose tattoos?   Is the tattoo trend only among youth or also among adults?  Explain in a two page essay your answer with supports from the article and your own life. 

            The above article is free for the students and instructor to use and print.   This makes the VOA website a great resource for prompts.  In fact, the above article resulted from a tattoo article in the Houston Chronicle.  Tattooed job seekers wanted them removed before job interviews.  Rather than rewriting the Chronicle article, the authors sought a similar news article done by VOA reporters.         

            Similarly, this works for other copyrighted articles ideal for a prompt.  Choose a “buzz-word” or phrase to enter in the VOA search field.  Often, another public domain article is found.   The Voice of America team aids English language students and developmental educators. They are a credit not only to American English instructors but also  students around the globe wanting to learn English as a second language.

* * * * *

            Having selected the tattoo prompt background article and crafted the prompt,  let’s determine their readability level.  Indeed, too erudite an article defeats the purpose of a prompt: to persuade and motivate the writer. Using the DEH Readability Calculator on the VOA article yields the following result:

_______________________________________________________________________

Other Web Resources for Developmental Prompt Composition

            While the VOA web resources offer much, still another site provides valuable articles for prompt development.  It is Wikipedia.

            When the authors sought a useful background article for an “arranged marriage” prompt, the VOA search yielded only a negative article.  Entitled

However, the search among Wikipedia resources uncovered a pro/con treatment at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arranged_marriage

Like, the VOA news stories, Wikipedia’s content is in the public domain.  Applying the readability calculator gave too high an  ease level. (Grade level: 22, Word length: 2+ syllables, Sentence length 30+ words) Yet, because the articles are so comprehensive, the developmental educator can readily edit the content.  This is recommended by the authors.  Wikipedia is an exhaustive and valuable prompt authoring resource. 

            Let’s try it, i.e., making a Wikipedia article more readable.  How about adding to the tattoo prompt discussed earlier.  Wikipedia has a tattoo pro/con discussion useful for this exercise:

Here are some passages from Wikipedia – about tattoos:

In the United States many prisoners and criminal gangs use distinctive tattoos to indicate facts about their criminal behavior, prison sentences, and organizational affiliation.^[11] A tear tattoo, for example, can be symbolic of murder, with each tear representing the death of a friend. At the same time, members of the U.S. military have an equally well established and longstanding history of tattooing to indicate military units, battles, kills, etc., an association which remains widespread among older Americans. Tattooing is also common in the British Armed Forces.

Insofar as this cultural or sub-cultural use of tattoos predates the widespread popularity of tattoos in the general population, tattoos are still associated with criminality. Although the general acceptance of tattoos is on the rise in Western society, they still carry a heavy stigma among certain social groups.

The prevalence of women in the tattoo industry, along with larger numbers of women bearing tattoos, is changing negative perceptions. A study of "at-risk" (as defined by school absenteeism and truancy) adolescent girls showed a positive correlation between body-modification and negative feelings towards the body and self-esteem; however, also illustrating a strong motive for body-modification as the search for "self and attempts to attain mastery and control over the body in an age of increasing alienation

            The readability numbers are typical for Wikipedia, grade 22.  This translates into grade school, intermediate school, junior high, high school, college, doctoral, plus two years of post doctoral specialist degrees.   Sentences average 30 words.  Not only is the word count high  but  the  multi-syllable words average fifty percent above the desired 1.5 syllable readability ideal.   Here’s the edited eighth grade version:

Many U.S. prisoners and criminal gangs use tattoos to suggest their crimes,  sentences, and group.   Tear tattoos, might mean  murderers.  Each tear for a friend’s death. Similarly, U.S. soldiers have  a tradition of  tattoos for military units, battles, kills, etc. This practice  continues widely among U.S. adults. It  is also common among the British soldiers.

Prison and military tattoos  predate their popularity with the public.  Perhaps, this is why tattoos remain  associated with criminality. Although Western  society views tattoos more acceptably , a heavy  stigma remains among some social groups.

(Note: The last  paragraph of the Wikipedia tattoo content is a tough gobbledygook challenge  for readability editors.)

Larger numbers of  women tattooists bearing tattoos now exist. Perhaps, as a result, the negative view of tattoos is less.  A group studied  "at-risk" teenage girls.   These students were deemed “at risk” because they were often truant.   The study showed self-esteem for themselves and their bodies dropped along with being tattooed.   But the study also showed they desired  tattoos to comfort themselves. This was their attempt to master and control their bodies when they were feeling rejected.

This is indeed a tough one!  After thirty minutes of editing, here’s the result.

            At least it has descended to a high school junior’s reading level.  The words per sentence are  fine at 13, but, ugh, too many big words!

            Here’s the final try:

Many U.S. felons and their gangs use tattoos to suggest their crimes,  sentences, and group.   Tear tattoos, might mean killers.  Each tear is for a friend’s death. Likewise,  U.S.  soldiers have  a tattoo tradition for military units, battles, kills, etc.  British soldiers also use  this practice.

Prison and military tattoos predate public use.  Perhaps, this is why tattoos remain  associated with criminality. Though Western  society now accepts  tattoos better, a   stigma remains among some social groups.

More women tattooists wearing tattoos now exist. Perhaps, as a result, the negative view of tattoos is less.  There was a  study of  "at-risk" teenage girls.   These teens were viewed “at risk” because they were often truant.   Findings showed respect for themselves and their bodies dropped along with being tattooed.   But, also, the study found a desire for  tattoos to comfort themselves. They tried to  control their bodies with tattoos  when they felt  rejected.

The final edit succeeds!  A seventh grader can easily read the passage.  The sentences average  about 10 words  with words not more than 1.6 syllables on average.  Notice how the total word count drops as readability/clarity increases: from 577 words, to 208 words, to a final count of but 151 words.   The 577  word Goliath was ponderous and difficult to understand.  The crisp 151 word boy David has clarity.  David had five stones but only needed one to do the job.