With the start of Semester one underway, it is an exciting time for students to catch up with old friends, make new friends, meet their new classes and teachers all while they currently have no assessments. However, that doesn’t mean that now is a time to let our guard down with the work in class because in a few weeks, the first group of assessments arrive. Now is the best time to put in place routines that will help students be organised and feel like they are on top of their workload. This is why Elevated Learning lessons have been focussed on getting organised. Below are a few easy things that every student can do and make routine so they feel prepared for their assessments.
Start revision early and set some time aside regularly. Don’t procrastinate!
It is not possible to revise and learn the entire content the night before a test or an assessment and cramming rarely works. Plan some time each day to ensure that your workbooks and notes are all together in one place.
Use a variety of methods to organise your study notes. Make it interesting so you will remember it.
Find a strategy that works for you. Consider creative and visual ways to organise your notes such as graphic organisers, pictures, or even a flow chart that shows you the topics that you are covering in class. There are a number of excellent study tools and ideas that can be found online.
Seek assistance from your teacher, early!
Ask your teacher for any help on what you are learning as soon as possible. Sometimes the teacher may be busy with other students and it will be another 10-15 minutes before they can get to you. Think about what you could do in that time to help you overcome your problem. If your teacher has given you permission, look up some videos online which can show you how to solve the maths problem, or find some spark notes which explains the theme of a novel with examples.
Review your Canvas Class Tasks page.
All work and content should be in class tasks. If you not sure about having learnt or covered it through absence, go back through these lessons to check.
Get feedback early
If you have started your work and are a little unsure, or have completed your set work for the lesson, get your teacher to check your work for you and give you feedback. But don’t just sit on the feedback, use it and see if you can improve the work you just did or ask for some other questions or challenging questions to complete. Any extra work that you can do in class will mean that your work outside of the class may become easier.
Have fun and help your mates
Lastly, learning by yourself can be isolating and a little dull. When you are in class, work together in your groups to stay on top of the work and complete everything in class. If one of your mates is struggling, help them out and see if you can solve the problem together. Or if you are finding some of the work challenging, ask one of your mates to see if you can work with them so you can learn from each other.
Zach Holmes
Assessment and Data Coordinator