Weekly Quick Writes for your Students

I have just introduced the weekly quick write for my students as it offers them some freedom in selecting their own weekly writing topics but still ensures that they are working to a plan.

The idea of the quick write is that out of a one hour block the teacher discusses a ten minute focus for writing such as linking sentences or using figurative language.  Next students write for a dedicated 40 minutes and then finally spend 10 minutes highlighting areas of their text and reflecting upon the focus that started the lesson. 

The planner I have put together lasts for a term and You can download it here.

60 second quickwrites for students made easy with oneword.com

What is it?  Oneword is an extremely simple yet useful tool that every teacher should have in their favourites and interactive white boards.  Essentially it offers you a single word writing prompt and then a sixty second timer winds down on screen to allow you write anything wou want about that word depending on what your writing focus is for the lesson.

It is a great solution to writers blocks and really puts you under the pump to get something written in 60 seconds.

What is even better is that it saves what others have written about that word and you can share those with your students also.

How can I use this in my classroom?

I would recommend you get all of your students to do 3 60 second quickwrites on oneword and then get them to work that word and the elements they worte about it in a narrative.  They will have heaps to elaborate on once they have done the quickwrite.

Secondly you might almost do a 'Poetry Slam' style activity in which students have 60 seconds to write a very brief poem or 'freestyle' piece around that word.

Access oneword here.