I've been doing an experiment in my classes this week. To try to get students focused at the beginning of the hour, we've had a one minute quick write. The quick write is a place to write about the good and bad things that are filling up the students minds. My thought was that if they used this time to clear their mind, they could concentrate. This is followed by three deep breaths. As we breathe, I tell the students to breath until they can feel it in their belly. Today I had students do a two minute quick write about whether or not we should continue. During lunch I looked at the first three classes responses. Although it shouldn't come as a surprise, the more intelligent kids and students that typically do better in my class understood the importance of the quick write and wanted to continue. The students who typically rush through assignments and are not as thoughtful didn't want it to continue. Of course, since the better students want it to continue, it will continue. It seems it is worth if for the students who are thoughtful and want to use that time to clear their head and be ready for my class.
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