WRITING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM: 10 INFORMAL WRITING ACTIVITIES
PARTIALLY ADAPTED FROM ENGAGING IDEAS BY JOHN C. BEAN (2001)
WCCS Writing Center
ACTIVITY
Jumpstart
Discussion
Response
Summary
Response
DESCRIPTION
 Use at the beginning of a lesson.
 Review previous material or stimulate
interest in new topic.
 Can be open-ended and exploratory or
specific.
 Ask selected students to share.
 Use during a class activity or
discussion.
 Useful to help generate a discussion or
reflect on a discussion, presentation,
etc.
 Students ask questions, respond, or
express confusion before continuing
discussion.
 Use at the end of class to allow
students to reflect on the lecture or
discussion.
 Direct students to answer one or two
questions or leave it open-ended.
3-2-1
 Students respond to an activity,
discussion, or text.
 Change the questions as needed. They
can be content specific, general, or
focused on the main idea.
 Collect or randomly select students to
share.
Open-ended
Journal
 Students are assigned a certain length
or number of entries per week.
 The entries are open-ended responses
to discussions or reading material.
 They encourage students to initiate
questions and seek answers, to clarify
their thinking, to explore their ideas,
and to make connections between
class content and their lives.
EXAMPLES
 What new concept in chapter 7 is the
most challenging for you?
 How does _________ make you consider
________________________________?
 Convince someone in the class to want to
live during the Renaissance. Be persuasive!
 Freewrite for three minutes about our
discussion. Possible topics: 1) What do you
agree or disagree with? 2) List five words
to describe ________ (choose a topic from
class). 3) Out of the points made today,
whose do you think was strongest and
why?
 What is the most significant fact or
concept you learned today?
 Describe the three types of basic electrical
circuits.
 What have you learned from discussion
today that connects with life outside of
class?
 Write 3 new facts you learned, 2 questions
you have, and 1 connection to what you
knew before today’s discussion.
 Record 3 differences between the Int.
Criminal Court and tribunals such as
Nuremberg, 2 similarities between the ICC
and tribunals, and 1 question you have.
 Record 3 of the most important ideas from
the text, 2 supporting details for each of
these ideas, and 1 question you have
about each of these ideas.
 Summarize a lecture or discussion.
 Agree or disagree with a point made in
class or in the text.
 Apply something from class to personal
experience.
 Express frustration, excitement, confusion,
etc. toward class learning.
Guided Journal
Exam Prep
Journal
Article Critique
Frame
Paragraphs
Emails & Forums
 Students respond to content-specific
questions developed by the instructor.
 Encourages students to engage in
critical thinking related to class
material and to apply new concepts.
 Helps instructors evaluate student
understanding of new concepts.
 Early in the course, the instructor
distributes a list of questions from
which midterm or final exam
questions will be drawn. These can be
short response or essay questions.
 Throughout the course, students
respond to each question in their
journals.
 Some teachers allow students to use
these journals during the exam.
 Students choose an article related to
the current subject.
 They are graded on depth and quality
of exploration (not grammar).
 Critique can follow a basic format
(summary, response) or ask for a
question response.
 Share in class/small groups.
 The instructor provides the framework
for the question, allowing students to
think about content.
 Work well for reviewing chronological
order, compare/contrast, etc.
 Can be used throughout the course
and for final exams.
 Ask a question via email and ask
students to respond.
 Post an exploratory question on a
class forum or send to a class email
account. Students respond to each
other’s comments and initiate
conversations among themselves.
 Explain how to change a carburetor;
pretend you are talking to someone who
has never worked on a car before.
 Find a current news story related to our
topic of ___________, and share about
the story. Include at least 6 sentences.
 What is the difference between being
adaptive and being an adaptation? How
do these concepts relate to the concept of
function in the biological sciences?
 Describe the hair-cutting techniques and
trends that have developed the last 20
years.
 Contrast two musicians we’ve studied.
Consider their styles, impact, and
background.
 Read a recent article about a new
development in masonry. Write two
sentences describing the development
and two sentences describing its impact.
Then write two questions you have.
 Find a how-to article about measuring
resistance. Summarize the steps; then
share one change you’d make to the
article.
 A strong leader from history is . . . . This
person is known for his/her
(generalization, then development).
Another reason why this person is
remembered as a great leader is . . . . A
third reason is . . . Despite these strengths,
this leader also has a fault. (Explain.)
 Respond to today’s discussion about
polarization in recent politics. Share an
example you’ve noticed or ask a question
you want answered.
 Share one new way we can use today’s
math concept in everyday life. Make it
practical. Be creative!
EVALUATING EXPLORATORY WRITING
 Don’t feel obligated to read or grade all writing done by students. Select key pieces or choose a sample.
 Use the WCCS rubric for longer pieces of writing, but remember that most activities are informal,
exploratory writing. Focus on the content and depth of exploration.
 Consider using a minus (unsatisfactory), check (satisfactory), plus (high quality) system. Evaluate how well
the piece reveals engaged, exploratory thinking about the topic—not how well it is written.
 Compute the minuses, checks, and pluses into a letter grade.
 WAC is about learning. The more we write, the more we think critically & the better we communicate.