Gone in Sixty Seconds: The One-Minute Paper as a Tool for
Evaluation—of Both Instructor and Students The one-minute paper
can be done at any time in a class period. You can start the
class with a question: "What question do you have from the
reading for today?" Or you can interrupt a class in the middle:
"OK, we've just talked about the scientific flaws in Jurassic
Park III. Write for one minute on which of those you consider to
be the most serious." Writing one-minute papers serves as a way
to seal ideas in students' minds, provides you with an idea of
where they are, develops their critical thinking skills, and,
not least, tells you something about your own teaching. A
Berkeley Compendium of Suggestions for Teaching with Excellence
by Barbara Gross Davis, Lynn Wood, and Robert C. Wilson suggests
assigning minute papers at the end of class in order to "Know if
the class is understanding you or not, know if students are
bored or confused, encourage students to listen actively during
lectures, [and] give stude