Low stakes writing is helpful for developing fluency, especially when done regularly. It can also help students feel comfortable with writing, reducing the anxiety and perfectionism that can deter them from writing (and re-writing).
Low stakes writing also helps students see writing as a place to think. Assignments can be crafted to help students develop skills and confidence in any part of the process of reading, thinking, and writing. For instance, students can be prompted to ask new sorts of questions as they read, to take notes in a new way, to draw maps or charts, to make lists of words or ideas, to select a passage and then circle some words and underline others–anything to help them engage with the material. When these activities become the basis of an informal or semi-formal paragraph or essay, students get a chance to experience a dynamic interaction between writing and learning, discovering new concepts, working with texts, and so on.
Many faculty members give students points for completing low-stakes assignments but do not evaluate or grade them. This strategy can enable students to build confidence, focus on the writing process rather than the final product, manage perfectionism or insecurities, and approach writing as an opportunity to communicate something they find genuinely exciting. Regularly producing writing that is not being assessed teaches students that the entire writing process is valuable. They learn that writing can be a place for them to explore, try new things, and even figure themselves out.
Below you will find some ideas for incorporating more writing into your course. These can be given as assignments or remain short activities to be done in class. Soon, we’ll also post some examples and sample lesson plans.
Reflective Writing
- Weekly Journals
- Letter Writing
- Regular writing prompts, collected and kept private or shared with the class. Possible questions include: “What is going well for you in this class?” “What was interesting about this reading?” “What was confusing about the material for today?” “What are you realizing about yourself and your learning process after today’s class?”
Timed Writing
- “Flash writing” prompts.
- Put up a concept or quote from the reading you want students to discuss. Give students a time limit to jot down all the ideas that come to them. Share out.
- Telephone (helps develop ideas/topics)
Writing to support discussion and classroom community
- Start class with five minutes of writing. This is a great way to start a discussion. It can also be a time when students reflect on what they are bringing from a previous unit/week/class into the current class meeting. Provide specific prompts.
- End class with writing: Leave time at the end of your class to reflect, draw connections, brainstorm about the next paper, etc.
- Note-taking Project: Have every student write up notes for the class to post to Moodle/course blog. Students can reflect on how each other’s notes are different (we all absorb different information from class). It also helps the teacher see what students are taking away from class!
Teaching Specific Writing Techniques
- Practice different components of academic writing such as integrating quotations, summarizing, paraphrasing, constructing a thesis, or analyzing research.
- Practice descriptive writing with prompts–to come!
- Notice students using the passive voice? Take 15 minutes to (1) explain passive voice and (2) practice writing in both active and passive voice. This kind of focused practice works for many different lower-order sentence concerns. Students can also present on the elements of the sentence that trip them up the most (dangling modifiers, punctuation, etc.).
- Have a contest in which students are placed in groups and must figure out if the citations in a sample paragraph and bibliography are correct. The first team to finish and get all edits correct wins 5 points on their next assignment. You’ll be surprised how many first-years will do this simply for bragging rights!