Alex Quigley's Blog, page 6

Writing and the 'final mile' problem

Do your pupils have a problem with 'writing stamina'? The teachers and leaders I work with routinely describe the problem of pupils lacking writing stamina as a vital issue they want to address. 

But what is writing stamina anyway? I find it is typically a catch-all for a range of common issues for novice writers. It most typically describes issues with the physical demands of handwriting, the running out of ideas half-way through a task, and the failing to edit and adequately revise and improve their writing. Most commonly, it is a messy collection of all these issues all at once! 

Whether it is lots of notes on a science topic, an essay in history, or a substantial story writing task in English, many pupils are undertaking regular writing marathons. And they are struggling to muster the stamina to be up to the task. 

By the time it gets to pupils having to edit and revise their writing, it is the tired ‘final mile’ of their writing. Is it any surprise this goes awry? 

Fixing the final mile problem: moving editing and revising

A common observation for every teacher is that errors increase as pupils’ write more. Every additional five minutes of writing is likely to tax pupils’ previous mental energy and limited working memory capacity. 

Effectively, we ask pupils to do think hard about making improvements when they have fewest mental resources to do the job. 

A key solution to the final mile problem – and how to improve pupils’ editing and revising – take a paradigm shift in how we view writing. We need to change our thinking, and teaching, and have pupils edit and revising throughout their writing and not just at the end. 

One of the key strategies to improve editing I promote is ‘Editing stops’. It is a simple notion. Just like a marathon runner taking a vital short water break, editing stops can be offered for concise and precise editing efforts. It also allows pupils the opportunity of a refreshing review point to consider revising their writing. Additionally, teachers can use the opportunity to home in on a specific aspect of their writing to edit, thereby not managing their stamina for making meaningful improvements. 

Another approach that I see enacted well (particularly in primary school classrooms) are ‘Editing teams’. In the real world, authors and journalists have their peers to help them. Whether it is an editor, a copy editor, or helpful ‘readers’, most real authors writing individually, but call on teams to help. 

With clear role and goals – such as pupils working in trios, each with a task to review their writing for a specific purpose – editing teams can eliminate the stamina-sapping reality of undertaking a writing marathon alone.

The ultimate aim for independent writing is that pupils themselves edit and revise their writing in a continuous, purposeful fashion. For our novice pupils, often struggling, it requires lots of explicit supports – such as planning scaffolds, editing guides, editing teams, editing stops, and more. Crucially, we will need to shift our support from just spending five or ten minutes at the end of a writing task. 

Put simply, editing and revising needs to occur throughout any extended writing task, not just at the end.

Over time, with explicit instruction of editing and revising throughout the act of extended writing, pupils aren’t burdened with the daunting big editing and revision job in the final mile. Instead, they become confident, competent writers, who can run the final mile with the necessary stamina, and support, to succeed. 

Related reading:

I have written three blogs on writing stamina, editing and revising in depth here: 

See my blog on ‘The struggle with writing stamina’ - HERE . See my blog on ‘The challenge of editing writing’ - HERE . See my blog on 'Revising writing and why it matters' - HERE .

If you now have the thirst for a marathon reading task to better tackle the teaching of writing, my book ‘Closing the Writing Gap’ – available at Routledge HERE and Amazon HERE.  

Misreading dyslexia

Dyslexia is one of most common special needs that impacts learners in schools. It is an issue, and a label, that is well known, but probably less well understood. So, why are we misreading dyslexia and what can we do about it? 

This crucial issue with reading words on the page accurately (along with related spelling issues) can prove hard to define. It is estimated that there are around 6 million people with dyslexia in the United Kingdom – around 10% of the population. However, we should be wary of such estimates, as they aren’t very accurate, and they are strongly contested too. Some researchers argue for something much lower, at around 4% (the likelihood of severe dyslexia is that is nearer the lower end of those estimates). 

Of course, if we struggle to define these reading difficulties, then it is going to prove harder to diagnose and to support. New research from Durham University, entitled ‘Identifying students with dyslexia: exploration of current assessment methods’, how shown a worrying reality. A significant proportion of dyslexia professionals hold one or more misconceptions about dyslexia. 

The research would indicate that we have too little shared basis of expertise for identifying dyslexia and even professional experts in the field fall for myths. Misconceptions like the false belief that children read letters in reverse (though there is some evidence the children can muddle up anagram words e.g., smile and slime; tried and tired) means that children may not be getting accurate diagnosis. 

The evidence also showed a lot of variable use of dyslexia assessments. For example, some children didn’t meet the cut-off point, but contextual information could see the dyslexia label being issued regardless. Problematically, many well-meaning parents are shelling out a great deal of money to pay for such assessments. 

Beyond dyslexia myths and misreadings 

If experts in the field can misread the dyslexia diagnosis, and its basis, then how are busy teachers and leaders meant to deal with this complex challenge? 

When you dig into the research evidence attending how you support a child labelled with dyslexia, you also recognise more misconceptions and misreadings. The very popular coloured overlays that are commonly used as a reasonable adjustment have little consistent evidence of effectiveness beyond proving to be a mild placebo. Not only that, the legion of special dyslexic fonts , and other seeming technology aids, have little evidence of effectiveness either. 

