One Minute Paper

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One Minute Paper

As the name suggests, this is an activity where you give students 60 seconds, usually at the end of a class session, to respond to some aspect of the session. Can be anonymous or submitted for a participation grade (not intended to be graded for correct answers).

 

  1. Create one or two open-ended questions that encourage students to reflect on their main takeaway from the session, and/or ask questions about things they do not yet understand. Examples:
    1. What was your most important takeaway from class today?
    2. What question or questions do you still have about today’s material?
    3. What was the most intriguing or disturbing thing we discussed today?
  2. Print or otherwise disseminate them to your students at the end of class.
  3. Quickly review them for common themes: questions or clarifications to address at the start of next class.
  • This is a form of formative assessment that gives you a quick snapshot of what students are taking away from class on a given day.
  • Helps promote the student’s consolidation of the day’s material into long-term memory.
  • Allows instructors to better calibrate their instruction to their students’ understanding.