Effective Learning Strategies

Last week I presented a video to our Math Department that focused on effective learning. The video showed both students and teachers answering a series of questions. The questions were: describe a successful learning experience, describe an unsuccessful learning experience, define an effective learner, and describe how 'they' learn best. What emerged were general themes:

The teacher is important in creating a successful learning experience.

Relationships and interactions are essential for learning.

Breaking down the information into manageable pieces is an effective learning strategy.

Students who are the most successful know themselves and know how to be a
self-advocate.

Part of the feedback that I received from the meeting was to include more specific learning/teaching strategies that are effective in helping students who struggle academically. With that focus in mind, my upcoming posts are going be devoted to highlighting effective learning strategies. Here are just a few to get me started.

These strategies are used when working with material/content:

1. Clarify or simplify written directions - This year, I've had the pleasure of working with one of our science teachers who really does this well. This teacher tries to be as simple and specific as she can. Directions written in paragraph form with a lot of information can be overwhelming. To help her students navigate the directions, this teacher underlines and highlights the significant parts of the directions. Having students rewrite the directions is also helpful.

2. Present a small amount of work - Pull out only a few problems and/or questions at a time instead of giving them all at once. This prevents students from getting overwhelmed, anxious, and discouraged about the amount of work they need to complete.

3. Block out extraneous stimuli - I used to do this when teaching my junior high students about the basic structure of an essay. I would block out all of the other parts and just focus on each piece. This helped my students who were easily distracted by visual stimuli that is present on a whole worksheet or page.

4. Develop reading guides - A reading guide provides the student with a road map of what is written and features periodic questions to help him or her focus on relevant information. This year, I have worked with two Biology teachers who use reading guides. It helps students understand the main idea, remain engaged during reading, and sort out numerous details related to main ideas.