ARTICLE: Five Ways to make Quick Writes part of your curriculum TODAY!

Quick writes are valuable for student metacognition and give teachers visibility into student understanding of topics. Students get the chance to write about a high interest topic or reflect on an important discussion from class in a low stakes environment. Teachers can use this time to circulate as a guide on the side to help them strengthen their writing identities!

Getting students engaging with Quick Writes is EASY!

• Allow students the time to search for an open ended writing Idea or pre-select an Idea that aligns with your learning objectives.
• Set a brief time limit and expectations for how “quick write time” should be spent.
  Write while your students write!
• Have students do turn-and-share with partners for topics that will benefit from an audience or discussion.
• Spot check for a quick and easy formative assessment.

Not sure where quick writes fit into your curriculum time? Here are FIVE ways to engage students in beneficial quick writing while also getting valuable feedback

1. Assess prior knowledge for content and concepts:
   • Ask students to write about a topic to gauge what they know. Ideas that assess prior knowledge tend to ask questions that begin:
     • What do you already know about…
     • What questions do you have about…
     • What would you like to learn about…
     • Share what you know about…
   • This example Idea asks students to share everything they know or think they know about Pakistan as a pre-reading activity for a book they are about to read.
   • Many great Ideas that assess prior knowledge can be found in our Earth & Space Science Gallery, our Geography Gallery, and our Writing About Writing Gallery!
2. Encourage self reflection for the writing process:
   • Have students reflect on their writing and learning by prompting with questions like:
     • What is one thing you did well in writer’s workshop today?
     • What is one assignment (or piece of writing) that needs improvement? What improvements need to be made to make it better?
     • What clicked for you today? What is something that you need a little more help understanding?
   • One teacher encourages self reflection by having students set a reading and writing resolution at the beginning of the year.
   • There are also pre-existing Ideas like these (from our Mindset Gallery) that are great for self reflection quick writes:
     • What can you do to become a more successful student? (Check out student Lucy’s response to this Idea here!)
     • What strategies do you use to keep yourself from getting discouraged?
       
3. Provide feedback
   • Quick writes can also offer valuable time for peer feedback. Building a WRITE-READ-COMMENT routine with students is important for helping them positively contribute to your community and to the development of other student writers.
   • Use these sample formats to provide positive and helpful comments on other students' writing!
4. Check for understanding
   • Quick writes can be a fun and easy alternative to quizzes. It also reinforces literacy gains in a way that clickers or surveys would not. Ideas that check for understanding usually follow this pattern:
     • Compare and contrast…
     • Describe one difference and one similarity between…
     • Use a quote to support the idea that…
   • Or, integrate creative “show what you know” writing:
     • Write a poem that describes the process of evaporation...or write a poem that describes how a bill becomes a law.
     • Have students implement what they have learned to write word problems for their classmates to solve or have them explain a concept in a way that a younger student would understand.
5. Engage higher order thinking
   • Have students examine Universal Truths
   • Prompt brainstorming about Passion Projects
   • Create your own higher order thinking Ideas by having them make inferences about a picture or a text, describe and defend inventions, or having students elaborate on choice-based research topics.!