by Leda Lozier

When I was assigned at the beginning of the semester in my Writing Intensive Program (WIP) course to create a presentation about a topic on writing that I would teach in five minutes—a 5MT—I was nervous and anxious. I asked myself, “What can I teach in only five minutes”?! I thought about it almost every day that I had my WIP course, I observed my classmates present their 5MTs, and every time it helped me brainstorm ideas but nothing was concrete. So many ideas crossed my mind but I could not commit to any. As time went by, I realized one thing, I had no better source to find the best topic for my 5MT than my students. So, I went to ask my students from the Latin American film class where I was a WIP TA.

As an observing participant, I made sure not to impose on my student’s ideas about what topics I could teach but I formulated a simple question: What would you like to learn about writing in the next five minutes? As if they had been waiting for that question since the first day of class, students raised their hands and started to ask all kinds of questions:

• How do you structure a paper?
• What’s the best writing format to use?
• How do I write in Spanish without translating from English?
• How do I write a final research paper?
• How do I incorporate feedback from my peers and you into the paper?

When students asked these questions, it made me think about what Katherine Gottschalk and Keith Hjortshoj (in The Elements of Teaching Writing) said about how teachers assume that students should have learned all they need to know about writing in the class before or in high school. Like many teachers, I was worried trying to find a topic that I could teach about writing in five minutes without considering that maybe my students did not know everything there is to know about how to write a final paper and that I could always start with the basics.

It was then that I decided to choose the topic for my 5MT—“choosing a writing topic for a final research paper.” Over the years teaching Spanish courses and culture and literature, I thought that because students learn a lot of new information throughout the semester it would be easy for them to choose a topic to write about. In fact, from my experience this semester, I noticed that the more topics students have to choose from the more confused they get. At the beginning of the semester when students see in the syllabus that they are assigned a final paper, they seem overwhelmed and many times they even drop the course because they think that they may not be able to fulfill the writing part of the course because they are not familiar with the topics. However, I also have noticed that by end of the semester, students have learned so much that having all that information confuses them; one, because they do not know if there would be something new that they can write about, or two, because too much information makes them confused about what topic they really want to explore.

Choosing a topic to write about should not be so stressful for students, particularly if they are given the freedom to write about whatever topic has been covered in class. Rather, choosing a topic to write about should be seen for both instructors and students as a research process, a cycle that requires time and planning.

As I considered giving my 5MT presentation to my WIP classmates, I realized that it would be good in the future to create a questionnaire for students to use as a self-assessment about the topics that they have enjoyed learning in class through the middle of the semester. With this questionnaire, students can start thinking about a topic that they would like to write about at the end of the semester. Also, this questionnaire would guide them on how to ask research questions, so at the same time that they are doing research early in the semester, they are also preparing a bibliography.

Preparing a 5MT not only helped me understand how to incorporate this technique as a bi-weekly activity throughout the semester to any of my classes, but it taught me that students themselves are the best source of information when we do not know what topic is most beneficial to explore for them. Students are sincere about what they know and want to learn if you ask them. They are also eager to learn if you guide them along the way.

As a teacher, and now as a trained WIP TA, I want students to see writing not as a gift of intelligence but as a process that they can learn, follow, and transfer to other areas of their life. I also look forward to using the questionnaire next semester with my class.