Informal writing is power tool
Learning aid runs on pens or pixels

Writing that is informal is not sloppy writing but tentative writing. It captures what my mother used to call, "What I think about something to which I've never given a minute's thought."

Informal writing takes a snapshot of the writer's thinking at the moment it was written. If the snapshot is presented for discussion, the writing is shown with the understanding that the thinking is open to change.

Giving writing prompts is usually the only way to get teens and adults to write informally enough times to understand that writing can help them learn without depending on a teacher's help.

Any teacher who wants students to become independent learners should regularly give writing prompts requiring informal written responses. Few techniques show students the value of writing for them personally as does informal writing in class.

Informality assumes many names

Writing prompts that don't require a formal response go by a variety of names that suggest how teachers use them. Some of the more common names are listed here with links to pages that discuss those particular uses:

• Daily writing prompts.
• Formative assessments.
• Write to learn activities.
• Admission (admit) slips.
• Reading and/or reflection journals.

A single prompt can perform two or more of these functions simultaneously.

Note: I deliberately omitted freewriting. Technically it belongs on the list, but freewriting is typically used to identify a writing topic than as a tool for learning about a topic.

Goals define prompts' uses

What all these ways of responding informally to prompts have in common is a goal of helping students become:

• Active learners who can—and do—learn independently, and
• Competent writers who can—and do—write without help from a teacher.

The teacher's role is to give students enough opportunities to use writing informally that they choose to use informal writing as a tool for their own purposes, not just for the tasks the teacher sets.

Choose high tech or low tech

One aspect of writing informally that makes it useful is its suitability to both high-tech and almost-no-tech teaching situations. Teachers can choose technologies that fit the:

• Assignment and course learning objectives.
• Students' technology access.
• Students' technology skills.
• School's technology tools.
• School's technology policies.

If technology options such as posting to blogs, wikis, Twitter, Edmodo or Google docs are not feasible, students can use pen and paper. Even scrap paper used on one side can be cut to half- or quarter-sheet size and used for responses to informal writing prompts.

Don't obsess over technology

Rather than fretting about which technology is the coolest to use in the classroom, the smart teacher spends time thinking about:

• The course objectives
• The wording of the prompts
• The sequence of the prompts

A pencil stub and scrap paper can be as effective as the latest high tech tool if the teacher has planned its use well.