How to incorporate low-stakes writing into your teaching

In this chapter: Assigning Low-Stakes Writing | Assessing Low-Stakes Writing

Be intentional and why, when, and how you incorporate low-stakes writing activities and assignments into your teaching. As you read through the following sections and plan low-stakes writing activities for your courses, consider the following questions:

Why?

• Does this low-stakes writing activity help me meet a class or course learning goal?
• Does this activity engage students, connect to their lived experience in some way, or encourage them to reflect on their own learning (i.e., engage in metacognition)?

When?

• Does this activity make sense for in-class or outside of class time?
• Does it scaffold other writing, learning, and/or discussion?

How?

• How will I communicate the purpose and expectations of the activity to my students?
• Do I need to tailor the activity to my course context and topic, or can I use it as-is?
• How will I assess (or not assess) this activity/assignment?

Assigning Low-Stakes Writing

Align the Activity/Assignment with Your Course Goals & Context

There are many reasons to incorporate low-stakes writing into a class session or assign it as homework. Still, it’s important to identify why a particular activity or assignment is appropriate in your context. Following the principles of backward design, first consider what your goals are for the course or a particular class session.

Be intentional about timing

Once you have determined that a low-stakes activity or assignment will help you meet a goal or goals for the class period or course more broadly, consider when you might incorporate it into your class rhythm to best meet these goals.

For detailed examples of how low-stakes writing can be designed to meet course goals, see [page on Noticing Reports] and [page on Semester-long Padlet Board].

When determining whether to assign low-stakes writing in or outside of class time, consider the potential benefits of each. For example, incorporating writing in-class can signal to students that you value their writing process (not just product). It can also offer opportunities for students to engage with one another and work in pairs or small groups. In-class low-stakes writing can also mitigate potential AI use, centering student-generated writing and building in accountability (since students are writing in your presence). Low-stakes assignments outside of class time may allow students more time to formulate their thoughts, prepare for class, or connect with peers asynchronously (through, for example, discussion posts).

Make Low-Stakes Writing Meaningful & Engaging

Students are often resentful of what they perceive to be “busywork,” so it is particularly important to make sure that a low-stakes writing activity or assignment feels meaningful and engaging.

Eodice et al. (2019) discuss what makes a writing assignment “meaningful.” Though they are speaking specifically about high-stakes writing assignments, we can readily apply their ideas to low-stakes writing as well:

“Meaningful writing assignments allow students to make and extend personal connections to their experiences or history (individual/internal factors), their social relationships (social/external factors), and/or their subjects and topics for writing.” (Eodice, Geller, & Lerner, 2019)

Consider, for example, having students write about how a particular course concept relates to their own lives, how their opinion has changed of a particular topic since covering it in class, or what their reactions are to a particular reading or assignment.

Low-stakes writing can be particularly effective when it encourages students to engage in metacognition (the process of thinking about and reflecting on one’s own learning and thinking process). Students might reflect on their positionality, the writing process, or even their use of AI for a particular task. Metacognitive reflection can be done at any stage in the writing process:

One way to have students metacognitively reflect on a larger assignment is to require a cover memo or writer’s memo—a one-page reflection on process and product (answering, for example, the questions in the third row of the table above) that they turn in with the assignment. For more about cover memos, see [relevant page in high-stakes section].

Make Low-Stakes Writing Transparent

Incorporating low-stakes writing activities in your teaching throughout the semester can contribute significantly to your students’ comprehension, application, and retention of course concepts. It’s important to note, however, that such writing activities most effectively support student learning when their purpose is clearly articulated. Without a clear statement about why they are being asked to do the activity, students might view it as mere “busywork” or become anxious that they’re not “doing it right.” Clarify that low-stakes writing activities are meant (for example) to help guide their reading, to identify points of clarity or confusion, or to prepare them for a high-stakes writing assignment.

Generally, strive to be transparent with students about why you’re having them write in a particular way at a particular time. This can help them understand the purpose and utility of an activity or assignment, ultimately improving motivation to do it.

Make Low-Stakes Writing Manageable

There are certainly enough low-stakes activities to choose from that you could use a different one every week, but this might have the opposite effect on student learning than you’re hoping for. Especially when activities ask students to engage in a new platform or submit/share their writing through a new procedure, too much variability can redirect students’ cognitive energy to learning the platform and procedure rather than learning the concepts or strategies you’ve connected to the activity.

Throughout the semester, try building a small repertoire of low-stakes writing activities to draw from, noting the specific platforms and procedures you used for each one. This will allow you to use a variety of writing activities while still establishing some consistency and familiarity for your students.

Use Low-Stakes Writing to “Scaffold” Other Activities & Assignments

Scaffolding means breaking down a task into smaller steps to help students complete it. Low-stakes writing activities and assignments are great ways to build to higher-stakes tasks (such as larger writing assignments, multimodal project, or exams).

[Examples of using low-stakes writing to scaffold]

Scaffolding higher-stakes tasks provides myriad benefits to both students and the instructor. For example, it can:

• Emphasize writing and learning as a process (linked to thinking)
• Mitigate procrastination (a significant source of stress for students)
• Allow students to “play” and not worry about grades on everything they do (another source of stress)
• Help students build the skills and knowledge needed to succeed on an assignment
• Provide you as the instructor with “checkpoints” to assess student progress (and mitigate students going astray)

Assessing Low-Stakes Writing

Because low-stakes writing should bear little if any impact on a student’s overall course grade, it is important to assess it (or not assess it) intentionally. Below is a checklist to ensure effective assessment of low-stakes writing: