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I have been collecting data this year through formative and summative assessments. I have retaught sections of my courses and have structured the review and reteaching to utilize scaffolding and graphic organizers. I have also begun to look at my assessments to see if there is anything that I can do to reformat the assessments to be clearer, use appropriate wording, rephrase questions to eliminate confusing structures and I am STILL NOT seeing the levels of mastery that I am expecting. Any ideas on how to teach students to study and/or to simply get them to study?!?!?!?!?!?

Hi Linda, One little trick that I found useful when helping students get ready for a big summative exam was to tell them that we would be playing a game with questions that they created. The "trick" was that they had to know how to answer their questions and provide detailed responses for each of the questions they included. It is sort of a "Backwards Design" approach to studying. Students loved seeing their questions being used in the games, and they especially loved it when they came up with thought-provoking questions that their peers had a more difficult time answering. They were given guidelines on what kinds of questions to ask (They learned about Bloom's taxonomic levels, too). Much more learning occurred just through the crafting of their questions (and responses) for the reviews. Carolyn

In response to Linda: That is a good "trick" that Carolyn posted! I have something a little more basic in mind to suggest. What about doing some in-depth samples of what your students are thinking? For example, take one of your good students who probably did study, but didn't do that well on your assessment. Interview "her" to try to get at what was behind her responses, what was behind the brevity, the wrong turn, or whatever. After a few samples, you might get a couple of new insights into what kinds of learning experiences would address what the summative assessments are indicating as trouble spots without telling you why. Instead of an interview, you could also set up formative assessments that mimic the summative assessments and therefore give you time to be alerted to the places where the students are missing the full scientific explanation. This is especially helpful if the in-class assessment is an activity during which you can informally ask questions to reveal the students' thinking. If there is a particular "form" of a question that keeps coming up as troublesome, you should also give them a lesson and model, and lots of practice with that form (like getting full credit for a constructed response or essay question.) Hope that helps, Jan

Hi Linda and Jan and thread participants,
Jan asks, 'What about doing some in-depth samples of what your students are thinking?'
That is such a great way to uncover student misconceptions and thinking. Thanks for bringing this to our attentions, Jan. Often we teachers do not take the time to do this. I was first introduced to this idea through Annenberg's website: Private Universe Project in Science. For anyone looking for some concrete examples of how to do this, the videos are very helpful. The videos are free to access after one registers.
Carolyn

I have my students complete daily bell work questions, which give me a window into their understanding on the content knowledge. I have also tried exit slips, but I have found the additional "checking" too time consuming and overwhelming. I also try to review the bell work question every day during class...and use the class discussion to ascertain if they are "getting it." With summative assessments, I have started using "test corrections" - which incorporate helping students improve their overall test grade, while helping them recognize their errors or misjudgments. Each corrected response is only worth 1/2 a point, and students must write out the complete question and answer, and indicate where they found the correct answer in their textbook with a page number. I also encourage (used to require, but found it too time consuming for all of the students) the students to explain why they got the answer wrong - what confused them in the question? If students complete the "explain why you got it wrong" they earn additional credit back onto their tests. Test corrections are mandatory for any test grade below a "B." Does anyone else allow test corrections? If so, how do you grade them? Do test corrections help students develop mastery? What are your thoughts? Other suggestions?

Like Susanne, I also used test corrections (at the students option, not mandatory)as a way for students to explain where they misunderstood something or how they mis-applied a concept to a physics problem. Often reading was an issue and students discovered that they did not read fully and let one factor lead them to an error in their thinking. The corrections always had to be explained with words or when time allowed, the students met me during a free period and worked the problems on the board with me, articulating their understanding each step of the way. Most of my students took advantage of this opportunity and it is a valued strategy since it helped them to form a stronger foundation for future topics. Physics topics are so interrelated that a solid foundation promotes growth. As a devotee of Jim Minstrell and cognitive researchers, I always tried little 'interview' techniques while talking with my students one-on-one and during class discussions as a way to uncover misconceptions and to strengthen understanding for strong performance of future assessments. I also employed the 'ask 3 then me' technique where students could form a study group to correct errors, but each student then had to explain a new problem to me. There could be no group credit awarded otherwise. ~patty

