The Power of Low-Stakes Writing Activities
Do you have students who fear the blank page when writing time rolls around? Do you have kids who panic and shut down? Worry about getting it wrong? Or maybe you have students who struggle to get more than a few words on page, rushing through just to be done?
Yep. Me too, which is why I always include low-stakes writing activities in all of my writing units, and you should too. Here’s why. Rather than focusing on right versus wrong and a polished end product, low-stakes writing activities encourage risk-taking and skill-building practice opportunities. It allows students to fail forward as they learn from their mistakes and grow as writers.
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What Are Low-Stakes Writing Activities?
Low-stakes writing activities are short, ungraded activities that allow students to practice individual writing skills so they can build those essential writing muscles. Sometimes my low-stakes activities are purely hands-on and don’t involve any physical writing at all! These stress-free activities prioritize practice over perfection and are typically short, fun, and engaging.
Yes, you read that right. Ungraded.
If you can grade everything your students write, they aren’t writing enough.
That said, while I don’t collect every writing piece my students do, I do collect a strategic few of them. Not to grade, but to assess.
A quick read through is usually all I need to tell me whether my students are becoming proficient or not with a writing skill, allowing me to then select or create the next step in my writing instruction.
Here’s what low-stakes writing activities are NOT.
They are NOT a throw-away writing assignment that has no connection to anything else. Each low-stakes writing activity should serve a specific instruction purpose such as building writing fluency or practicing writing introductions.
It is NOT a major essay, research paper, or story. Low-stakes writing activities are like the building blocks that will eventually get you to those major writing pieces.
It is NOT a grammar worksheet or drills. That isn’t to say that your low-stakes writing activity can’t be grammar based, but filling out the worksheet or diagramming isn’t the end goal. For more on best practices on grammar instruction, check out this series of blog posts I did awhile back.
Why Low-Stakes Writing is Essential
It reduces writing anxiety.
When students know that you won’t be grading their paper, there’s no longer a fear of failure. Students will be more willing to try new techniques that you’ve taught or that they’ve seen in a mentor text.
It builds writing fluency and stamina.
Power Writing is brilliant for this. You give your students a prompt to write about (if desired) and set the timer for 3 minutes. Students are expected to write for the entire time and not stop until the timer goes off. When done, kids count how many words they wrote. The student who wrote the most words, wins the piece of candy, new whiteboard marker, or other prize.
Suddenly writing time becomes a fun challenge, especially when kids can track their own word counts over time. The short timeline and promise of a potential prize keeps kids engaged. This consistent but short practice helps students get words on the page faster and reduces the time spent staring at a blinking cursor.
It helps develops student voice.
When students aren’t worried about being “right,” their authentic voice emerges. This is especially true in narrative writing where kids can be as silly or dramatic as they want. I want my students to mimic their favorite writer’s voice.
Students generate ideas
These low-stakes writing activities are often the best way to generate rough draft material for future, higher-stakes assignments. Kids can look back in their writing journals and steal tidbits. This is especially helpful if you’re using a workshop model for your writing block.
How to Create and Implement Low-Stakes Activities
Set clear expectations and routines.
My basic expectations are that during writing time, everyone is writing. Always write in pencil, never pen. If you don’t know what to write, say that over and over again until we figure out what you want to say. It’s kind of like your Writer’s Contract.
Use writing journals.
Where do you want students to record their writing? I recommend using writing journals. Otherwise, you’ll waste a ton of time passing out and collecting papers. My students keep their writing journals in their AVID binders and we travel everywhere with our binders.
I’ve also used anonymous writing journals in the past. Each day, when kids came into class, they’d grab a random journal to write in. Since each writing piece would be read by someone else, we opted to not include our names on the writing pieces. This way we could write bravely. Sometimes, instead of writing, we’d give feedback or edit for a specific aspect that we were working on.
Keep your activities fairly brief.
Think of it as a quick burst of writing. Not a marathon. If you give your students 5-10 minutes to write, they’ll be done or nearly done in 5-10 minutes. If you give them 45 minutes, they’ll take up that whole time block, but their writing won’t necessarily be better for it. In general, I want my class to be begging for more writing time.
Use engaging prompts.
Over the years, I’ve found that my best writing prompts have a sense of novelty to them and engage the five senses. Or at least two of them. My prompts often include images and music. It’s just enough to spark the imagination and draw kids in.
