Examples of Low-Stakes Writing Assignments
Table: Examples of Low-Stakes Writing Activities & Assignments
| Activity Name | Description | Logistical Notes |
| Freewrite | Give students a set amount of time to write whatever comes to mind in response to a question or problem. Encourage them to be “messy” and not worry about polished grammar and syntax. |
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| Write-Pair-Share (or Ink-Pair-share) | Give students between 2-5 minutes to write in response to a question, or reflect on connection to course material. Have students turn to a partner and share their thoughts.
Optional: invite interested pairs to share out afterwards |
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| Minute Paper | Five minutes before class ends, have students provide feedback about the session by writing in response to one or more of the following:
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| Muddiest Point | Variation on a minute paper in which students respond to the question: What are you still having trouble understanding? In other words, have students indicate what concept or idea remains “muddy” for them. |
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| Stop-and-Write | If there’s a “hot moment” in class, have everyone stop and write/reflect on thoughts/feelings about the conversation.
This can also give the instructor time to process the situation and gather themselves before proceeding. |
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| Metacognitive Reflection | Students reflect on their own learning; concerns/questions about the course; or connecting course topics to their lives.
Metacognitive reflection can be worked into a freewrite, write-pair-share, minute paper, muddiest point response, or assigned as a standalone short reflection. |
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| Collaborative Google Slide Deck | In small groups or pairs, students research and discuss a course concept. The instructor provides a meaningful prompt related to the concept. Students discuss the prompt and then create a Google slide for the whole class (or their section) to share (course dictionary).
Several variations of this are possible: students may take different important events in a timeline, different chapters in a book, different characters, etc. After making the slide, students collaboratively write a reflection about key takeaways in the “Notes” section for their slide. |
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| Discussion Teams | Groups of 5-6 students who sit together on specified days and/or work together online during lecture. Respond on shared Google doc to authentic question posed during lecture–connecting themes to lived experiences. Specify roles of facilitator, timekeeper, reporter. Have a few teams share out each time |
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| Backchanneling during Lecture | Use a course blog, a course Slack channel, Threads, or Padlet. Students “live tweet/live blog” lecture and are graded on their participation. 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 participation/writing grade. |
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| High-Impact Questions | Rather than unfocused questions (like “muddiest point”), “questions that have students build on prior knowledge, apply knowledge to new situations, and reveal conceptual errors” results in more learning and better performance on tests. In addition, questions that invite students to connect a course theme to their own lives or experiences can be especially engaging.
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) |
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| Critical Incident Questionnaire | This is a classroom evaluation tool that may be used to find out what and how students are learning. The CIQ focuses on critical moments or actions in a class, as judged by the learners.
Keep responses anonymous. Share themes and/or concerns at the beginning of the next class Adapted from Vanderbilt’s Center for Teaching |
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| Discussion Posts | Students post to class boards in reaction to a specific question or in reaction to assigned material.
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. |
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| Noticing Reports | A potential alternative to discussion posts, these reports ask students to complete brief reports of things they “noticed” from the assigned material, along with page stamps (for readings) or time stamps (for listenings and viewings) for each “noticing.”
Noticings can be in the form of thoughtful comments, reactions, or questions about the material. They push students beyond summary to consider their own reactions to new material. Reports are assessed for completion, and can help give an instructor a sense of how students are understanding and responding to particular material. (Note: asking students to provide page or time stamps may inhibit the use of generative AI and requires students to engage with the material themselves.) |
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| Padlet Posts | A cross between a discussion board and a Pinterest board, Padlet is an online tool that allows students to post pictures or text to a grid and comment on or “like” other posts.
Padlets 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 this class). (Note: to make Padlets more manageable in large classes, different “sections” might have their own Padlet boards.) (Note: Padlet is not supported by UW-Madison and a free account only allows for 3 active boards at a time). |
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| TopHat Responses | TopHat is a learning technology tool that allows students to use their own device (laptop, tablet, or smartphone) to respond to questions in the moment without verbalizing answers. Instructors may then display answers in real time.
To keep answers manageable, length expectations should be clarified with students for each question (e.g., one sentence, 100 words, etc.). |
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| Structured Note-taking | Rather than copying a lecture verbatim, students strategically summarize lecture content. Instructor pauses a few times during lecture for 2-3 minutes to allow students to consolidate their notes and reflect on what they’re learning.
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) |
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| Collaborative Note-taking | 2-3 students share a Google document and work together to take notes. At specific points, the instructor pauses to allow students to talk to one another about the notes document. This may generate questions (one student not understanding what another wrote, or needing further explanation of an example). Pauses in lectures can also provide students with important opportunities to grapple with complex material.
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) |
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The Question Box
Have students write anonymous questions about the content of lectures, which encourages them to think more critically about what they are hearing. Students can be asked to write these questions before, during, and after lectures. They can deposit their questions either in a box in the classroom or in an online forum. During subsequent classes, the lecturer can incorporate these student questions and insights into the presentation material, usually by reproducing the remarks on transparencies and projecting them directly to the class for comment and response.
Microthemes or Minute Papers
Ask the class to write for one minute in response to a question (or prompt) provided. The prompt should be focused and specific, but open-ended enough to encourage thoughtful writing. You can provide students with specifics that they must draw a conclusion from, or ask them to apply a theory to a new set of facts, or ask them to explain a process for solving a problem.
- “Choose one of the following propositions and defend it in two pages: The price earnings ratio of a stock does/does not reflect the rate or return that investors in that stock will achieve.”
- “Some organs of the body are functionally unique single structures (e.g., one heart, one spleen). Others are found as functionally redundant pairs (two kidneys, two lungs). Explain how the human brain might be cited as an illustration of both kinds of anatomical structure.”
Persona Pieces
Have students role play a particular figure, perhaps in the form of a journal entry or a letter.
Journals
Have students write regularly in a journal. Journals provide students with time and a requirement to think about course material and to engage in an ongoing written dialogue with their instructors. As Toby Fulwiler explains, journals can help individualize learning and encourage “writers to become conscious, through language, of 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 reading, lectures, or instructor’s questions
- begin thinking about ideas that can later be developed into more formal papers
- discover connections between course materials; prepare for exams, class discussion, or course papers
- gain fluency in writing.
Course Dictionaries
Have students keep a glossary of key terms in a course and produce definitions, examples, illustrations, maps, diagrams, etc. During the first part of a course, students identify main terms and major concepts; during the second part, students collaboratively compile the course dictionary. The audience for the dictionary is students who will take the course in future semesters.
