IV. Low-Stakes, Informal Writing Activities & Assignments
Examples of Standard Low-Stakes Writing Activities & Assignments
There are numerous tried-and-true, standard low-stakes writing activities and assignments, many of which are outlined in the table below.
For examples of low-stakes writing tailored to specific course contexts, check out: Examples of Low-Stakes Writing in UW-Madison Courses.
Interested in designing or adapting a low-stakes activity or assignment for your course but not sure where to start or what to include? Contact the Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) team to set up a one-to-one consultation.
Table: Examples of Standard Low-Stakes Writing Activities & Assignments
| Activity Name | Description | Logistical Notes |
|
Freewrite
⏰ Activity Time: |
Unlock immediate student thinking and reduce writing anxiety with this versatile activity.
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. |
In-class (any time)
Individual |
Write-Pair-Share (or Ink-Pair-share)
⏰ Activity Time: |
Give students between 2-5 minutes to write in response to a question, or reflect on personal connections to course material. Have students turn to a partner and share their thoughts.
Optional: Invite interested pairs to share out afterwards (Note: this can be an excellent way to help students cognitively warm up for a larger class discussion.) Pro Tip: Clearly state the time limit for both writing and sharing to keep the activity on track. |
In-class (any time)
Individual, then collaborative (pairs) |
| Minute Paper
⏰ Activity Time: |
Five minutes before class ends, have students provide feedback about the session by writing in response to a question, such as:
To build in accountability, have students turn these in (either digitally or on paper/notecards) as they leave the classroom. |
In-class (at the end)
Modalities: on notecards (have them hand them in on their way out of the classroom – these are sometimes called “Exit Tickets”), TopHat, Padlet Individual |
| Muddiest Point
⏰ Activity Time: |
This variation on a minute paper asks students to respond to the question:
In other words, have students indicate what concept or idea remains “muddy” for them after a particular class period. |
In-class (at the end)
Modalities: on notecards (have them hand them in on their way out of the classroom), TopHat, Padlet Individual |
| Stop-and-Write
⏰ Activity Time:
|
If there’s a “hot moment” in class, have everyone stop and write/reflect on thoughts/feelings about the conversation.
(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 topic)
Individual |
| Metacognitive Reflection
⏰ Activity Time: |
Students reflect on their own learning; concerns/questions about the course; or connect 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. |
In-class (after covering something)
Individual |
| Collaborative Google Slide Deck
⏰ Activity Time: |
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, different stages of a process, etc. After making the slide, students collaboratively write a reflection about key takeaways or reflect on their collaborative process in the “Notes” section for their slide. |
In-class (any time)
Pairs or small groups for each slide; slide deck could be entire class or specific section Collaborative |
| Discussion Teams
⏰ Activity Time: |
Assign groups of 5-6 students who sit together on specified days and/or work together online during lecture. They then respond on a shared Google doc to authentic questions posed during lecture– for example, connecting themes to lived experiences.
Instruct students to specify roles within the group: facilitator, timekeeper, reporter. Have a few teams share out each time. |
In-class (any time)
Collaborative work |
| Backchanneling during Lecture
⏰ Activity Time: |
Using 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 a participation/writing grade. |
In-class (any time)
Individual and collaborative work |
| High-Impact Questions
⏰ Activity Time: |
Rather than the more unfocused questions of activities such as Muddiest Point, these “questions…have students build on prior knowledge, apply knowledge to new situations, and reveal conceptual errors,” resulting 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) |
In-class (encouraged) or outside of class
Modalities: in their notes, on notecards, TopHat, Padlet Individual |
| Critical Incident Questionnaire
⏰ Activity Time: |
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 |
In-class (at the end)
Individual |
| Discussion Posts
⏰ Activity Time: |
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. 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. For information on setting up a Discussion Board in Canvas, check out this resource from the Canvas team. |
Before class (and in conjunction with assigned material or in response to a question posed)
On Canvas as a “Discussion Board” or on Padlet Collaborative |
| Padlet Posts
⏰ Activity Time: |
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 course content). (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). 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
On Padlet (either on a laptop, tablet, or smartphone) Collaborative |
| TopHat Responses
⏰ Activity Time: |
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.). |
In class
On TopHat (either on a laptop, tablet, or smartphone) Individual, collaborative |
| Structured Note-taking
⏰ Activity Time: |
Rather than copying a lecture verbatim, students strategically summarize lecture content. The 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) |
In class
In students’ own notes Individual |
| Collaborative Note-taking
⏰ Activity Time: |
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) |
In class
In a shared Google document Collaborative |
| The Question Box
⏰ Activity Time: |
Have students write anonymous questions about the content of lectures, encouraging them to think more critically about what they are learning. Students can be asked to write these questions before, during, or after lectures.
They can then deposit them either in a physical box in the classroom or in an online forum. During subsequent classes, the instructor can incorporate these student questions and insights into presentation materials, answering particularly relevant comments. |
In class (before, during, or after lecture)
Either on paper or in an online forum Individual |
| Persona Pieces
⏰ Activity Time: |
Have students role-play a particular figure (fictional or historical) in the form of a short journal entry or letter. |
|
| Journals
⏰ Activity Time: |
Have students write regularly in a journal. Journals provide students with time 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, or what is happening to them, both personally and academically.” Students can use journals to:
|
|
| Course Dictionaries
⏰ Activity Time: |
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 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. |
|
| Course Blogs
⏰ Activity Time: |
Blogs are an incredibly versatile platform, combining text with visual functions and hierarchies and allowing your students to experiment and customize features. Blogs allow students to develop skills related to writing for the public. Blog writing may take many forms, including:
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
Online Individual with potential to be collaborative |
