Seven Minutes
January 09, 2020
By Kai Harris
What is a seven minute free write? Seven minute free writes are a time where the whole Environmental Studies and Outdoor Education Program class sits down and writes for seven minutes without stopping. There is always a prompt but what follows that prompt is up to the writer. Free writes are also about reflecting. They can include additional elements like using vocabulary terms from a book we may be reading, or incorporating figurative language.
Sometimes seven minute free writes are simply about something that you heard or noticed when you were out in the woods. Like the sound of a woodpecker, or maybe something a student is proud of like starting a fire with one match. Another thing that is special about what is written in those seven minutes is that they become a journal of things we have done and can be something we can look at again later and think, “Oh yeah! I remember that!”
Another thing they are really great for is when you get home and your parents ask you the question that got old so long ago, “What did you do today?” The question you never really want to answer. Now you can tell them about what you wrote in the seven minute free write.