It is vital to support pupils with such reading difficulties as early as possible, so we need a better shared definition, widespread understanding, and we need to bust dyslexia myths.

School teachers, leaders – and parents – should push for the following:

An improved shared definition of dyslexia – along with its causes, symptoms, and best evidenced supports.

Better validated and regulated assessments, including greater support to access such assessments. 

Sustained and updated accreditation for reading and dyslexia experts. 

Career long training for teachers and school leaders on reading development, common reading issues, and dyslexia. 

A determined national focus on early language intervention. If you don’t address reading difficulties early, it can compromise a child’s education. 

Ultimately, we cannot accept a situation where a serious national issue, affecting so many children, has so many issues that go unaddressed.

Related reading: My book, 'Closing the Reading Gap' has a chapter on reading issues - find it HERE . I have written about practical approaches to 'Making the difference for dyslexic pupils' HERE . Research on ‘Forty Years of Reading Intervention Research for Elementary Students with or at Risk for Dyslexia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis’ Hall et al. (2022), gives a helpful overview of dyslexia issues and interventions.

The 3Rs - Reading, writing, and research to be interested in #47

The rare vocabulary problem in English Literature

What is the connection between the following words:

  Coiffured, dowerless, sepulchre, docilely, spasmodically, ardour, lament, apoplectic, prostrate, care-worn, apoplectic, urchin, munificence, and extemporise.

Sound familiar? Probably not. They certainly aren’t familiar to most pupils who first encounter them in GCSE English Literature texts (drawn from the 32 choice texts selected across exam boards). 

Emerging research from Maria Korochkina and Kathleen Rastle, entitled ‘The Vocabulary Barrier in the General Certificate of Education (GCSE) in English Literature’, has shown the vocabulary in the GCSE English Literature texts is uniquely rare. They reveal it would prove difficult to access even for avid teen readers, whilst weaker readers have even less chance to engage with the language of the texts. 

In their language analysis, they compared the GCSE texts with a sample of popular books read by teens. They found that GCSE texts were shorter and had fewer words overall, but their language was denser and more difficult.

It will come as no surprise to experienced English teachers. The classic texts on the GCSE curriculum are stuffing full of archaic words and phrases. It is why they are selected for teaching. But they can also compromise the comprehension of countless students. 

Even if the aforementioned words are not essential to understanding text for its key themes and ideas (just like coiffured, dowerless), they clearly obstruct reading and can frustrate pupils. It is probably why vocabulary teaching has proven so popular for so long, in addition to a call for reading more and reading widely.

Worrying about students accessing all the rare words

Now, understanding great literature is more than simply deciphering some rare words. Students can make connections with the author, explore themes that relate to their lives, such as responding to seeing themselves in the characters of Romeo, Juliet, and many more. But so many words not making sense is no doubt a barrier to understanding as well as to enjoyment. 

As a result, Korochkina and Rastle ask: ‘whether the GCSE English Literature texts are aligned with the reading and language skills that would be expected of pupils sitting the examination?’ They draw a causal link between the dense language, current text choices, and the reality that a quarter of students fail to get a good pass. 

A skilled English teacher will deploy an array of strategies to ensure their students make some sense of the Literature texts. They may talk about the text, exploring meaning in sustained discussion. They may teach some words rare words explicitly and in depth. Alternatively, for some words, they may choose to quickly address their meaning, or glossing over them, without breaking the flow of reading. 

But still, the tricky language… Despite good teaching, the authors of the research on this rare vocabulary speculate that, for weaker readers, “they are likely to present an insurmountable barrier”.

They also make an interesting point that showed the GCSE texts are “less similar to one another than the popular books that we studied are to one another”, indicating that “reading one GCSE text may not help pupils to read another”. It would certainly be helpful if they did!

Are we veering back to the ‘soft bigotry of low expectations’? 

When Michael Gove initiated plans a new GCSE English specification in 2010, the focus was on rejecting the ‘soft bigotry of low expectations’. He had criticised the lack of pre-twentieth century classics. That is to say, the notion that pupils should study the ‘best that has been thought and said’, and drop all those contemporary texts that could characterise ‘low expectations’ (it is fair to say Gove's views were much contested!).

He also led a call to make English Literature – well, more English again. It saw the selected collection of classics still taught today. Over a decade on, and Gove long gone, the questions of what texts should be taught at GCSE emerges again - both classic and contemporary. 

The authors of the new research do not propose that we should chuck out Shakespeare and replace it with Snapchat stories, but they do challenge the current qualification and the choice of texts. They question why only 7% of students sitting the exam in 2019 read a novel or play by a woman, with fewer than 1% reading an author of colour. They call for change amidst the current curriculum review. 

There are no easy solutions. Even when new English literature texts are newly introduced into the GCSEs, teachers routinely stick with the classics they know and have taught before. They have resources, lesson plans, as well as confidence in teaching those texts. As a result, shuffling books on an English literature specification rarely leads to significant change. 

