Study Guides - To Use or Not to Use

Now that I have been full time student teaching nearly 8 weeks, I have had the chance to review my students for three major tests. I have used three different techniques for the reviews as well.

For the first test, I used a Jeopardy game set up. This method was very time consuming for me as I had to write all the clue cards. It also required me to either give students the exact questions, or come up with new, but similar, questions. It also did not ensure that all students "got" the review, as many were unengaged.

For the second test, I made a fun review guide, which include graphs, charts, and matching exercises. I also included a vocabulary word game. I had the students do the review in class the day before the test. I think students enjoyed the review, but many continued to talk and were not really concerned with getting the review finished.

For the third test, I gave the students they study guide to complete at home, and allowed those who completed the review the chance to check answers together in class. Students seem to stay focused, but some of the slower children were not nearly able to finish.

For reviewing, I have a hard not forcing my students to take responsibility for their learning. The whole "study guide" idea just seems counterproductive to me. Shouldn't 7th graders be able to synthesize what they have learned? Why should I summarize their notes and text for them? However, we are expected to do this. My teacher makes me do a study guide, and makes me give the students the answers. Why would they do the guide if they know I will give them the answers as the end of class?

Reflecting on my use of study guides, I'm not really sure where to go from here or in my own class room. I want my students to be prepared for the test, but I don't feel like I can trust them to compile information on their own. However, that is a skill I want to teach them - but is it worth compromising content knowledge? Before I make a policy for my class room, I think I will review some of the research on test review techniques. Perhaps I could put certain students in charge of writing certain parts of the review? That may engage and provide learning in compiling information.

Adaptation of Interactive Lecture

Per our class wide discussion on lectures and note taking last week, I tried out the interactive lecture technique today in class. The topic was India, and I used a slightly adapted version of the technique recommended. I had a blank time line on the board when students arrived in class, and had them copy it down along with the title "Indian Independence Time line." After the majority of students were done copying, I asked them to open their textbooks to the section on Indian Independence. I then had them "preview" the chapter, as discussed in our reading class a few weeks ago, to find the dates I had listed on the board. I then gave fun size candies to students who correctly identified the date. We all filled in the time line as we went along. I used this technique to do a couple of things. First, I used it as a focusing activity. Second, I used it to build intrigue and curiosity about the content. Third, I used it to familiarize the students with the spellings of several odd terms that would be used during the interactive lecture.

I then had students turn over their time lines to take notes alongside my lecture in an interactive way. I talked, and they listened. To keep them on track, I kept the time line on the board as a reference. I covered about half of the time line events, in about 10 minutes, and then had the students write some. They then shared with a partner. I repeated the process one other time.

I feel that students did learn how to take notes more productively from this exercise. But I was disappointed by their continual lack of interest. Some seemed a bit more pulled in then during PowerPoints or copying notes, but they weren't as engaged as I would have liked. I also worried that some students, especially in one of my classes with some low-achieving students, weren't getting everything down. However, I think the fact that they were forced to be responsible for their own learning and note taking counteracted that.

I plan on using this strategy again. I liked pairing it with the time line since I think that gave me some assurance that at least the basics were in the students' notes. I'm not sure this is the perfect lecture method yet, but it is a good trick to have in the bag. I plan to improve on this technique by using this form of lecture on a more interesting topic, and see how that goes. I will then be able to accurately reflect on whether the method would be more successful with other content.

Cinquains in Social Studies

This week I taught about the effect of the Cold War in Asia, focusing on the countries of China, Korea, and Japan. After teaching my students the ways in which they were similar and different, I had them work in groups to create pie graphs on the extensive Japanese export market currently in place in the world. I now wanted an activity that would really bring back the differences between the three countries. I decided I might try having the students write a cinquain on each country, as opposed to my normal assignment which would be to have the students write paragraphs comparing the three. I felt three cinquains would capture the same information, but allow the students the chance to write less.

I provided the "formula" for the cinquains on the board, and walked around helping students write their first one. They then wrote the others for homework, or independently in class. I found that the cinquains were a bit below the level I had hoped. Many students described the country in general, rather than providing content about their experience in the Cold War. I can understand why students did this, as they are probably used to having a lot of freedom with poetry in the ELA class. So, I think in retrospect I should have given even more guidance, perhaps even writing the first one on the board, and sharing my thought process with them. I even may have encouraged them to use the country's name for the first line, and the phrase "Cold War" for the last line of each poem. This would have kept the fact that they needed to focus on the country's role in the Cold War.

I still feel good about the role of cinquains in the content area, but think I need to provide more guidance next time - until the students are comfortable with the technique. I think the cinquain could certainly be helpful to all content area reading teachers as it provides a creative means for students to show what content they have mastered. And, I believe the technique will produce better writers.

Pre-Active Strategies

This week we started the Cold War in my 7th grade Social Studies class. This is a topic I certainly feel less that confidant in teaching, and thus I was suspicious my students may feel weak in this area as well. My suspicions proved accurate as my students could not even identify the Vietnam War as a Cold War event without some hints!!! Anyway, I still wanted to use a preactive strategy, so I decided to do a very basic web on the Cold War. I would be willing to write down just about any connection, even if barely qualifying, that my students could make to the Cold War. This actually went pretty well, and students were able to come up with several topics that related, like the fact that no actual fighting was meant by the phrase "Cold War" and that propaganda was used throughout the event (something we had talked about with the end of World War II). I had my students copy down the web as I made it on the board, and save it in their notebook. I then decided to make the task more authentic by coming back to it the next day after lecturing on the topic. My students had lots to add to their webs, and felt a lot of achievement in noticing how much they had learned just from the past day.

I am really excited about this technique. I think often as teachers we do things on the board, especially graphic organizers, that we never come back to. I learned while doing the KWL chart that my students can definitely pick up on the fact that some of these things are just to take up time, and that we as teachers don't really value them for learning. By coming back to the web the next day, my students took more ownership in it. I think this may be a good technique. I certainly was happy to see what all they had learned - plus I had two "Focus and Review" activities out of one prep!!