I have been a teacher for over 20 years. I have my Master’s Degree in Education, but when my son was getting ready to enter high school, I was consumed with doubt. How would he navigate the world of Los Al High? What would he need to know in order to succeed?
I went on a quest. I spoke to other parents, teachers, guidance counselors, and administrators. I asked them the same questions, “What does it take to succeed at Los Al High?”
I have been a teacher for over 20 years. I have my Master’s Degree in Education, but when my son was getting ready to enter high school, I was consumed with doubt. How would he navigate the world of Los Al High? What would he need to know in order to succeed?
I went on a quest. I spoke to other parents, teachers, guidance counselors, and administrators. I asked them the same questions, “What does it take to succeed at Los Al High?”
They would say, “Your son needs to go to class.” Check. “Do his homework.” Check. “And, study.” This is the part that made me scratch my head. “Study? What do you mean by study?” I would ask.
“You know, go over his textbooks and notes, work in study groups. You know…study,” they would advise. I was not satisfied with that answer, so I searched to learn everything that I could on what it means to study and learn. I read books titled, How To Become a Straight A Student by Cal Newport, A Mind For Numbers by Barbara Oakley, How We Learn by Benedict Carey, and Make It Stick by Peter Brown, Henry L Roediger III, and Mark A McDaniel, to name just a few of my favorites.
If you are anything like me, you studied your way through high school and college by highlighting your textbook and notes. If you are really like me, you had a rainbow of highlighters so that you could highlight main ideas in say green, details in pink, questions in yellow, you get the idea. Then I would read and reread my notes and textbook hoping that the knowledge would seep in and stick. All this cramming would usually give me results, but the knowledge was fleeting. Here today, gone tomorrow.
The reality is that this is a remarkable poor way to study. It takes a lot of time and it yields unsatisfactory results. This practice of cramming and rereading creates a “fluency illusion.” Fluency illusion is when you look at the material over and over again, and you have seen it so many times that you think that you know it and maybe you can pass tomorrow’s test, but the learning has not stuck.
Following are some of the highly effective, evidence based strategies I discovered to optimize studying. The No. 1 “pro” tip to achieve mastery is called active retrieval. This is just a fancy way of saying, “Quiz yourself.” Testing itself is a form of learning. There are many ways to do this. As you read, stop on occasion and ask yourself what you have just learned. This active retrieval from memory is harder than just rereading. That hard work is what is helping you put the information into long-term memory. Good old flashcards are another way of easily quizzing yourself on concepts or terms. In math, working out practice problems is a great workout. I love what one of my son’s math teacher said at Back to School Night, “Every night’s homework is practice for the test.” I use this with my students now because it is the truth. Homework is the chance for students to quiz themselves and find out what they know and don’t know.
Another tip for making learning stick is to space out practice. It is helpful to study over an extended period of time, not just the night or two before a test. This spaced practice gives your brain a chance to forget a little, making it harder to retrieve the information. This difficulty in retrieval is actually what makes the learning stick.
Here is a final tip for getting learning to stick. Elaboration. Elaboration means explaining in your own words and connecting new knowledge to old knowledge. Peter Brown, Henry Roediger, and Mark McDaniel state, “The more you can explain about the way your new learning relates to your prior knowledge, the stronger your grasp of the new learning will be, and the more connections you create that will help you remember it later.” (Make It Stick, 2014)
To wrap it up, if you want to make your learning stick, quiz yourself over a period of time and practice explaining your new learning in your own words. One way to do this is to work with a buddy. Call them up every couple of nights to discuss the big ideas for the past few lessons and be sure to go back and include ideas from earlier in the unit of study. If you or your buddy hasn’t got it “yet” the partner that “gets it” more can elaborate by explaining in a different way. This elaboration will help both partners.
Quizzing, spaced practice, and elaboration are three great techniques to get you started on your road to making your learning stick.
Kristie Kuehnast is a Los Al Unified School District teacher. Mrs. Kuehnast is available to work with you or someone you know on making your learning stick. Contact:
mrs.kuehnast@gmail.com.
This article appeared in the April 5, 2017 print edition of the News Enterprise.
