This paper focuses on a pedagogical and instructional approach to engaging students in the classroom with the specific activity of a writing prompt, which utilizes a short video about current events and trends coupled with writing and discussion. This strategy allows active student learning in which the students engage, develop critical thinking skills, discover topics that interest them, improve their writing skills, prepare to be active in class, collaborate through discussion, discover other views, relate the activity to the current course curriculum and apply the issues to their personal and professional lives. The examples given in this paper are from English composition courses, however, this method could be applied and tailored to a variety of disciplines.