Examples of Low-Stakes Writing Activities & Assignments

Encourage students to be “messy” and not worry about polished grammar and syntax.

• In-class activity (can be done at any time during a class period)
• Individual
• Can be used to scaffold (i.e., build toward) other activities, such as small or large group discussion

• What are the 3 most important points you learned today?
• What questions remain unanswered for you?
• What did you learn from what someone else said that you would not have thought of on your own?
• How might you apply this theory to [new situation]?
• What process would you use to approach this problem?

To build in accountability, have students turn these in (either digitally or on paper/notecards) as they leave the classroom (for this reason minute papers are sometimes called “exit tickets”).

(Note: Minute papers are an excellent way for an instructor to get immediate feedback on student learning from a class session. They can help an instructor assess common confusions and key takeaways.)

• In-class activity (done at the end of a class period)
• Individual
• Can be done on notecards (that students hand in as they leave the classroom) or using technology such as TopHat or Padlet

• What are you still having trouble understanding?

In other words, have students indicate what concept or idea remains “muddy” for them after a particular class period.

(Note: Muddiest Point responses can help an instructor realize a common misconception among students. It can help indicate what needs to be clarified in the next class.)

• In-class activity (done at the end of a class period)
• Individual
• Can be done on notecards (that students hand in as they leave the classroom) or using technology such as TopHat or Padlet

(Note: This can also give the instructor time to process the situation and gather themselves before proceeding.)

• In-class (after a hot moment or coverage of a controversial or difficult topic)
• Individual

Metacognitive reflection can be worked into a freewrite, write-pair-share, minute paper, muddiest point response, or assigned as a standalone short reflection.

For example, you may ask students to respond to:

• What was my biggest learning challenge this unit, and how did I work to overcome it?

• In-class activity (after covering something)
• Individual
• Can be incorporated into other activities such as a freewrite, write-pair-share, minute paper, or muddiest point

Next, in their small groups or pairs, students research and discuss their concept/task and populate a Google slide in a Google slide deck shared with the class.

Then, ask students to collaboratively write about their key takeaways or reflect on their collaborative process in the “Notes” section of their slide.

Finally, Students may then used the shared slide deck for reference (e.g., as a study guide), or the instructor may go through the slide deck in class, asking each group to share out their key takeaways.

Several variations of this are possible: groups/pairs may be assigned:

• different concepts or terminology (sometimes called a “course dictionary”)
• different important events in a timeline
• different chapters in a book
• different characters
• different stages of a process, etc.

• In-class activity (anytime) or outside of class assignment
• Collaborative
• Pairs or small groups should each be assigned a slide (make sure to make the slide deck editable by anyone with the link)
• The slide deck could be for the entire class or a specific section of the class

Assign groups of 5-6 students who sit together on specified days and/or work together online during lecture. Groups then respond on a shared Google doc to authentic questions posed during lecture– for example, connecting themes to lived experiences.

Make sure to instruct students to specify roles within the group: facilitator, timekeeper, reporter. Have a few teams share out each time.

• In-class activity during lecture
• Collaborative

You might pose questions/prompts for them to consider or allow students to pose questions/respond in real time to lecture. You will need to scaffold this with clear community guidelines and use it toward a participation/writing grade.

• In-class activity during lecture
• Individual and collaborative (students can see and respond to other’s posts)

Such questions should be used at strategic points so students are not only memorizing material but grappling with it.

Discussion, pair-shares, or other collaborative activities could follow.

(Source: Kripa Freitas, 2023)

• In-class activity (encouraged) or outside of class
• Individual
• Potential modalities include:
  • In students’ notes
  • On notecards
  • Digitally, using technology such as TopHat or Padlet

• At what moment were you most engaged as a learner?
• At what moment were you most distanced as a learner?
• What action that anyone in the room took did you find most affirming or helpful?
• What action that anyone in the room took did you find most puzzling or confusing?
• What surprised you most?

Keep responses anonymous. Share themes and/or concerns at the beginning of the next class

Adapted from Vanderbilt’s Center for Teaching

• In-class activity (at the end of class)
• Individual

Often, students may be required to respond to a certain number of comments from other students as well as post their own comment.

In large courses, students may be assigned to specific “sections” even if they do not have a synchronous discussion section. Even in smaller courses, students may be assigned to smaller groups of 6-8 to foster deep engagement with one another.

