“So, when is the other shoe going to drop?” Using Five-Minute Feedback Forms to Help Students in First-Year Legal Writing Courses DOWNLOAD PDF

  “2Ls tell me this class will end up pretty heavy, but I feel good so far. So, when is the other shoe going to drop?”

This is just one example of the type of anonymous student feedback I received through the Five-Minute Feedback Forms I use in my 1L Legal Communication and Analysis class. First-year law students face complicated subject matters, new terms of art, and the heightened expectations that accompany entering a profession. These challenges and the perception of being in competition with classmates intimidate some students and may make them shy to ask questions. And even those students who “feel good” at the start of the semester may fear “the other shoe dropping.” Trying to meet with each student individually would overwhelm any professor but collecting concerns and feedback from students through Five-Minute Feedback Forms allows me to “talk” with my students under controlled circumstances that are more reasonable for me and more comfortable for them. Meanwhile, I model an important professional behavior that we expect of law students: welcoming and responding to feedback.

My Five-Minute Feedback Form is an anonymous form that students complete early in the semester. On the form, they reply to my questions and tell me about anything that is confusing or worrying them about my legal writing class. In the next class, I reply to their questions and concerns and share my responses to their questions.

Adapting the One-Minute Paper into Five-Minute Feedback Forms

My Five-Minute Feedback Form originates from the “one-minute paper,” a classroom assessment technique developed by physics professor Charles Schwartz of the University of California, Berkeley, in the early 1980s.[1] Schwartz would ask students at the end of class to quickly answer a question or two, such as, “What is the most significant thing you learned today?” or “What question is uppermost in our mind at the end of today’s session?” Schwartz originally used the papers to take attendance but also found that the responses informed what he should cover in upcoming classes.[2]

Other educators adapted the one-minute paper to provide a snapshot of student learning by asking students to respond to questions such as, "What important question remains unanswered?"[3] The technique is highly flexible and can be adapted to lectures, lab sessions, and even online courses.[4] Some professors use the one-minute paper to identify particularly challenging concepts for students that need more attention. Knowing what concepts require reinforcement helps the professor set the agenda for upcoming classes.

I first experienced the practice as a student in an upper-level French language class. The course was well-designed. It incorporated non-traditional elements for language education courses, including daily writing assignments and a variety of modes of collaboration. The unique course setup required different preparation for each class and risked confusion for students, so I appreciated when the professor solicited our anonymous feedback early in the semester by simply asking us to complete a one-minute response to the question “What is confusing to you about the class?” In the following class, he responded to our feedback, specifically addressing the unique aspect of the assignments and expectations for our collaborative writing. Since then, I have adapted the practice when teaching both undergraduates in a School of Public Affairs and in my first-year legal writing class.

For my legal writing class, I have tailored the practice to ask open-ended questions of my students about how the course is going. After a few weeks of class, I distribute index cards and set aside five minutes of class for students to address the following questions:

1.         What is still confusing to you about the class?

2.         What worries you about this class?

3.         What are some techniques that have helped your writing?

Students' responses are collected anonymously. After compiling the feedback and grouping similar themes, in the following week I share the feedback and discuss my responses with the class.

Benefits of Early Feedback

1.         Clarity for Students

The traditional one-minute paper has been adapted in a variety of formats to collect feedback on student learning and may be the most widely used classroom assessment technique in higher education.[5] Its simplicity and ease of implementation allow faculty to adopt it for general course classroom feedback. Collecting areas where students have questions about the course through a Five-Minute Feedback Form early in the semester may mean students ask about topics covered in the syllabus or on the first day of class. In my case, several students asked about the format of the final exam. (There is no final exam.) Professors using the Five-minute Feedback Form may find themselves reiterating syllabus basics.[6]  However, my primary goal is to determine if students are confused about the course design and my approach to the course. And if students are confused about the basic course setup, I want to address those points early in the semester.

2.         Clarity for the Professor

A professor may learn something that influences future course design. I intentionally structured the course to focus at the outset on legal analysis and reasoning before transitioning to citations. Despite telling students that they should not worry about citation format until later in the semester, the most frequent concern from my 1Ls related to citation format. This feedback led me to rethink my pacing and schedule for the class. In future semesters, I intend to move instruction on citations to an earlier point in the semester. The comments I received revealed that students were ready and motivated to learn more about citations. And, apparently, they could handle an increased load early in the semester. Hearing these concerns early in the semester allowed me to reiterate that I didn’t want them to worry about citation format while we focused on legal analysis; however, in the future I will revisit when and how I introduce citations to my students.

3.         Addressing Hidden Curriculum

Law school can be intimidating, and students often feel overwhelmed by the unwritten rules and norms of the hidden curriculum. My anonymous Five-Minute Feedback Form gives students a chance to safely identify points of confusion. For example, some student feedback demonstrated that they assumed our legal writing class would function like a doctrinal law class. Upper-level students had recently helped 1Ls learn about writing outlines to study for doctrinal classes, and several students asked about whether they should create an outline to study for legal writing. Others asked me to explain how “IRAC” (introduced by doctrinal faculty as a strategy for exams) differed from the “CREAC” method used in my class. The feedback was an opportunity for me to clarify my expectations and to connect to other information students were learning from 2Ls and in other courses.

