Who Selects Writing Topics?

Many times we will offer topics to our students, but choice of topics allows students to write about their interests.  On those occasions when students are allowed to choose, we sometimes have students who struggle with finding a topic so we need to offer them help.   All along the way, we can have students keep a list of topics in their writing notebook or portfolio, we can post a class list of suggested topics somewhere in the room, and we can take the time to brainstorm new topics before sending students off to find their own.  Talking to students about what they like is sometimes all it takes to spark an interest and to get them going with their prewriting.  So who selects topics?  Topics may be provided by the teacher or selected by the students, depending on the situation. Never let students sit and complain about not having something to write about when we can offer them the guidance they need.