Songwriting is a creative form of human expression that connects directly with students’ cultures, identities, and personal understandings. It is accessible to all learners, enhances critical thinking, creativity, listening, and performing skills, and supports emotional and social needs, particularly during adolescence. Many popular artists such as Camila Cabello, Dolly Parton and established researchers as John Kratus remind us that songwriting fosters identity, emotional release, imagination, and reflection, making it an essential practice for 21st-century music education. In secondary schools across the United States, songwriting is becoming increasingly popular, particularly in Modern Band classrooms where students explore fretted and electronic instruments. Yet questions remain for many educators: what activities, prompts strategies work best? How can teachers spark creativity while guiding students to rely on their own ideas rather than on AI-generated material? This interactive workshop bridges two perspectives: a university professor, singer-songwriter, and composer of musicals, and a high school student who is both a national songwriting competition winner and an international finalist. Together, they will demonstrate how prompts, scaffolding, and inclusive strategies can empower students to discover their voices through songwriting. The session will provide participants with a wealth of practical ideas and resources, including creative prompts, group activities, songwriting games, and strategies for integrating technology. Backing tracks with prerecorded chord progressions will be shared to support the creative process, alongside a curated bibliography of scholarly and pedagogical resources for elementary and secondary levels. Short interactive activities will model adaptable classroom applications, showing how songwriting can meet creative, social, and psychological needs while cultivating a lifelong learning.