Asynchronous discussion boards offer you as the instructor an opportunity to build community—either in the full class or small groups—around course content. They also allow more flexibility for students regarding when and where they might engage in the activity.

• Before class (and in conjunction with assigned material or in response to a question posed by the instructor)
• Individual and Collaborative
• Can be done on Canvas as a “discussion board” or using other technology such as Padlet

Padlet may be used in a singular class period or over the course of the entire semester.

Posts themselves can operate as prompts (to which students can comment and reply) or the Padlet more broadly may have a prompt or task (e.g., asking students to post weekly about something they encounter that makes them think of course content).

(Note: To make Padlet more manageable in large classes, different “sections” might have their own Padlet boards.)

(Note: Padlet is not currently supported by UW-Madison and a free account only allows for 3 active boards at a time).

Check out an example of a semester-long Padlet board assignment featured in our Step-by-Step Guide to Designing a Low-Stakes Assignment.

• Before class or during class
• Individual and Collaborative
• Padlet can be accessed on a laptop, tablet, or smartphone (there is a free app)

To keep answers manageable, length expectations should be clarified with students for each question (e.g., one sentence, 100 words, etc.).

(Note: TopHat can provide real-time feedback on how students are understanding concepts, following lecture, or grappling with material.)

• In-class activity
• Individual and Collaborative
• TopHat can be accessed either on a laptop, tablet, or smartphone

Instructors may reserve the last few minutes of class for students to write down everything they remember from the lecture.

(Source: Ruhl, Hughes, and Schloss, 1987)

• In-class activity
• Individual
• In students’ own notes

Potential risks include students just designating one person from the group as the notetaker. Giving students particular roles may be helpful in mitigating this (e.g., one takes notes, another writes questions, another provides examples).

(Source: Jamie Costley & Mik Fanguy, 2021)

• In-class activity
• Collaborative
• In a shared Google doc

They can then deposit them either in a physical box in the classroom or in an online forum (such as Canvas).

During subsequent classes, the instructor can incorporate these student questions and insights into presentation materials, answering particularly relevant comments.

• In-class activity (before, during, or after lecture)
• Individual
• Can either be in paper or digital form (e.g., on Canvas)

This activity encourages empathy, creative thinking, and a deeper understanding of perspectives or concepts.

• In-class activity or outside of class
• Individual
• In notes or on Canvas (as an assignment)

As Toby Fulwiler explains, journals can help individualize learning and encourage “writers to become conscious, through language, or what is happening to them, both personally and academically.”

Students can use journals to:

• record thoughts, insights, and impressions about course material
• ask questions and speculate; clarify, modify, and extend ideas
• respond to readings, lectures, or the instructor’s questions
• begin thinking about ideas that can later be developed into more formal, high-stakes papers and assignments
• discover connections between course materials; prepare for exams, class discussion, or course papers
• gain fluency in writing

• Typically outside of class time, but time can also be devoted to journaling in class
• Individual (regularly or occasionally reviewed by the instructor or TA)
• Hard copy (a notebook) or digital (Canvas or a Google doc)

During the first part of a course, students work to identify main terms and major concepts. During the second part, they work collaboratively to compile the course dictionary.

The audience for the dictionary is students who will take the course in future semesters.

• In-class activity or outside class
• Individual then collaborative
• Could be on paper or digitally at first, then digitally to allow for sharing and compiling (consider a shared Google slide deck, Google doc, or a platform like Padlet)

• Reading responses: after reading course content, students respond with their reactions and takeaways
• Personal reflections: students share their concerns and anxieties about the class or about their lives in general. You may consider asking students to reflect on what they want to get out of the course at the beginning of the semester, and have them re-visit and respond to/revise this post at different points throughout the semester.
• A Writer’s (b)log: Students keep track of and provide justification for the changes they make over time and across multiple drafts of an assignment, which emphasizes writing as a process. In a writing-heavy course, this can be a simple way to identify how students are growing as writers throughout the semester.
• An online writing sandbox: If your class involves other types of online writing like website design, using blogs as an “online writing sandbox” can allow your students to experiment with the different affordances of online writing—crafting titles, aligning pictures with text, adding hyperlinks, writing captions.

One concern that you will want to address early on is the issue of privacy. Though you can set certain security features on blogs, they still exist in the public domain of the internet. Establish protocols and guidelines for your students’ engagement on blogs.

For instructions on setting up a WordPress blog, check out this resource from UW’s Software Training for Students. 

• Outside of class
• Individual with potential to be collaborative
• Online