SUPPORTING and DEVELOPING REVISION

1. SUPPORTING and DEVELOPING REVISION Jane Dupree

2. How do you eat an elephant?

3. A little at a time.

4. Support with planning • Know your child and his or her learning styles. • Provide a safe revision environment • Support your child with suitable equipment and resources • Don’t be afraid of using ‘tough love’

5. Know your child and his learning styles Is she a ‘perfect Paula’ or a ‘rush around ‘Richard’? • I find it difficult to say “no” to people • I always get interrupted when I study • I’m busy with lots of interests • I don’t believe in doing things the easy way • I don’t like asking for help • I do things as well as I can and that has to do • Shabby work gets on my nerves • I’ve always got too much to do • I like everyone to be happy • I spend ages trying to get my work just right • I can get things done on my own • I wish there were more hours in a day

6. Learning styles-does their style match yours? Are you (they) an inch worm or a grasshopper?

8. Inchworms like to learn and work things out step by step, especially in maths lessons Inchworms think logically? Inchworms like a tidy organised place to do their homework Inchworms like to study with bright light. Inchworms plan ahead Inchworms are punctual Inchworms are happy to have a lesson taught in steps without knowing the end Grasshoppers often know the answer in maths but cannot explain how they got there. They do not like to show their working out Grasshoppers can work in a random order Grasshoppers are less punctual Grasshoppers like to do their homework with music/noise and people around Grasshoppers are impulsive Grasshoppers remember peoples’ faces well whereas inchworms remember their names Grasshoppers want to know the end point of the lesson before they start What does it mean?

9. Support your child to use their time effectively

10. Provide a safe revision environment • In school tests are a chance to practise new revision methods before the ‘serious exams’, so encourage them to take risks • Effort is everything, praise when you KNOW they have prepared and tried their best • Reward wisely to keep self esteem intact Use metacognition when discussing results with your son or daughter. • Be strict with MSN use during revision time

11. Support your child with suitable equipment and resources linked to their learning styles • Coloured post it notes • Highlighter pens • Provide ICT resources such as Kidspiration, Mind Genius • Provide folders, reinforced pockets, A3 paper A4 paper, and be prepared to support organisational skills • Dictaphones • Tapes • Internet access for revision sites ( BBCbitesize)google is a good start, then book mark their favourites)

12. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/revision/

16. Don’t be afraid of using ‘tough love’

17. Planning a revision timetable • Understand about the learn and time review scale and build this in to the timetable.

18. Planning a revision timetable Concentration spans differ, but a rule of thumb is 1 minute of concentration for every year of their age

19. Planning a revision timetable Is your child really revising or are they learning the information for the first time? Understand the importance of revising for small tests in school, keeping notes and mind maps made earlier. Be metacognitive with ALL homework throughout the year.

20. Planning a revision timetable • Break topics into small manageable chunks, remember the elephant- use topic lists provided by all subject staff to do this • On the revision time table put….. • The subject to revise • the topic within the subject to revise • how you are going to revise the topic using ACTIVE revision methods

21. For example Maths… ( 20 minutes) Algebra-simultaneous equations…. bbc bitesize test to see what I know…….. then maths book for examples where I am stuck from feed back on the BBC bitesize test…. then question from maths text book…….. Top up tomorrow with question from past paper

22. Revision techniques • How did you revise when you were at school? • Look at the sheet of revision techniques, remember learning styles matter as does the subject being revised

23. Memory techniques • FOR INFORMATION THAT MUST BE REMEMBERED IN A SEQUENCE • The number peg system…

24. The number peg system • 1 bun • 2 shoe • 3 tree • 4 door • 5 hive • 6 sticks

25. The number peg system • 7 heaven • 8 gate • 9 wine, sign, vine • 10 hen

26. Factors affecting development in Southern Italy Key Stage 3 Geography

27. bun transport • 2 shoe weather • 3 tree erosion • 4 door earthquakes • 5 hive volcanoes • 6 sticks poverty

28. 7 heaven push • 8 gate pull • 9 wine • 10 hen

29. Using stories to remember sequences • Radio waves • Micro waves • Infra red waves • Visible light • Ultra violet light • X rays • Gamma rays

30. Keep meta cognitive at all times • Does this method suit me? • Can I try it in a safe learning environment? • What type of study does this method work best with? • Where can I transfer the revision method that worked well to other areas of the curriculum?