4.         Fostering a Supportive Learning Environment and Modeling Professionalism

Asking for feedback early in the course signals that a professor values student input. As a student in the French language class where I first experienced the technique, the class felt different from what I remembered of more traditionally structured undergraduate courses. In conjunction with other approaches, the Five-Minute Feedback Form helps create a supportive learning environment where students felt comfortable voicing any of their questions or concerns. In Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers, authors Angelo and Cross report that they observed better cooperation in the classroom and higher levels of student satisfaction.[7] In law school, it may also help create a sense of community within the class when students realize that their peers share similar questions and worries.

In their article “Inclusive Teaching: Strategies for Promoting Equity in the College Classroom,” Hogan and Sathy call quick feedback collected outside of the normal evaluation period “micro-feedback.”[8] Responding to micro-feedback signals the importance that the professor places on being inclusive and partnering with students in their learning.[9] Professors can also adjust to the feedback early in the semester, as opposed to waiting until the next semester. After all, we expect our students to be open to feedback and respond to concerns. Shouldn’t faculty model that behavior, too? By addressing critical comments or concerns in the Five-Minute Feedback Forms, faculty can show how professionals should react and respond to critical or pointed feedback. As discussed below, responding sincerely to the feedback does not require submitting the course to a referendum. And even when students ask questions that were covered by the syllabus or topic discussed on the first day of class, I have responded with grace and patience.

Practical Implementation

Implementing the Five-Minute Feedback Form in a legal writing class is straightforward. I have used the practice successfully by considering the following factors:

1. Timing: Introduce the practice in the third or fourth week of class, once students have experienced the design and rhythm of the course.

With experience using this technique at the undergraduate level, I’ve found that it’s most effective to introduce this practice in the third or fourth week after students have experienced the course's rhythm and my teaching style. Soliciting feedback in an introductory questionnaire at the very start of the semester can be helpful, but students often don’t know what to ask on the first day of class. Relying on final evaluations is helpful only for the next time a class is taught. To identify any confusion or concerns about the basic course design, I recommend collecting the responses early in the semester. Of course, a professor can extend the practice to ask for feedback about ongoing assignments at later points in the course. I have also used the practice in connection with larger assignments that are due later in the semester. A professor could use an anonymous online form at specific times, or by publishing one that remains open throughout the course of the semester.

2. Questions: Use open-ended questions paired with a “safe” question.

I use open-ended questions about points that are confusing and to elicit feedback about things that worry my students. These are broad, open-ended questions that allow for any number of issues to be raised. Given that some students might not want to be seen writing about worries or confusion, I also include one question that is “non-threatening,” such as asking about successful writing practices. In my application, the responses to the third question about successful writing strategies are less interesting to me, and I include it primarily to remove any stigma that students might feel by writing during the response period. For anyone who does feel intimidated, it may feel safer because including the third question means writing during the minute response does not mean that a student has a concern or worry.

When a professor wants feedback about a particular assignment that students have already completed, questions might center around asking students to describe what part of an assignment was the most challenging or what they might do differently the next time. When the feedback from students consists of “lessons learned,” sharing those lessons with future classes might help future students.

3. Responding: Speak authentically to the feedback

In my first exposure to the practice as a student taking an upper-level French class, what really impressed me was the professor’s response to the feedback. In the following class after collecting our comments, the professor presented the feedback on PowerPoint slides and sincerely addressed our concerns and confusion.

This does not mean, of course, that a professor must consider the feedback to be a referendum on the course design. Consider any critical comments as a chance to reiterate how the learning objectives connect to the assignments students will complete over the course of the semester. Assessment scholars Angelo and Cross note that “[h]owever they respond, the point is that faculty do let students know what they learned from the feedback and what they and the students need to do next, in order to improve learning.”[10]  

Thus, in its best form, responding to the feedback is a chance to reiterate the learning objectives and to explain how the assignments in a course connect to those objectives. It also presents an opportunity to show a professor’s personality and authentic teaching style. Mine includes humor. Responding to the comment about the “other shoe” dropping gave me a chance to talk about time management. I shared specific strategies based on the due dates of assignments in our class and set out when I thought students should start various stages of their larger written work. In other words, I addressed when “the other shoes would drop.” Students also appreciated the humor when I began by using a picture of a shoe for each new assignment. And by the end of the semester, I extended the metaphor using pictures of flip-flops or beach sandals to symbolize less onerous pass/fail assignments.

Conclusion

Using the Five-Minute Feedback Form is a simple yet effective practice that can significantly enhance the learning experience for first-year law students early in the semester of a legal writing class. By soliciting and addressing students' concerns, legal writing professors can help students make the transition to law school by providing clarity, support, and encouragement. Soliciting questions and concerns from students anonymously early in the semester gives faculty a chance to address questions and concerns and foster a positive classroom environment.

[1] Steve Tollefson, Gone in Sixty Seconds: The One-Minute Paper as a Tool for Evaluation--of Both Instructor and Student (2001), https://writing.berkeley.edu/news/gone-sixty-seconds-one-minute-paper-tool-evaluation-both-instructor-and-student.

[2] Id.

[3] Thomas A. Angelo and K. Patricia Cross, Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers 148 (2d ed. 1993).

[4] Id. at 149.

[5] Id. at 148.

[6] Kelly A. Hogan and Viji Sathy, Inclusive Teaching: Strategies for Promoting Equity in the College Classroom 99 (2022) (explaining that students are not likely assimilating all of the “syllabus” and introductory information at the beginning of the semester because they are hearing similar information in multiple courses. Covering these basics again is a way to emphasize this information).

[7] Angelo and Cross, supra note 3, at 372.

[8] Hogan and Sathy, supra note 6, at 202.

[9] Id. at 204.

[10] Angelo and Cross, supra note 3, at 372.