What is a ‘quick write’?

A quick write is a writing activity that typically involves giving students a prompt and asking them to write continuously for a set amount of time, usually between 3 and 10 minutes. The goal of a quick write is to encourage students to write freely and quickly without worrying about grammar, spelling, or punctuation. This type of activity is often used as a warm-up exercise or as a way to generate ideas before a longer writing assignment.

Quick writes can benefit students’ thinking in several ways. First, they can help students to develop their writing fluency and speed. By encouraging students to write quickly and without self-editing, quick writes can help to build confidence and reduce anxiety around writing.

Second, quick writes can help to stimulate creative thinking and generate new ideas. By providing students with prompts that encourage them to think deeply and imaginatively, quick writes can help to spark the imagination and inspire new ideas.

Finally, quick writes can help students to reflect on their own learning and make connections between different ideas and concepts. By writing about what they know or have learned, students can deepen their understanding and make new connections that might not have been apparent before.

Overall, quick writes are a valuable tool for any classroom and can help to develop a range of important writing and thinking skills.