Welcome to Ms. Briggs' Studying Strategies Blog!

I am a ninth grade biology teacher at Friendship Collegiate Academy in Washington, DC.
I have the opportunity to teach incredibly talented and curious 13 and 14 year-olds, but this past year, I noticed an overwhelming trend: many of my students’ test results often did not match their abilities. I investigated this further by analyzing student data and through my own observations and realized that the main thing preventing my students from truly succeeding was their study habits. Many of my students did not study at all for exams, because they did not realize the importance of studying or because they simply did not know how. This blog is designed to be a resource for both parents and students to help support all students in their attempts to become better scholars! Please check out this blog – use the advice and tips, comment with questions or criticism and feel free to add your own resources as we all grow together as an educational community.

Thursday, June 30, 2011

The Study Log - a tip for teachers


Many teachers have expressed their concern that they feel students never really study at home, even if this is a homework assignment.  One way to ensure that students do study at home is to use a study log, which is attached below.  This study log was used before the final exam I gave last year, and is based off of a study log given to me by Liza Enrich, another DC science teacher. 
This study log is useful because it gives students a set time goal for studying (3 hours) as well as a mechanism to keep track of their efforts.  In addition, the back page lists all of the units that we covered so that if a student chooses not to do a review activity for a particular unit, he or she acknowledges this by checking the “I did nothing” box.  Students are also given options for ways to study, such as: doing problems on old quizzes, doing problems on old homeworks, making and using flashcards, rewriting notes or coming to tutoring.

Check out the study log that I gave my ninth graders before finals this year:




The biggest challenge for teachers is to ensure that students actually practice outside of the classroom.  That’s where parents come in.  Parents reinforce the expectations set by the teacher, especially since teachers really cant push students to do more work once they leave school property.  By having students fill out the study log and obtain the parent’s signature, teachers are encouraging students to talk with their families about academic requirements.  Teachers can also give parents a list of suggestions about ways with which they can help support their child’s studying in a class.

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