Quick Writes

A Quick Write is a student participation strategy.

Steps:

  1. Select a prompt that you would like students to address.
  2. Give students a specified amount of time to collect their thoughts and jot down a response (approximately three to five minutes).
  3. Follow this up with a Pair-Share, a Chalkboard Splash, or another participation strategy.

Discussion:

Excerpted from: Source: Himmele, Pérsida; Himmele, William (2011-07-21). Total Participation Techniques: Making Every Student an Active Learner. Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development.

A Quick-Write is a brief activity that can be inserted at almost any point within a lesson or planned ahead using prepared prompts. It does not have to take long—just enough time for students to stop and reflect in writing on what they are learning (three minutes is usually sufficient). A teacher might say something like this: "For the next three minutes, jot down your reflections on how the Earth's shifting plates may have directly affected the landscape of where you live." Quick-Writes can also make use of word banks to ensure that students address important concepts learned. For example, teachers can identify a handful of words that they would like students to use within their Quick-Writes. Quick-Writes can also be used as a way for students to analyze their own metacognitive thinking processes. Before dismissing his class, 8th grade English teacher Matt Baker asked his students to reflect on the process of conductingntheir research projects. Figure 4.1 is an example of Morgan's reflection on her own attempts at writing a thesis statement. This process of journaling provided valuable information for Baker as he conducted this quick progress-check on his students and responded to each student's status as a researcher.

How to Ensure Higher-Order Thinking: Go beyond asking students to explain the meaning of a concept. Instead, ask students to make connections between the concepts and their effect on the world around them. Use wide-open questions. For example, get used to using questions that begin with phrases like "In what ways …" and "How might things be different if … ." Provide opportunities for students to understand the broader implications of what they are learning. Simple questions like "Why is this important?" and "How does it relate to our lives?" might help students stop and reflect on the deeper connections and purposes for what they are learning. Allow students opportunities to interact and listen to their peers as they share their Quick-Writes in small groups.