A problem I have had the last few years is how
to motivate students to study for a test. When I first started teaching (12
years ago) I would just tell students that we were having a test, and expect
them to study for it adequately. Well, that never happened, of course. Over the
years I have tried several different things, but nothing ever really worked.
The "good" students would often confess to me that they never really
study for tests. So if I can't motivate
them, how am I supposed to motivate the "at-risk" students with the
same techniques?This year I am going to try the Universal Homework Model from WBT. I am calling it Super Star Homework. Students will fill out one sheet each day for the 4-5 days before a unit test. There will be three different options each day, worth 1-3 stars. Each class period will accumulate stars, worth minutes for the review game we will play before a test.
Here's the one I will use for
my first unit. I will see how this one goes, and revise as necessary for my
second unit in October. To start, I am including one star activities that most
students will feel comfortable with. Activities such as reviewing with
flashcards (that will be contained in the “study bucket” of their interactive
notebook”), as well as reading over a study guide for a specific number of
minutes will both earn one star. As we continue to use this activity throughout
the year my plan is to take the students outside of their comfort zone and do
things that they wouldn’t normally do. Including
techniques that include critical thinking as well as multiple intelligences
will hopefully help to teach students that they need to study smarter, not
longer, to increase their understanding, memory, and test score.
Hey! I love your blog and I am giving you a blog award! go to my blog and find the award and post it on your site!
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Thank you melstodd!! I appreciate it!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHow do you grade UHM homework?
ReplyDeleteHi Liz! Thanks for visiting my blog!Ihave new posts coming soon...
ReplyDeleteThe way I do UHM now, I actually don't grade it. I use it to determine minutes of a review game we play in class. I usually give UHM for 3-4 days before a test, with three choices each day. The more stars earned, the more minutes we get to play. The game happens the day before the test. We actually played a jeopardy game today based on the stars earned from UHM, and our test is tomorrow! I try and really pump up the games so kids want to earn minutes. Also, I give stickers for the super improvers team to anyone that improved in their completion of UHM. I have an Excel spreadsheet that I made up showing percentage of stars earned so kids can compare this opportunity to previous(improvements earn stickers), as well as how the formula for how stars equal minutes...it depends on the number of kids I have in class,and as the year goes on I make it harder to earn minutes so kids end up having to do more work to play. Please let me know if you have any other questions!