The Minute Paper

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The Minute Paper

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At Harvard University, students enrolled in English language courses write a 1-minute paper, popularly known as "the minute paper", at the end of a lesson. They are asked to respond to two questions:

1. What was the most useful or meaningful thing you learned during this class? 
2. What questions remain uppermost in your mind as we end this class?  
                                                                                           (Cross and Angelo 1993)
      
Students answer the above questions in 60 seconds and hand in their minute papers to the instructor. Their responses are anonymous, and the instructor uses the feedback from the students to plan the next lesson accordingly.  Also, reflecting upon the responses enables the instructor to evince clear strategies to hone on the students' linguistic needs.  

What follows are my students' answers to the questions regarding what they had learned and what was still troubling them.

S1
q  Give presentation and lead discussion.
q  I still find it difficult to take notes in details while listening to the lectures.

S2
q  Learn to deal with the pressure due to a large amount of homework; learn very important grammatical points about tenses, notes provided by Dr. Jilani Warsi; I can read more rapidly and can try to take notes while I’m listening to a speech.
q  Choices of correct words; presentation at Bok Center is terrifying, needs much preparation.  Thanks to all of you!

S3
q  Gradually being accustomed to the environment here including the English language, the American culture.
q  And the most urgent question for me is that my spoken English is still poor, and I need to improve it as soon as possible and as much as possible.

S4
q  How to deal with short time for presentation and structure.
q  I am still think that we do not learn enough from other people presentations because their presentations are not followed by class fitback.

S4
q  Difficult tense usage.  The fact that facilitating discussion is very difficult, because I read so many articles this week, I came to read English articles more quickly.
q  But I couldn’t read your comment about my presentation.

S5
q  We learned some grammar.  We had a lot of interesting discussion.
q  I would like to learn some more grammar and some idioms.

S6
q  Take part in actively.  Open your mouth, whenever necessary. 
q  I lost a big percent of my vocabulary these two weeks, though I began to know how to speak in an “American” way.

S7
q  We learned more about the presentation.  And we also learned much about grammar and vocabulary. 
q  If the style of presentation can change a little bit, it will be more enjoyable.

S8
q  Some scientific knowledge, some grammar, how to do presentation, and how to lead a discussion.
q  How to explain my ideas clearly and how to speak fluently with fewer grammar mistakes.  Thank you!

S9
q  Preparing the presentation, the usage of different tenses, leading a discussion, skimming materials.
q  I am still a little confused about the correct or native way to use different tenses.

S10
q  I did the ETS presentation and OLM presentation this week.  I value these experiences really valuable!
q  I don’t like this novel.  (MS) Do I still have to write responses and summary about something I really don’t like?

S11
q  “Outside Lies Magic”.  Many interesting things which I hadn’t noticed before.  “ETS” broad my knowledge in many branches of science.  Novel: most easy to read, to enjoy and discuss with classmates.
q  I’m not well-prepared for the Bok Center presentation yet.  I will have a busy weekend :-(

S13
q  Grammar and lecturing skills.
q  Can the class be made more interesting, [away from the routine?]  Grammar.

S14
q  Presentation skills such as organizing the outline.
q  I am not still familiar with the terms in scientific fields.  It sometimes makes me bored or confused.


As you can see, the responses are instructive and provide the opportunity for the instructor to plan effective lessons. Richard Light sums up the benefits of the 1 minute paper at Harvard as follows:

1. Students listen more actively in class
2. Improvement in student writing with more considered answers being provided during the later 
    weeks in the semester
3. Students are able to identify where they need special assistance or where they needed to prepare
    more effectively
4. Students realize and document that they had learnt something in their classes. 
                                                                                                         (Light p38, 1990)

Writing the one-minute paper gives students the impression that the instructor respects their opinion and is interested in improving the dynamics of teaching and learning. They also realize that they must play a proactive role in the learning process. 

 References: 
Angelo, T. A. and Cross, K. P. (1993) Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College 
        Teachers, 2nd edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 

Light, Richard. (1990). Making the Most of College: Students Speak Their Minds. Cambridge:   
        Harvard University Press. 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

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