Informal, In-Class Writing Activities
For more information:
http://writing.umn.edu/tww/assignments/in-class.htm
Brief Description: This page briefly summarizes a number of quick (3-15
minutes' writing time) techniques for using informal expository writing to
help students develop critical mastery of the material in any discipline. It
includes descriptions and examples of prompts for freewriting, oneminute papers, scenarios, logbooks, and microthemes, as well as general
advice on writing-to-learn strategies. Several of the techniques are
adapted from John Bean's excellent Engaging Ideas.
Contributed by Pamela Flash, The Center for Writing, University of
Minnesota
Informal, In-Class Writing Activities
Informal, exploratory writing, when assigned regularly, can lead students to develop
insightful, critical, and creative thinking. Experience tells us that without this prompted
activity, students might not otherwise give themselves enough time and space to reflect
on class content, or to forge connections that will allow them to remember and use ideas
from assigned readings, lectures, and other projects. These brief writing activities also
allow instructors to get a general sense of students’ grasp of course concepts and
materials, and can, in turn, inform future lecture notes, class plans and pacing
What follows is an annotated listing of some of the more common write-to-learn
activities assigned in classrooms across the disciplines at the University of Minnesota.
Freewriting
Freewriting, a form of automatic writing or brainstorming trumpeted by writing theorist
Peter Elbow, requires students to outrun their editorial anxieties by writing without
stopping to edit, daydream, or even ponder. In this technique, all associated ideas are
allowed space on the page as soon as they occur in the mind. Five-minute bouts of
freewriting can be useful before class to spark discussion; in the middle of class to
reinvigorate, recapitulate, or question; and at the end of class to summarize. It is also
useful at many points in the drafting process: during the invention stage as students sift
for topics, and during the drafting process as they work to develop, position, or deepen
their own ideas.
There are at least two types of freewriting assignment: focused and unfocused. Focused
freewrites allow students opportunities to initiate or develop their thinking on a topical,
instructor-supplied prompt, for example, “What is a virus?” Unfocused freewrites, on the
other hand, allow students to simply clear their minds and prepare for content activity. In
either form, students are instructed to write generic phrases like “I can’t think of anything
so say, I can’t think of…” or “Nothing nothing nothing” if their minds go blank. Once
their self-consciousness or resistance lowers, ideas will begin to flow again.
It’s important, particularly in the case of focused freewrites, that students take a few
moments after the timer has gone off to read over what they’ve written, highlighting
useful and interesting ideas that may be glittering from amidst the verbal rubble (see
example below). These insights might then be developed into formal writing
assignments, or at least be contributed to discussions.
Note also that freewriting is often personal and messy. It should be a low-stakes writing
activity for students, and should therefore remain ungraded.
One Minute Papers
One-minute papers are usually written in class on an index card or scrap of paper, or outof-class via email. The limited space of the card forces students to focus and also presents
such a small amount of writing space that it usually lowers levels of writing anxiety. On
their cards, students may be asked to summarize, question, reiterate, support or counter a
thesis or argument, or to apply new information to new circumstances. The results help
students to digest, apply, and challenge their thinking, and achieve enough confidence to
contribute fruitfully to class discussions. These short writing assignments also deliver
quick, valuable feedback to instructors.
The following are examples of prompts:
 Any discipline:
o Create a bumper sticker that would summarize yesterday’s lecture
o Without referring to the text, jot down one or two points that surprised
you.
 Anthropology: Try to view this slide through the eyes of a member of your target
subculture. List your observations in the order they occur to you.
 Medical Ethics: “People suffering from schizophrenia or manic-depressive
disorder should/should not be forced to take their medication (Bean 124).
 Algebra: Think of examples of your own personal experience to illustrate the uses
of vector algebra. You might consider such experiences as swimming in a river
with a steady current, walking across the deck of a moving boat, crossing the
wake while water-skiing, cutting diagonally across a vacant lot while friends walk
around the lot, or watching a car trying to beat a moving train to a railroad
crossing. Use one or more of these experiences to explain to a friend (a
Kinesiology major) what vector algebra is all about. Use both words and diagrams
(adapted from Bean 121).
Scenarios:
Scenarios are short, imaginative writing activities that allow students to broach a topic or
apply content to new contexts. Examples of scenario activities include writing letters,
editorials, memos, and persona pieces such as dialogues or role play.
Sample prompts include the follwowing:
 Create a hypothetical dialogue between 3-5 individuals who have different
perspectives on, but definite stakes in, your argument.
 Write a short letter to the author of this novel in which you pose unresolved
question(s).
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You are Adam Smith. You have an intercom connection to WorldCom. What do
you say?
Write a letter to an elderly and taciturn patient (who has recently been diagnosed
with diabetes) explaining what is meant by the glycemic index of foods and why
knowing about the glycemic index will help her/him to maintain healthy blood
sugar levels.
Logbooks:
Logbooks (called journals* in some contexts) provide students with opportunities to think
through material in their own voices. They may be structured or unstructured, requiring
students to complete frequent short entries in which they, for example, summarize
material, connect course topics with their observations and experiences, answer questions
you design, or reflect on their own notes using double-entry notebooks. Unlike individual
short writing assignments, logbooks compile student writing throughout an assignment, a
unit, or semester and, like portfolios, allows students to see the development of their
observations, ideas, and skills. These notes may be kept in notebooks, binders, or
electronic folders.
