Because teaching children how to study is not in our curriculum and teachers are not taught how to teach studying skills in their teacher preparation programs. Inconceivable, you might think, but true. As a result, the random ability of a child to self-develop personal study skills becomes a highly reliable predictor of academic success in high school. And it is a random ability.
Check it out. Ask any group of high school students to explain their study habits.
You may find a child who enjoys virtual photographic memory. This child reads or sees something one time and on test day recalls that initial intake with astounding reliability. This child, though an outlier and rare, obscures our concepts of studying. We cannot generalize about their uniqueness.
Most students will report they reread pages of their textbook and review their notes of what the teacher said in class. A second “most” will report they do a reread and review one or two nights before a scheduled test. Usually, they cram!
A few will say they reread text material and “rewrote their notes”.
One or two will say they “reread the text and their notes, identified key words and ideas, made flash cards of these and tested themselves on their flash cards until they memorized this information”. They add, “I start several days before the test”. When asked, “Who told you to study like this?”, none will say “My teacher”. This is metacognitive studying. Sadly, we do not teach children how to do this. You will not find it in any publishing guide or in a baccalaureate teacher prep curriculum.
Want to hazard a guess as to which children get high grades and which children do not?
What do we know?
The slope of responsibility for independent study starts as a flat line in the primary grades, approaches 45 degrees in the intermediate grades and then goes vertical in the secondary grades. The degree of responsibility for independent study is not met with explicit instruction teaching children how to study. We literally tell children what to study and then say “go study” thinking effective study techniques are in each child’s genetic map.
Observations of K-4 classrooms show teachers telling children what to know, practicing what to know, and reteaching when children are not successful in initial knowing with good regularity. This good practice has not changed much over time. Parents will remember their teachers using the chalkboard to write out new words, ideas, and arithmetic strategies. Children today see their teachers doing the same on smart interactive screens. The “write it, say it, explain it” pedagogy works well in the primary grades for teaching all subjects. The amount of information or skills being taught/learned is controlled by the teacher who uses repetition as drill and practice to drive home daily learning. Teacher guided repetition works well until the batch of new information increases in volume or the degree of complexity increases in middle school. There is little independent homework in the primary grades; mostly children do projects at home and bring them to class to show.
Intermediate teachers traditionally tell their students “The amount of homework you will be assigned in middle school is significantly more than we are doing. Be ready!”. Fair warning, but children need more than just a warning.
The following describes what middle school students are told to do to be successful in their homework and independent study. I hear these “keys to doing homework” repeated annually in middle school classrooms.
- Establish a study area at home.
- Communicate with the teacher.
- Keep assignments organized.
- Avoid procrastination.
- Take notes in class.
- Highlight key concepts in the reading materials.
- Prepare your book-bag before going to bed.
https://www.kumon.com/resources/7-important-study-habits-for-school/
Why is this the state of study skills?
These hints are like telling children that brushing their teeth daily promotes dental health. Once told, no one checks on their brushing practices. Likewise, once we provide the above hints for homework success.
The real culprit lies with teacher preparation. A review of our state’s college and university teacher preparation curricula shows not a single course unit devoted to teaching children how to study. Our required curricula assure licensed teachers possess content knowledge, pedagogical skills, understanding of human relations, and informed dispositions about the diverse students they teach, but there is not one mention of how to teach student study skills. In essence, teachers are prepared to teach children what to know but not how to learn it.
Helpful but not complete practices
Some schools insert a unit in study skills in the middle school curriculum. The dominant study skill taught is note taking and the predominant technique for taking notes is the Cornell system.
However, study skills and note taking, once taught are seldom if ever checked afterward. We treat the initial instruction of study skills like a vaccine, once given then forever safe from the fate of poor study habits. Nothing is further from the truth. One month after the Cornell system is taught to children, I do not observe any teacher explicitly checking each child’s note taking. There is no follow-up and that is on us as teachers and principals.
A second practice that has merit is providing students with a study guide. Teachers who do this hand each student a preview of what will be tested. A study guide looks like an outline of the teacher’s teaching notes. For some students, the study guide helps them to check the validity of their note taking. Notes should reflect the guide. Study guides are great, but they also revert to the issue of how to study. A student who just reads and rereads the study guide is only a tad better off than a student who reads and rereads the text and personal notes. They achieve familiarity with the material, not a usable understanding of it. There is no metacognitive practice is giving a study guide without teaching how to use it.
What do we need – to teach all children a metacognitive study strategy and hold children accountable for using it. The following is one example.
There are several strategies for moving a student from familiarity with information to a usable understanding. Part of these strategies are organizational, and part is repetitive memorization and practice. The following strategy can be applied to every subject, all academic content, and all skills. It is time tested. It is a discipline for successful metacognitive learning.
- Teach all children to:
• Read the text material to identify new key vocabulary and ideas, cause and effect relationships, questions that are posed and conclusions that are stated.
• Use a note taking system to listen to a teacher’s lesson noting key vocabulary, new ideas and skills, and how the teacher displays those skills (math strategies).
• Reread the text material for familiarity with it – “I know what it is about”.
• Make flash cards of the key vocabulary and ideas, cause and effect relationships, steps in a problem-solving strategy, and conclusions the text or teacher make in the lessons. Key words on one side of the note card and definition on the other.
• Either partner with a parent or classmate using flash cards. “Show me the word and I will define it. Check me. If I am wrong, tell me the correction.” Children should repeat this until they can respond correctly to each flash card prompt. - Prior to a math or science test, teach all children to:
• Do the problems in the textbook or on teacher assignment sheets again, as if they are a new assignment. Do the entire problem. Show all the work, as if you are explaining it to the teacher.
• Repeat the scientific process related to recent lessons. What is the hypothesis, what is the evidence, what is the conclusion? Flash card this material. - DO THIS! Commit class time to personally checking each child’s study materials.
• Check their note cards for accuracy in identifying key vocabulary and ideas, relationships, and questions/conclusions.
• Check their reworking of math and science problems.
• Tell each child what is right and what is wrong in their study materials. - DO THIS! Commit class time for children to practice their flash cards and to rework math and science problems. Observe them studying and reinforce/correct their study strategy.
- DO THIS consistently for several units and them randomly during the remainder of the school year.
The Big Duh!
There should be no mysteries in the education of a child. Our goal is for all children to be successful and to do that we must give them the tools, the strategies, and our help in perfecting those. Success in school should not be left to the random insights of a child into how to study. Our success as teachers should be when every child demonstrates strong study skills, and every child achieves high grades. We are not successful otherwise.