Head Fake

I hope you are rested and recovering from giving thanks. 

By the way, I did a little light research and found out that the “Turkey Coma,” supposedly caused by the tryptophan in turkey is a myth.  I have no intention of letting facts get in the way of my after-meal tradition and would advise the same for you when Thanksgiving rolls around on the calendar again next year.

And speaking of the calendar, I’m sure you are aware that we have only 15 school days to the end of the semester.  The last three of these, of course, are dedicated to final exams.  Since I was in the research mode, I typed into Google “Cramming vs. Studying” and came up with 149,000 hits.  I looked through the first five links, and it was fascinating reading.  There is overwhelming evidence and research about preparing students for final exams.  Two things jump out: 1) Depending how much sleep you get, cramming may help for one isolated test—sort of.  2) Cramming has no long-term benefits for learning.

If the goal is to have students pass the final exam and then forget the material, encourage them to stuff it in just like we did with the turkey this past week.  Give them a study guide a day or two before the test, and encourage students to put in as much time as possible in the days leading up to the test cramming (thus the name) their heads with information for the exam.  After the test, they can go take a nap on the couch and everything they just “learned” will fade away.

Another option is to take into account the way our brains actually function and build in review as part of daily lessons.  For the past few weeks, I have been creating a short list of best practices that teachers at HSHS are using right now to help students develop good studying habits.  The research is crystal clear that distributed practice leads to long-term retention, and the good news is that many of you are being proactive in your approach to studying for exams.  For example:

• Begin or end each day with a few review questions or quick discussions about key course content.
• Have students take a few minutes occasionally to go back through their notes and find one topic where they might be confused.  Have several students give a quick share-out to the class and then clarify the misconceptions.
• Add one or two questions from previous units to quizzes, tests, and/or homework.  Then discuss these questions when you hand back results.
• Have students make connections to previous learning as a regular part of lessons.  Take two minutes for pair-and-share during which students connect today’s learning to something—anything—in previous lessons.  This helps to solidify the day’s lesson and review previous lessons.
• Create a study calendar for the next three weeks, where students make their own schedules for studying for the final exam.  Make sure key content is included and distributed over time.

I’m sure there are many more ways to include distributed practice in daily lessons, but these are ones I have seen in practice during the past few weeks.

We have incredible kids at Hamilton Southeastern High School.  The vast majority of them want to do well.  We should share with them the brain research and the value of distributed studying.  Realistically, the odds are good they won’t implement these strategies completely on their own.  We can, however, teach our motivated students ways to avoid the need for cramming.  This is a skill that will pay dividends for them now and in the future. 

Of course, other students are less motivated for a wide variety of reasons.  For some, the lack of motivation is cumulative from years of school being difficult, from lack of academic success, and/or from poor study habits.  The practices listed above just might help.  These approaches are what Randy Pausch in his “Last Lecture” called a head fake, teaching a deeper lesson under the pretense of teaching something simple.  Planning distributed practice into your lessons can help all students, even Intentional Non-Learners, use good study habits—and they may not even recognize it as studying.  

We never know what impact one instance of success can have.  It just might be the spark that lights the fire.

Thanks for all you do for the students and for the school.  Time is always precious, and especially so near the end of a semester.  Plan carefully to use it well, and find ways to teach your students how to get the biggest return on their investment of time spent studying.

Have a great week, HSE.  I hope it is crammed full of joy, laughter, and learning.

Phil

Kudos this week to all of you helping students prepare for next week’s End of Course Assessments.  These high-stakes tests are stressful for everyone.  Thanks to all of you who take the time to teach skills and to reassure students.  All of us benefit when students do well on these tests.