What It Is
The Biggest Aha Quick-Write is a quick, versatile activity that can provide closure to almost any lesson. It allows you to capture what students feel are their most important insights learned from your lesson in just a few minutes of class time.
How It Works
- At the end of your lesson, ask students to think about and record their biggest aha on a Quick-Write half sheet, an index card, or a scrap piece of paper (Biggest aha refers to their most important insight.)
- Ask students to meet with someone they haven’t spoken to in over a day and to share their aha.
- Ask volunteers to share their ahas in a whole-group format.
- Collect the cards and review them, or review a select few. Be sure to return the reflections even if you didn’t get a chance to read them all. Let students know that you randomly selected a few to read.
How to Ensure Higher-Order Thinking
Ask the students to use specific details to explain why the aha was meaningful to them in their understanding of the content. For example, you might say, “Provide two examples of how your aha helps you better understand what you’ve learned today.”
Source
Himmele P., and Himmele, W. Total Participation Techniques: Making Every Student an Active Learner. ASCD, 2017, pp.118-120.