Tarot of Teaching, Part 6: Short Answer Summaries

The Tarot of Teaching deck is a creative tool designed to enrich and energize the structure of a class period. It divides the flow of a lesson into three key stages, each represented by a different category of cards: Starting Our Journey (the beginning of class), Along the Way (the middle of class), and Reaching Our Destination (the end of class). Each card within these categories offers a unique teaching tip aligned with its intended time in the class period, making each session more engaging, organized, and impactful.

Need to catch up? Check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.

What if stopping lecture five to ten minutes early—and adding an ungraded quiz—could actually improve student learning?

In Small Teaching, Dr. James Lang makes a compelling case for ending class with a short answer question on the material just covered. The secret isn’t in the quiz itself—it’s in what it asks students to do: think critically and write.

Critical thinking requires students to analyze and reanalyze new material, making sense of it in their own words. They must retrieve it from memory, connect it to what they already know, and build meaning through reflection.

Writing, meanwhile, turns that thought process into something tangible. It forces organization, precision, and commitment—no multiple-choice guessing here. The physical act of writing solidifies understanding and makes learning visible, highlighting both clarity and confusion.

Research consistently shows that this simple practice—brief, written retrieval right after learning—has long-term benefits. In one study, a chemistry professor stopped the lecture ten minutes early each day. Students wrote short responses to a prompt about that day’s content. Even though less material was “covered,” failure and withdrawal rates dropped, and C and D students showed marked improvement. (A and B students changed little, perhaps because they already used strong retrieval strategies on their own.) The instructor didn’t grade the work but reviewed it for trends and addressed common issues at the start of the next class.

If your exams already include short-answer questions, this approach helps students prepare. But even when they don’t, the practice deepens learning by strengthening connections and recall.

How to do it: Design questions that go beyond recall. Ask students to compare, interpret, or apply concepts instead of simply defining them. These questions can be planned or developed on the fly, depending on the rhythm of your class.

Bottom line: Don’t be afraid to stop introducing new material early! Use those last few minutes to guide students in retrieval and reflection through short written responses. The learning payoff will last long after class ends.

References

• Lang, J. M. (2016). Small teaching: Everyday lessons from the science of learning. Jossey-Bass.
  

• Druger, M. (2003). Active learning in general chemistry classes. Journal of Chemical Education, 80 (2), 160–161. https://doi.org/10.1021/ed080p160