Quick Writes
The following are
on-the-spot strategies that can be used as review activities.
How it Works
1.
Select a
prompt that you would like students to address.
2.
Give
students a specified amount of time to collect their thoughts and write down a
response (approximately 3-5 minutes).
3.
Follow
this up with a Pair-Share, or Chalkboard
Splash*.
Ensuring Higher
Order Thinking
Go beyond asking
students to explain the meaning of a concept. Ask them to make connections. Use
open-ended questions. Provide opportunities for students to understand the
broader implications of what they are learning.
Pause to Apply
What prompts
can you put in throughout your teaching to confirm that students are
understanding and making connections between what is being learned? Use a word
bank to ensure that key vocabulary or concepts are embedded within the Quick
Write.
Chalkboard splash*
How it Works
1.
Create a
sentence starter, prompt or question for which you would like all students to
see all of their peers’ responses.
2.
As
students generate responses, ask them to copy their responses onto random or
designated places on the chalkboards, whiteboards, chart paper or even sticky
notes.
3.
Debrief
by asking students to walk around, analyze, and jot down similarities,
differences, and surprises.
4.
Ask
students to get into small groups and share what they noticed in terms of
similarities, differences, and surprises, before asking for volunteers to
share.
Ensuring Higher
Order Thinking
They address
the big picture of what you are teaching. Guide students to analyze their peers’
entries. What new questions emerge from the similarities, differences, and
surprises?
Pause to Apply
This TPT works
really well with Quick Writes when responses are kept brief. What sentence
starters could you use in the form of a Chalkboard Splash that will help
students personalize or see the relevance in what you are teaching/reviewing?
