Quickwrite
Description
What Is It?
A Quickwrite is a low-risk writing strategy in which students are given a few minutes to write down their thoughts, ideas, or feelings about a topic, a personal experience, or a reaction to a picture or prompt.
Why Use It?
Quick Writes differs from traditional writing as students can let their thoughts flow freely without focusing on correctness and revision (Tompkins, 1994). It presents writing as a non-threatening and informal opportunity for students to express their thoughts (Fisher & Frey, 2008). Tell students not to worry about mistakes; just to write and express themselves.
Checklist:
1. Explain that a Quick Write helps engage students in thinking about a content topic before, during, and after learning. Stress that in a Quick Write, students respond to a question or prompt by writing down whatever comes to their minds without organizing it too much or worrying about grammar.
2. Select a topic related to the topic being studied and define the purpose for the quick write:
Examples: Summarize what was learned, Connect to background information or students’ lives, Explain content concepts or vocabulary, Make predictions, inferences, and hypotheses, Pose a question that addresses a key point in the reading selection
3. Tell the students how long they will have to do the writing, typically 2–10 minutes. Utilize a visible timer.
4. Use the Quick Write as part of instruction, formative assessment, and/or discussion.
Note: Typically a Quick Write is graded only for completion, not for quality or accuracy.
Quick Tips
Make it a point to never grade quickwrites for grammar, punctuation or accuracy to keep it low-risk and encourage students to use it as a tool to generate thought, reflect on learning or summarize their learning.
Increase commitment by telling your students that their brain is a muscle and writing to learn for a set amount of time regularly strengthens that muscle. Encourage all writers to try to write until the time is up.
Quick Writes can be:
Assigned as part of students’ Learning Logs or Journals.
Used to think/brainstorm for a Think-Pair-Share.
Generated by student-created questions and prompts.
Utilized to generate thinking before sharing in small groups or with the class
Did you know?
Quickwrites are a great strategy to use before calling on students to share with the class. It gives time for all students to gather their thoughts before being called on.
It is common to see writing only happening in ELA classes in which the standards prioritize learning to write. Quickwrites prioritize writing TO learn across all content areas.
Quickwrites pair greatly with the Creative Learning Initiative strategy "Art Talk". Have students analyze a piece of art and improve their literacy skills at once!
Interactive Notebooks are a great tool to capture students' quickwrites.
Incorporating low risk writing, like quickwrites, in your classroom can enhance student voice. Consider using them with personal questions as a welcoming ritual as well as with content in your classroom.