31. …and remember Henny Penny • The sky will not fall in!

32. Some useful addresses and sites Software www.dyslexic.com for kidspiration, inspiration - mind mapping software. Kidspiration for younger students, inspiration for older students Book: Help students improve their study skills Jane Dupree. Available on Amazon books Software Nessy Brain booster, study skill CD for older students www.nessy.co.uk Book Mind Maps for kids, The shortcut to success at school Tony Buzan www.thorsonselement.com

33. Make summary notes using A4 paper or file cards, colour code the notes • Make patterned notes or mind maps, stick the mind maps all over the bedroom, loo walls etc for quick reviews. • Change headings into questions and write summary notes that answer those questions. • Compare your summary notes to friends’ notes and shop-bought revision notes. • Read your summary notes aloud, put them onto tapes and listen to them in the car for quick reviews • Get others to read your summary notes aloud to you. • Rewrite your summary notes using different words and layout. • Practice labelling diagrams without looking at your notes; make sure you can spell the key words. • Test yourself using read, cover up, write and check. • Test yourself by visualising, draw the picture or movie in your mind. This method works for Olympic athletes so it will work for you. • Get others to test you, answer verbally or write it down. • Be active when testing yourself, move around the room. • Do past exam papers, first using your notes. • Do past exam papers without using your notes. • Do past exam papers under timed conditions. • Do lots of plans of English essays from past papers; ask your teacher to check your plan is suitable for the essay title. • Work through examples from textbooks, cover up as you go along and continue to self check. • Think up your own exam questions. This is really hard but shows you know the topic. • Be metacognitive at all times. (Know the number of facts to recall, the number of key words etc.) • Share the revision with a friend, take a topic each, revise it thoroughly and teach it to a friend. Share with a friend who is better at one subject than you and who is less secure with another subject than you. Supporting each other this way raises your self esteem. • Form a revision group with friends. Yes you will chat a little to start with, but then you will settle down. • Remember to review your learning, think of the recall-review continuum. • Take lots of breaks. • Exercise during revision times, this increases the oxygen to your brain, relieves stress and makes you tired so that you sleep well. • Use post it notes on your walls, cupboards etc. • Use post it notes with the french/german/spanish nouns and verbs on and stick them to all the household and school objects you are allowed to. • Collect all of the post it notes off the household objects and see how quickly you can run round the house or classroom replacing them. • Use travel time in the car, bus etc to listen to revision tapes, either bought ones or your own. In particular buy tapes of unabridged versions of novels to help you picture the characters and settings as you listen. • Make up rhymes and mnemonics for facts that must be recalled in the correct sequence. • Make up stories to remember the key words for essay plans. • Use all of your senses to aid your memory. • Use television programmes, to relate your learning to real life. With all of the channels available now most geography and history topics are covered in some way. • Watch the news, it may relate to your modern language knowledge, science, history, geography, english and maths. • Listen to the news • Read novels that give backgrounds that support historical and geographical knowledge. • Tackle difficult revision when you are fresh. • Video revision programmes, such as GCSE Bite Size on BBC so that you can time shift. • Use the revision sites available. Most schools are now linked to these sites and give you your own pass-word so that you can access them at home. • Use Power Point on your P.C., for preparation of orals in Modern Foreign language exams. • Select the appropriate methods of revision for the topic involved. Maths does not lend itself to mind mapping. It is better to use the maths textbook for worked examples and revision exercises and then past papers. • Keep metacognitve at all times about what methods are working for you in which subjects and at what time of day you seem to recall best.