Photo by Erik Lucatero on Unsplash
Let's be honest. High school, middle school, elementary; most students don't know how to learn effectively. It's because they are rarely taught about their brain. They know it's there. They use it. And yet... They don't know how to guide it. Few consider how to leverage their brain to become awesome learners.
Even if we teach them how to, I don't think we do it enough. We might introduce this or that strategy and then expect students to do it every time. The truth is that in most cases they won't. Or, they might use it in the classroom while we watch, but not at all when learning on their own.
It's not because the strategy is no good. Typically, the opposite is true: the strategy kicks ass and is a game changer. So what gives?
Old habits are hard to break and new ones are hard to form. It's that simple/complicated. Our brain does not like change. Evolution made it so. Deal with it. No, really. Deal with it by stressing what works, practicing it over and over, coming back to it repeatedly, and making it "second nature."
You probably know the 3 strategies below well. You know the "whats." My hope is to provide you with a few extra "whys" and "hows" you can take to your students.
1. Previewing
2. Summarizing
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