Timed essays are one of the best ways to help prepare students for the AP® Lang exam. At least once a year, I write a timed essay with my students, and I highly recommend other AP® Lang teachers write a timed essay with their students as well.
It creates solidarity.
While writing a rhetorical analysis essay with my students, I did a time check. We had 18 minutes left.
When I told my students this, they groaned. I responded, “Don’t worry. I’m not even done with my first body paragraph.” They laughed, and I could tell realizing that I was in the “trenches” with them eased some of the tension in the room.
It cultivates empathy.
As teachers, it is easy for us to read an essay and think “but I taught them better than that.” And oftentimes that is true. However, we often forget that not only are timed essays rough drafts but also they are written under duress.
One essay in forty minutes, while doable to an extent, is not much time. Writing a timed essay alongside your students is a great reminder of this.
It influences planning and instruction.
I often used timed essays as test grade. As I grade, I take note of the extent to which students applied the skills we’d been discussed.
When I write timed essays with my students, I take note of tips I want to offer them based on my experience writing the essay.
Here are some tips I plan to go over with my students because of this experience:
- Keep the rubric in mind.
- Annotate sparingly yet meaningfully.
- Make a quick outline before you write.
- In a time crunch, prioritize your best ideas.
- Conclusions can be helpful but are not required.
- Quality body paragraphs are more important than the quantity of paragraphs.
Writing a timed essay with my students also reaffirmed why I love sentence frames as a teaching tool for students to help them better articulate their ideas. When the clock is ticking, sometimes it can be difficult to write a coherent thought, never mind an articulate one.
I give my students sentence frames throughout the year by incorporating them into shorter writing assignments and other lessons. I’ve noticed that sentence frames help my emerging writers find their voice. However, my stronger writers often rely on a sentence frame or two in their essays as well.
As I was writing my essay, I occasionally defaulted to using some of the sentence frames I give my students. Admittedly, it expedited the process, especially in that moment when I had 18 minutes left and was not done with my first body paragraph.
So, if you’re an AP Lang teacher, write a timed essay with your students. If you do, let me know how it goes!