To add to my previous discussion thread - another thing I do, which sounds similar to Carolyn's suggestion, is to have a review game the day or two days before the test. I use questions directly from the test, students work in teams and have an opportunity to compete for "prizes" - sometimes for extra credit and other times for candy, pencils etc... After reading Carolyn's suggestion, I will consider having the students create the questions the next time, and maybe I will see better engagement by the students. I have also used a game called "pass it forward." In "pass it forward" only the person in the front can write down the correct answer and stand before the others to score, while those sitting behind can use resources to find and whisper the answer forward...of course, if the person in the front knows the answer, that team has an advantage in scoring. The person "in front" changes with each question. The game also gives the teacher a heads up to any potential deficits in learning. I can try to give more detail, if you are interested.

I use the review game strategy as well and the kids love making up the questions by searching through their notes. Someone posted a few weeks back about the 'never ending story' as a review strategy - Susanne was that you? I used it for the first time this semester and it was a huge success - we took the best of each student's pages and posted them on a bulletin board where students could suggest moving the order around and finally when all was said and done (just last week) I copied them all into a 'text' for them to use as review and for next year's class to have as a resource throughout the semester. Working with the kids the last few class periods on this project I could see them helping each other, bringing their own level of understanding up - and I expect much better results on the summative because they are using a study guide they are so personally invested in .

Here is the link again for the journal article 'Make Learning a Never Ending Story'

Caryn - I am excited to do the Never Ending Story with my 6th graders! I also complete reviews with my students. I attended a CRISS 3 day training and applied the 12 minute in class study strategy for 5 days leading up to an assessment. My student mastery for all pops jumped above 82% with this strategy. I have them study a study guide, all the labs, notes, vocabulary flashcards, and all foldables we made for the unit. My students know that this is a time to be quiet, concentrate, and reread all data for the ENTIRE 12 minutes. I hid the SMARTboard clock, since it becomes a "watched pot" by many students. I walk the room reminding students to stay on task. The strategy works!

Stacy - that sounds like a great strategy - and you are right - clocks can become such a distraction. unfortunately I have 4 in my room (an homage to Captain Cook and they are set to different time zones) so I am never without kids asking the "is it time yet?" questions! What other ways do you incorporate CRISS strategies into your classroom?

If you are trying to have students demonstrate 'mastery' of what they learned, you would need to provide them an opportunity to apply what they learned in a unique way. This cannot method cannot be taught. To achieve this, I model what mastery looks like and even show them a video on Mastery. Check out this video from Rick Wormeli .

Ada, I have 4 years of data that supports most of what he says. As far as motivation about money, you can say that about any person who gets paid for what the love doing. I would not teach for free, so why would Rick W. not get paid for sharing what he learned as a teacher? Rick W's. work is not specific to him, many educational leaders such as Robert Marazano, Thomas Guskey, Carolyn O'Conner, Douglas Reeves support Rick W's work. Before I changed my practices, I researched, took some workshops on the subject, and tried the strategies in my own classroom. It is easy to say things will not work but you really don't know until you try. Personally I always questioned the subjectivity of grading, yet as a student and adult learner was afraid to ask. Grade have a major impact on students when they leave high school, so should they be as accurate as possible? Based on learning goals? Reflect what was understood? Changing my practices put the power of managing academic achievement in the hands of my students. It really feels good when the shift of power goes to the student.

How interesting; I never heard of mastery grading. I like Wormeli's approach. Iwould be interested in learning management tips for having kids redo assignments

Vocabulary games are a great way to have the students study... I have the students practice studying with each other. I have them take cornell style notes with the question on the left and details on the right. Partner A starts the study session off by asking partner b the question and partner b answers the question from the right. Its a way to actually make the student look back at their notes.