Have you ever heard a student ask how to study for a math test? Or maybe, have they told you that they did not study because they don’t know how to study for a math assessment? Some students still do not know how to study in high school and college is only a few years away. The time to teach them how to study is now.

Teaching your students to study can be tough love.  One fall I polled my students to learn about their studying techniques.  I got responses such as:

• Study with a friend
• Watch videos on Khan Academy
• Look over your notes
• Re-do some homework problems
• Do the review the teacher provides
• I don’t study

I told my students that I would not be providing them with a practice test type of review. Some of them were not very happy with me as this is how some of them had been trained to study for a math test since middle school.  I asked how many of them were planning on going to college. Most students indicated that they had a desire to attend college. I informed them that their college professors most likely were not going to give them a practice test before their exam.  It was time to learn how to study for a math test. High school is a safe place to try out a new technique. If you fail, you can learn from your mistakes, and then reassess(at least at my school). I do not know if this is the case in many colleges.

Goal as a teacher:  

My goal was for each student to develop strategies for how to independently prepare for a math assessment.  

How I achieved this goal…

This goal is achieved over a series of assessments. Just like students practice newly learned skills, they also have to practice newly learned study strategies and make it become a habit. #1 below goes with assessment #1, #2 goes with assessment #3, etc. Students can use these strategies in other courses besides math as well.

#1 Teach students how to deep dive a lesson working as a team

• Students work collaboratively in study groups so that the task is not so daunting
• Each group is assigned a lesson from the unit of study which they will present to the class at the end of the period
• Students are given a set amount of time to deep dive into their assigned lesson; students are given guidelines(see end of post if you would like a template) for the deep dive which include learning targets or competencies
• Students present their lesson overview to the class
  • Posters
  • Over-sized white boards
  • Designated area on chalkboard or whiteboard
  • Teacher sets up a google slides doc and students add their presentation to the document which becomes a study guide shared with the class

#2 Assign students to deep dive each lesson independently

• After students have practiced the lesson deep dive in teams, for the next assessment, ask them to try it on their own. 
• Give them 10-15 minutes of class time to work on a specified lesson
• Have students trade papers and review a peer’s work and provide feedback
• Assign remaining lessons for students to reflect upon for next class
• Collect students’ reflections and provide them with feedback

#3 Repeat the process at least once more with collecting student reflections and providing feedback

• You should see growth and more detailed reflections the second time students independently complete this activity. Teacher feedback is essential for students to see what might be missing from their reflections or praise what was awesome!

You can continue this process in class as needed or let students be self-directed in their studying. I remind students that they should be reviewing each lesson and processing what they have learned.   This can become a great activity for early finishers – start on your unit reflection. If you would like a free template for student instructions for how to deep dive a lesson, you can download the ppt file HERE. I had this printed as a booklet for the first time we did the activity independently. After that, I just printed the cover sheet and let students create their reflections as they saw fit.