By Sherryl Maglione (Miss Magz), Cowichan Campus, ABE English Instructor, Vancouver Island University

I used to have an exercise like that back in elementary, but with computers, and the exercise was quick-type. I hated it, though. But with this quick-write, I personally found it easy enough that I could enjoy the exercise.
Plus, it’s a good feeling when you can write ten sentences, in 15 minutes, about a picture of anything.
(M.L., age 28, ABE Student)

ABE students who may have been away from the classroom for an extended period of time may be intimidated by the entire “idea” of school – memories from previous experiences where they did not experience success may surface and cause feelings of pressure and fear.

I believe writing quick writes in English opened my mind to thinking of better ways to express myself.
I really enjoyed hearing that there was no wrong answer with these quick writes.
While they were all fun to do, a few of them were hard because I didn’t understand the picture itself, but because I had help from the teacher and other students, I got it down pat.
(S.J., age 32, ABE Student)

The QuickWrite is a short piece of writing where students have fifteen minutes to write approximately ½ page (or more, depending on the nature of the QuickWrite) response journal to the image.  As many students are visual learners, I find using an image on the classroom screen evokes writing in a concrete way from which the student can easily identify.  The instructor should model the QuickWrite at the beginning of the process, and write along with the students as often as possible throughout the term, to place emphasis that the classroom is a community of writers and communicators.

For the quick writes, I really enjoyed seeing how I started with how a few lines at the beginning turned into a few pages for each one at the end. The topics were on the spot, which made you really think of what to write.  In the end, the quick writes helped me write more.
(N.W, age 32, ABE Student)

Students are encouraged to purchase a coil notebook specifically for the collection of the QuickWrites.  I have students write twice a week; first thing Monday morning to get the brain ‘in gear’ and first thing on Thursday morning to encapsulate the week through writing.  I also go to the dollar store or Staples and check out the bargain basket for coil notebooks with a nice picture or design on it so students can immediately choose and identify that book as theirs and theirs alone.

I think QuickWrites were great because although it is the same QW for everyone, every single person has different perspectives according to their experience and balance in life. Eg., I will write my opinion today about any QW, but if my emotional side was not confident, the next day my opinion will change if my emotional, spiritual  and intellectual side feels different.
(M.M., age 45, ABE ESL student)

For general assessment expectations and guidelines, the QuickWrite is assigned 5 points each.  This signifies three things:  one, each QuickWrite represents a non-threatening way to accumulate what seems like ‘easy’ marks for the students; two, the exercise builds student confidence when the time comes to writing longer, more formal pieces of writing; and, three, the teacher is able to make written comments and thereby provide meaningful and private feedback forum for students’ thoughts, ideas, opinions, skills, and knowledge.

I found QuickWrites helpful at the beginning of class to get my brain thinking and found it more helpful to help focus on just writing. I know QuickWrites helped my writing and I felt more and more confident about my writing skills as I was returning to school after five years. I wish more teachers did QuickWrites at the beginning of classes!
(L.R., age 25, ABE student)

An unexpected offshoot of the QuickWrite experience is that students comment on how much they did not realize they could write.  They also commented that this was their favorite part of the class throughout the term.  When students have finished their 24 QuickWrites (two per week), they review them and are proud of their accomplishment.  When viewed in their totality, the ‘completed’ QuickWrite assignments are impressive and the students value and treasure this collection of their thoughts at this particular time of their lives.  Also, I encourage students to research a QuickWrite for the class.  This gives students a way to begin the research process, think about how their peers will benefit from their choice, and give them a sense that they have contributed to the learning of everyone.  For example, a student emailed me a picture of her dog and her dog had such a unique expression that our class used the picture for our QuickWrite and had a good laugh.

If anyone is interested in a copy of my collected images, please email me and I will forward you the PowerPoint document.