* You are cautioned against calling the logbook a journal or diary. Students may
associate those terms with strictly personal records of intimate thoughts and wishes and
day-to-day activity. They need to be clear that the purpose of a logbook is the open
(public) record of ideas and findings.
Microthemes:
Microthemes, conventionally similar to the one-minute paper, have, in practice, taken the
form of one-page papers written outside class. Informal and exploratory, these
assignments should, again, present students with low risk situations where they can feel
free to speculate and work through their thoughts, paving the way for more sophisticated
analysis and evaluation. Examples include the following:
 History: Write a Microtheme of between 250-350 words on the following topic:
China and India both had dramatic encounters with Western countries during the
nineteenth century. Select an encounter each country had with the West in the
1800s and compare and contrast the Chinese and Indian responses. Discuss these
two responses in terms of at least one trend in world history.
 Wildlife Conservation and Management: Write a microtheme addressing an issue
or concern based on a news release from a non-governmental organization (NGO)
or other stakeholder group. The news release of the NGO should be from the
period November 1999 - January 2000. Write the microtheme from the
perspective of a natural resource agency person (you). The microtheme will be
addressed to me, your supervisor. You will express, and defend, either your
opposition or your support of the perspective raised in the news release. You will
be expected to use the World Wide Web (WWW). In addition, give the WWW
address for the NGO or stakeholder group. Related assignments.
Teaching with Informal Writing Assignments: Some Notes on Procedure
 When introducing the activity, give students your rationale for assigning it. Avoid
characterizing it as a “fun, little writing activity.”
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If you’re using a prompt, present it both orally and visually by writing it on the
board or projecting it on the screen. Exceptions include disciplines where
response to oral instructions is valued.
Whenever possible, do the activity yourself before presenting it to students and/or
do it along with them in the class. This makes a significant impact on student
motivation.
Before students write, describe next steps. Will the writing be collected?
discussed? included in an assignment portfolio? graded? If students are going to
be able to be truly informal, they need to know that they aren’t going to be judged
on the quality of their exploratory writing.
Be clear about time limits (“I’ll stop you in 5 minutes”) and when time is almost
over, give 1-minute or 30-second warning.
At the completion of the assignment, ask students to reflect on insights and
developments.
If you collect student writing, summarize, or at least highlight and comment on
your findings during a subsequent class.
Effective write-to-learn assignments...
 Are short (3-15 minutes)
 Ask students to write a word, a sentence, question, or a paragraph or two
 Are integrated (explicitly) into class content, objectives, and activity,
and, are optimally, utilized in subsequent writing projects
 Elicit multiple responses
 Where appropriate, receive some content-focused (versus mechanicsfocused) response
 Aren't formally graded, but count toward a portion of the grade
Now What?: Responding to Informal Writing
If the primary purpose of informal writing is learning (rather than communicating what
has been learned) and if the intended audience is usually limited to the writer, how are
instructors advised to grade or respond to the writing generated by these activities?
Unlike finished student work elicited by more formal assignments, informal writing is not
assessed for style or grammar; you’ve asked students to formulate and pursue ideas in a
creative and potentially messy process. With this in mind, consider the following
strategies for working with completed informal assignments:
For in-class short-writes:
 Do nothing more: continue with the discussion, demonstration, or lecture,
confident that the activity succeeded in allowing students to deepen their
understanding of the target content.
 Follow the activity by giving students class time to voice ideas and/or questions
they may have uncovered by writing. In large classes, ask students to discuss
ideas from their writing with a peer in order to share or synthesize responses that
you then pull into discussion.
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Collect the writing with or without student names. You can read them quickly for
your own information, and then summarize this information in the next class
session, or you can grade them (check, check minus, check plus).
Ask students to keep their writing until the semester’s end, then hand in their five
best for grading.
Three important caveats:
Freewriting often results in personal writing that students should not be asked to
make public. Make sure that you are clear about audience before the assignment is
undertaken.
Whether or not their informal writing receives a grade or comment, students
should be given credit for doing it. Allocating a percentage of their final course
grades to informal assignments and/or class participation can allow you a place to
accumulate the minor numbers of points given to these small assignments. You
might also ask students to compile and turn in all “process pieces” like drafts and
informal writing with a final project, and allocate a percentage of that project’s
cumulative grade.
Anticipating that students may be as unfamiliar with un-graded assignments as
they are with the whole concept of writing-to-learn, expect that their engagement
with either aspect may require some discussion of rationale on your part as you
introduce the activities.
For longer informal assignments:
Longer pieces of writing done outside class (microthemes, logbooks, response papers) are
read for content. Instructor or peer comments should focus primarily on relevance to the
assignment and quality of ideas. Criteria for success in these assignments is usually based
on the thoughtfulness of students’ responses and their ability to think coherently on
paper. If you find that a student’s ideas are obscured by error-ridden writing, you won’t
be able to respond to them.
Writing supportive and engaging comments is, of course, the ideal as these comments
will reinforce the idea that these informal assignments are indeed about exploration and
the pursuit of insight. If writing substantial comments is not an option time-wise, you (or
a classmate) can still note brief questions and reactions in the margins.
Grading informal writing assignments
Respond with a simple check plus (excellent), check (satisfactory), or check minus (subadequate) and, if time is limited, minimal comments:
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