Active Studying Technique That WORKS!

The Whiteboard Method

 How to teach your students to actively study

 

 

A teacher's job is to help their students grow.  For years, I would receive emails from parents and questions from students asking how they can improve their test scores.  I would hear things like, "I studied all of your notes, used the review sheet and read the textbook."  My response was always, show me what you did.  The response was usually the same, they would flip through their notes, read through the review sheet questions and sometimes they read the textbook.  

Now, I start my year giving the same speech to my students.  I ask them from Day 1 that if your preparation for tests is flipping through your notes and reading through review questions, does that really mean you are learning it?  I can take your notes home to my 8 year old son and get him to memorize your notes just like he memorizes lines to a movie or lyrics to a song.  Does that mean he understands your notes?  No, and you are no different than my 8 year old son if that is your preparation for a test!  You see there is a HUGE difference between memorizing and understanding.  My job is to get you to understand!  

This is where the Whiteboard Method comes into play!  Those that buy in to this method, succeed and often thank me!  They even Instagram post about it long after they graduate high school!  In order to move from memorizing to understanding, you must convert your study habits to active engagement.  The white board method pushes you to do this.  Here's how it works: 

1. Pick a topic you are going to be tested on (ie: Cell Transport) 
2. Use a small whiteboard and start by writing down everything you know about Cell Transport (before you even look at your notes).  If they don't own a small whiteboard, pencil and paper work just as well!
3. After writing down everything you know about the topic, then look at your notes and compare what you wrote down to what your notes actually say.  Science says you are less likely to make the same mistake twice, and better to make it during "practice" and not on the actual test. 
4.  After reviewing your notes, put them away and add/adjust your whiteboard to be more accurate on the topic of cell transport.  Many of my students do these additions/corrections in a different color. 
5. Continue this process for each topic that is going to be covered on your next exam, and I have no doubt that you will do much better on your next exam!  

 The Whiteboard Method forces you to become actively engaged in your studying rather than passive.  This active teaching style as a means for studying forces you to explain the processes and not just memorize.  When you teach these concepts to the stuffed animals on your bed or just aloud to yourself, you demonstrate a level of understanding that moves beyond basic memorization!  Hopefully, you can urge your students to actively prepare for tests using the Whiteboard Method in the future.  Soon, your students will be thanking you, just as my students do me! 

An email from a former student regarding the Whiteboard Method: 
Hi Mrs. _____!
I hope that all is well and this school year is shaping up to be a good one! I just wanted to check in because I took my first bio exam yesterday and made a 94!  Studying the way you urged us to (whiteboard method) & making my own study guides was so essential. Seriously, if there’s one piece of advice I’d give to my senior self, it would be to actually put forth lots of effort into doing the assignments you gave us. I find it funny that now those exact ‘assignments’ are exactly what i need to do to study and make a good grade. But thanks so much for all of your help and advice, it is proving to be so valuable.

<......@crimson.ua.edu>

Wed, Sep 26, 2018, 1:32 AM