The Minute Paper
As a follow up to my last post about feedback, I wanted to share my favorite technique for getting feedback from students, the minute paper. I learned this from a language program director more than 15 years ago, and I can say that this activity is timeless. In fact, it might be even more useful now in the age of Generative AI, when there is such concern about students doing their own work, reflecting, and learning for themselves.
At the end of each class, students had one minute to write the answer to three questions, anonymously:
What have I learned?
What am I confused about?
What do I want to know more about?
It was our routine at the end of class: I would summarize the session and leave them with a final thought for the day, and they would write their minute papers. When I reviewed them after class, I could quickly see what students were taking away, where they were confused, and what else they were thinking about. The papers helped me plan for the next class, and opened a line of communication between me and the students. At the beginning of the next session, I would always start by thanking them for their minute papers, and giving a short summary of the themes that came up. If there were things they wanted to learn more about that were scheduled in the coming weeks, I would let them know they were thinking in the right way. “I am glad to see you want to know more about _____; we will be covering that next week.” If many people were confused about the same topic, I would find time to review the topic. I used it as a chance to address and validate their questions.
Not everything that came up could be easily addressed in the next session. At the beginning of my first year teaching in that program, I had a very disgruntled student. In the first week, her papers included a litany of complaints. In terms of fear of feedback, it was challenging, but at least I knew I had a problem! When you see negative comments in the papers you can say something like: “some of you have expressed concerns that are better talked about individually. I invite you to come to my office hours or speak with me after class to discuss them in more detail.” In the case of my grumpy student, I was able to meet with her and help her understand the approach I was taking with the course material. She stayed in the class and her minute papers improved!
Minute papers don’t just help the teacher. They are a great reflective exercise for students, and help solidify their learning from each session. I am sure many of you have had the experience of leaving a class or lecture and not really knowing what you got out of it! Taking time to write down the things you learned and questions you have helps you remember and gets you in the habit of reflecting on your own learning.
During the pandemic I became even more enthusiastic about minute papers. In the physical classroom you can more easily see how students are doing, pick up on how they might be feeling, or chat with them after class. But at the end of a Zoom, they disappear, and you really have no idea. I was so worried about not being able to check in with students in the same way during remote teaching, and I think minute papers helped bridge that gap. We created a google form template instructors could put in the Zoom chat at the end of the session. We added a question about how the Zoom was working, in addition to the standard questions, so students could explicitly share their technical challenges. Students appreciated that we cared about them and their learning. If you are teaching online, think about this! If you are teaching in person, I recommend having students write on paper, and leaving time for them to do it at the end of class, to make sure they do it and take it seriously. No matter what modality you are using, making sure students know how the minute papers are helping them and that you value their responses will help keep them engaged.
See how easy it is? Minute papers are my favorite classroom assessment technique- there are so many varieties you could try! I really believe if we could make one small intervention in our teaching, mandating a minute paper would go a long way to improving teacher- student communication and enhancing student learning. Are you ready to take this step with your teaching? Do you want other ideas on how to get feedback from your students? Please reach out.
