Reading in the Middle, Junior and Senior High Schools, Spring, 2010

Name of Strategy: Quick Writes

Source (Use APA or MLA style):
Buehl, D. (2009). Hands-on reading. Classroom strategies for interactive learning (59-61). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Give a thorough explanation of the strategy as it is described in the original source.
Quick Writes are when students just write down their thoughts for an allotted period of time in the classroom. The teacher is not worried about spelling and grammatical errors. This is strictly informal writing and the students are not supposed to polish or edit their papers. Before, during, or after a lesson, the teacher prompts the students to write for a certain amount of time. They are to write down everything that comes to their mind and are instructed to write from the very second the timer starts to the moment it stops. The prompts can be a passage from the text book, outside texts such as magazines, online articles, or newspapers, a question that the teacher proposes, or in response to a lecture or experiment. This is a good way to get students actively involved in thinking through a given topic, situation, or lesson. For the shyer students, this helps them to voice their questions and opinions. When Quick Writes are done before a lesson or experiment, this helps the students start to think about what they are getting ready to learn and relate it to what they already know. Quick Writes are also a good way to keep students’ attention during lessons and get them actively involved in them. They are also a good way to summarize what is being taught in the classroom and start to think deeper about the subject.