This winter I’ve chosen some PD (more on that later) and books to recharge my teaching practice. The first of this series was the book Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning. This book is included on several recommended reading lists for its ideas about memory learning and supporting executive functions and general cognitive practice. This reading has been exciting and thought provoking! 

Refreshing (not so new) Takes on Learning

Flashcards work!

Mini quizzes encourage long term learning!

Wait, what? These sound so boring-- so rote-- All of my Bank Street colleagues are rolling their eyes. Especially when there is such a push towards play based and student created learning. There are traditional techniques that do work-- and sometimes there are times when timing does matter and we wouldn't other naturally come upon the learning required for school.

I remember my dad helping me study when I was in middle school. He would spend so much time typing quizzes based on my social studies and science coursework. It was often my job to take the quiz and then turn it back into him to grade and redirect my learning. As I grew, he then tasked me with taking his homemade quiz and then grading it myself-- looking back and finding the places where the information came from. My parents were really invested in supporting my learning, really doing well in school, that they would both spend their time relearning my 7th and 8th grade coursework.

I worked with a student who needed parental support to complete any academic work. Reading this book helped me identify some strategies for this family. This need was felt two-fold. 1) he wants to see his parents' reaction to the work. Do they ask questions? Are they critical? How important is the answer? Do they have questions? And 2) he wants his parents to feel the struggle he is going though. AKA “if you're going to make me suffer through this, i’m going to make you suffer too.”

My advice to this family and other families in this situation sounds familiar-- your child is listening to you. Encouraging, and believing, valuing, and really seeing the work your child puts in, is so important. When a student needs support every step of the way, they are really asking for buy-in. This is where flashcards and mini quizzes (and some of the other themes in this book) come into play. Instead of fighting your child on summer work or other tasks, see if there is a way to help them learn a strategy. Language could include “ I notice that page of work looks especially challenging. Can you teach me what you are doing?” The longer this behavior has been enabled, the craftier the child is…