For some students a test is very stressful. They want to get a good grade, but each time they sit down to take a test, the answers seem elusive or they feel they studied the wrong information. Many students struggle with academic grades. Some students must work very hard to achieve success. Each step toward success is a hard won battle.
As the test gets closer, some students become very upset that the facts they are reviewing will not stay in their brain. Some even become ill at the thought of how they are going to do on the test. What can we do to help? Good help does not start the night before the test. There are several stones we can use in building the road to success. The first one is the most important—the student. Is he/she motivated to try? Does he believe in himself---that he can succeed? The second stone is a support group around the child. Teachers, parents, siblings, and friends can all play a role in helping a child feel like they can achieve success by encouraging them to do their best and believing in them. (A child’s best may not be an “A”, but if they do their best, then it should be labeled as success.)
The teacher’s role in the classroom is enormous. Is she using techniques that engage the student s in learning and help them with learning good study strategies? Good preparation can help with dealing with the stress of taking a test—good notes, recalling activities that were used in teaching the lesson. Also, many teachers give a guide to what will be on the test. A student should use these tools to help them study. Now a student must decide which study process works best for them: making note cards to review, memorizing lists, studying with a friend.
Even when a student uses all these helps, they can still get discouraged. That is when the good support group should step in. They can remind the student of all the good prep work they have done and remind him to believe in himself that he can succeed.
Test day. The room is silent as students scribble furiously on their paper with many of them wondering if their best is going to be good enough to get the grade they desire. Even if the result is not what the student hoped for, it is important to be sure the child is resilient in bouncing back to try again and maybe try a different technique to help him do better next time.
As the test gets closer, some students become very upset that the facts they are reviewing will not stay in their brain. Some even become ill at the thought of how they are going to do on the test. What can we do to help? Good help does not start the night before the test. There are several stones we can use in building the road to success. The first one is the most important—the student. Is he/she motivated to try? Does he believe in himself---that he can succeed? The second stone is a support group around the child. Teachers, parents, siblings, and friends can all play a role in helping a child feel like they can achieve success by encouraging them to do their best and believing in them. (A child’s best may not be an “A”, but if they do their best, then it should be labeled as success.)
The teacher’s role in the classroom is enormous. Is she using techniques that engage the student s in learning and help them with learning good study strategies? Good preparation can help with dealing with the stress of taking a test—good notes, recalling activities that were used in teaching the lesson. Also, many teachers give a guide to what will be on the test. A student should use these tools to help them study. Now a student must decide which study process works best for them: making note cards to review, memorizing lists, studying with a friend.
Even when a student uses all these helps, they can still get discouraged. That is when the good support group should step in. They can remind the student of all the good prep work they have done and remind him to believe in himself that he can succeed.
Test day. The room is silent as students scribble furiously on their paper with many of them wondering if their best is going to be good enough to get the grade they desire. Even if the result is not what the student hoped for, it is important to be sure the child is resilient in bouncing back to try again and maybe try a different technique to help him do better next time.
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I completely agree that helping children adopt good test-taking strategies is a holistic process. There is no quick-fix either. Teachers play such an important role in this, just as you mentioned. I can remember certain teachers who were more intimidating and authoritative. This led me to be more inclined to worry about thier test and my anxiety probably hindered my ability to succeed. I think this is probably true for all students. Teachers really need to be as accomodating, helpful and approachable as possible in this sense.
ReplyDeleteI think that children will gain confidence if they feel they are prepared and understand the information. We teach the information, but we also need to teach children how to study. In fourth grade I really encourage the parents to try to take a step back and let their children try studying on their own. In the classroom we go over how to study and why it is so important to begin reviewing things days in advance. I also agree that giving them study options is wonderful! Some children might find it extremely tedious to make flash cards for everything and would do much better with just reading back over the information several times. We need to teach our children that they're capable of doing all this on their own and that their parents will be so impressed to see them taking responsibility.
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