You can also use open ended “What if” scenarios. Use a Wheel of Names to randomly pick a starting phrase. Or bring in an object for the kids to use. After my parents passed away, I found a huge stash of old keys, so I attached a tag and writing prompt to each key. Each writing prompt (which I found for free online) had something to do with a key. Now I have a ready-made creative writing activity that uses novelty to spark the imagination.
When to Use Low-Stakes Activities
While there is no wrong time to write, I find that the best time to engage in a low-stakes writing activity is usually right at the beginning of the class period. When used as a bell-ringer warm up, it establishes a solid writing routine that also gives me a moment to take attendance or prep for my core lesson.
Likewise, ending class with a writing activity can help wrap up class and give your writers a chance to implement or try out the writing skills you just taught.
More importantly, I like to use low-stakes writing activities at the beginning and middle of a writing unit. For the first week or so, we’re learning about a specific writing genre. Then, we transition into practicing the individual skills or pieces the students will need in order to be successful on their upcoming writing performance task.
When I recently taught opinion writing, I created several low-stakes writing activities for the following skills:
- Supporting someone else’s opinion
- Choosing a position on a topic
- Hooking a reader
- Adding evidence
- And redoing or revising a conclusion
Once I got a little deeper into our opinion unit, I realized that the kids needed opportunities to write an opinion piece without the overwhelming stress of coming up with their own position, researched facts and evidence, so I created these Persuasive Opinion Essay Outlines for kids to use.
Students simply pick a card, then stretch out the bulleted notes into complete sentences and add their own flair to it. This allowed the kids to practice writing an opinion piece without all the extra work.
Need some help getting started with low-stakes writing activities? Why not make life easier and pick up one of these resources below? To get a closer look at one of the resources, click on the picture to view the resource on my TPT store page.
How To Assess Low-Stakes Writing
While I am not a fan of giving grades, I do assess my students’ writing on a regular basis. Assigning a grade simply tells the student that the writing piece is done and final.
But as far as I’m concerned, writing is never done. It’s simply due.
This is why I tend to lean into using writing as a formative assessment, rather than a formal numerical grade. I can use the information I’ve learned about each writer to help me devise the next activity or mini-lesson I need to give. It’s incredibly valuable for me and it doesn’t stress out my students.
Here’s how I assess writing . . .
Start with the big stuff.
Ignore the small stuff like handwriting and spelling. Focus first on WHAT they said, not HOW they said it. Did the student stay on topic? Is their writing organized? Did they elaborate on their ideas?
There’s no sense in fixing handwriting and spelling if the entire writing piece is off topic or incoherent, right?
That said, I’ll admit I do jot down the common grammar mistakes my students make so that what lessons I need to teach – or reteach – again.
As I assess student writing, I like to use a checklist like this one below to help me track where each student is in their writing journey. I change up the form depending on the actual skills I’m teaching, which keeps me accountable too. Did I actually teach the skills I said I was going to teach?
And of course, I always have sticky notes nearby so I can jot down ideas for new activities or resources that I need to make.
Look for the trends, not individual errors.
What skill do most of your students need? You’re looking for trends, not individual errors. This might be something you need to reteach or a new skill the kids are now ready for.
Give targeted feedback.
If you try to mark every single error, you’ll find yourself frustrated and your students discouraged. Instead, comment on one glow (strength) and one grow (area for improvement). No time to give individual feedback? Give group feedback.
Plan your next writing lessons and activities.
What gaps are you seeing in your students’ writing pieces? What do you need to reteach to the whole class? To small groups? If you see students struggling with dialogue tags, spend 10 minutes teaching a mini-lesson on them the next day. What skills do your students need to learn next? What mentor texts can you read and analyze with your class? What hands-on grammar practice activities do they need?
For more information on assessing student writing through a generous lens, check out this blog post.
Recap
So there you have it. Low-stakes writing activities are powerful classroom activities that reduce anxiety, boost writing fluency, offer multiple low-risk practice opportunities, and provide invaluable data for the teacher.
Planning one is easier than you think, but if you need help with this, head on over to my TPT store and peruse my writing activities. You’re bound to find an affordable, engaging activity your students are sure to love.
Your Mission
This week, why not try just one 5-minute low-stakes writing activity into your class? Give your students (and yourself) permission to just write without the fear of a failing grade.
Remember, you don’t have to do everything. Just try something.
Want to keep learning about low-stakes writing? Check out this related blog post.
