NUTSHELL NOTES "Teaching tips in a nutshell" - The University of Colorado at Denver's One-page Newsletter for Teaching Excellence

Five Minute Writing Exercise

In this exercise, students are timed and told to spend all of the five minutes in writing—"don't think to organize or structure— just write and let the ideas flow onto the paper in any order they come." This is a good practice with which to start class because the exercise helps students to empty their minds of distracting concerns and to become involved in just the material relevant to the forthcoming class. Subject matter can involve an assigned reading. One topic to address with this five-minute assignment could be a quote from the reading. Another approach might be to spend the time as an exercise in assessing confidence and understanding. This could take the form of:"Write about any areas of the assigned reading that you found to be difficult to understand. Conclude with a sentence about why you think one particular area proved difficult." You can then ask two or three students to read their statements aloud. Let students know that such brief writing assignments will certainly yield halting or fragmented sentences and that it is OK to read them in just that way. Use their concerns as a springboard to launch your class presentation.

Five-minute assignments can also be used as active learning breaks within lectures to assess understanding and to strengthen students' grasp of central concepts. Assignments can involve outlining a process to solve a given problem or to deal with a stated case situation.

Paired Letter Writing Exercise

A general four-step outline follows for this paired active-learning exercise.

1. Write a letter to your partner in which you describe a problem you are having with particular material in this class. (6 minutes)

2. Add a P.S. which reveals how you are feeling about this difficulty. (1 minute)

3. Deliver your letters, read the letter you received, and write back with help and advice to your partner. Comment back about his or her P.S. (7 minutes)

4. Return original letters and read the response to your letter. Write back and tell your partner how his/her answer helped you—or raise a further question if the response failed to help. (3 minutes)

Four Ways to Help Student Writers

1. When you provide a writing assignment, model the process yourself. For instance, do your own 5-minute assignment and read it to the class as you call on students to do the same thing.

2. Give positive reenforcement by acknowledging and validating students' contributions. This applies to both content learning and the process of writing.

3. Create purposeful writing assignments; build meaning and relevance into your topics.

4. Stress that the primary value of such writing is as a way to learn and to build a knowledge base rather than a way to produce a perfect piece of work. The first thoughts on paper need not be organized or developed in detail—the important part is just to get the thoughts on paper.