Tip of the Week: Could You Repeat That?
Live, Die, Repeat. That’s the subtitle of a science fiction movie, Edge of Tomorrow. Tom Cruise plays a soldier who repeats the same day of combat, living and dying over and over again. The key to his surviving longer into each repeating day is dependent on his learning and remembering what to do and what not to do from his previous “days.” How well he remembered was the key to completing his mission.
How well your student remembers something is related to how well he or she learned it in the first place. After adding as much meaning as you can to your lesson, acknowledging and implementing this second factor will increase the likelihood it will be remembered.
The textbooks you’re using to teach math and language arts skills need to do more than simply introduce content and move on to the next concept. “Once lightly” is a waste of your and your student’s time. The content needs to be taught deeply enough for your student to remember it initially. It should then be followed by scheduled review exercises to refresh their memory and hopefully insure the original learning is not forgotten as new content is introduced.
As we move closer to the time of year when students will be taking an achievement test, we recommend using practice tests to refresh their memory about how test taking works. For students new to the test taking experience, learning how to take a test that “doesn’t count” but is similar to the real test is likely to increase the odds of their success when it really matters. Achieving Peak Performance and The One Hour Practice Test are two solid options.
Teach in such a way that your student learns new content well enough to insure they will remember it later and be able to retrieve it when they need it.
That’s the tip of the week!
Curt Bumcrot, MRE
Limited Time Offer: Purchase one e-book practice test from Basic Skills this week and request a second e-book practice test for free. Simply make your purchase on-line at https://www.basicskills.net/product-category/practice-tests/. Then, email us and request your free book. Offer expires Wednesday, January 15.