Korochkina and Rastle argue we need to ensure students are “able to engage in the ‘depth and power of the English literary heritage’”. To do that, we should always be considered the appropriateness of the texts that are selected to teach. It is clear too, from their analysis, that we’ll need to consider, and best address, the rare vocabulary problem as part of that selection too.

Related reading: Kathy Rastle shared a copy of her recent excellent ResearchED presentation with Maria Korochkina on 'Words in Books: A Challenge, A Blessing, Or Both'.

Streaked tenrecs and improving reading

Have you ever seen a ‘streaky tenrec’? Probably not. For pupils sitting the key stage 2 SATs reading assessment, they likely met the tenrec and the wildlife of Madagascar for the first time. 

The first text for children to read in their SATs reading assessment was an informational text, entitled ‘Streaky and Squeaky’. Like many informational texts, it presented a unique topic unlikely to have been directly taught in the primary school curriculum. This approach is common in general reading comprehension assessments. It seeks to assess a valid, generalised reading ability, separate to expectations of what has been explicitly taught in the national curriculum.

The streaky tenrec text includes tier 3 scientific/geographical vocabulary like “deforestation”, “decline”, “food chain”, and “population”. These are words which stronger readers would likely have encountered in the curriculum along with other rich language experiences. As a result, those readers are likely better to link them together into rich schemas of knowledge (that is to say, inferring more meanings than a reader who was not already familiar with them already). In this regard, the SATS reading comprehension test is what E. D. Hirsch describes as a ‘knowledge test in disguise’. 

There is the common idea that we can teach reading skills, like ‘inferencing’ or 'finding the main idea', likely based on the ubiquitous presence of reading tests and their rubrics. In reality, the main idea is that streaked tenrec is a species living in a complex habitat and ecosystem. There is no real ‘find the main idea’ reading skill in that – it is more plainly your knowledge of words and the world (for young children this is commonly mediated by reading in the classroom) that is being tested. 

The streaked tenrec text includes the tricky academic language that features heavily in informational texts. It includes lots of scientific and subject specific language (in this case a hybrid of geography and biology language), such as the phrases “soft-bodied invertebrates” and “stridulation”. This is combined with more age-appropriate ‘book language’, such as “confused hodgepodge” and “marvellous streakiness and squeakiness”, along with texts features that guide the reader through the text. 

Of course, pupils have three such texts to grapple with. The SATs then become a demanding test of fluent and knowledgeable reading. Over 2000 words, across the reading assessment, need to be cohered quickly into meaningful understanding (those schemas matter). 

Do we need to change the SATs reading assessment? 

No assessment is perfect – and the KS2 SATs reading certainly isn’t. So, we should replace it with something better, right? 

There has been a call to change the SATs assessment into a reading test where the topic of what is being read is already known and pre-taught in the curriculum. For example, schools could be told that pupils are going to read texts about the Amazon rainforest. This could create some equity for those pupils who don’t possess the background knowledge of words and the world, accumulated via lots of prior reading and learning. However, in doing so, it would shift the nature of the assessment to being one more squarely tests teachers’ ability to teach the reading curriculum successfully, rather than a more generalised reading ability and knowledge of language the English language. 

It doesn’t take too big a mental leap to see schools narrowing the curriculum to hot house those topics announced for the SATs. A term of year 6 (then 5, then 4…) could become devoted to learning everything about the Amazon – with pupils mired in endless SATs style mini-texts. Any aim to make a shift that privileges a knowledge-rich reading curriculum could get mired in the expediency of a narrowed curriculum. Perhaps we could shift the SATs to reading about topics in science, history, geography and more, but it would require a fundamental change.

You could argue that changing the stakes of the SATs may mitigate the issue to a degree. And yet, you’d then still have the challenge of whether your assessment is validly assessing an ability to read widely and independently. Would pupils go onto struggle with unfamiliar texts? In the real world, we are constantly facing new words, ideas, and topics, because the school curriculum can never cover the span of human knowledge necessary within the limited time of the school day. 

A yet more radical solution, proposed knowledge by some experts, is to jettison reading comprehension assessments all together. Perhaps you could replace them with reading fluency assessments, which are a handy proxy for reading ability. However, what if we focus on fluency and forget to emphasise the meaning of the language? We may unintentionally create a focus on speed reading and oral reading, but miss a vital focus on comprehension (which would hamper their validity). ‘Words per minute’ could be the new ‘find the main idea’. The complexity of reading could so easily shrink, but just in just another direction. 

The current SATs are imperfect, and yet the alternatives have their own flaws and limitations too. 

The current reading SATs are typical of general standardised reading assessments. Only we mistake them for the pinnacle of the school curriculum that we must imitate, and practice - over and over and over. Instead, we need to see them as an assessment that actually requires relatively little specific test-preparation beyond basic familiarity of the question types, the format and the timing.  

The fundamental problem…and five solutions

There is no easy answer for getting the right reading test format. Reading is a complex skill, comprised of a wealth of subtly interlinked knowledge and strategies that are developed over years, inside and outside the classroom. Tests usually struggle with such complexity, and they offer us pale approximations.

A key answer for me is to step back from the test format itself and aim to appraise successful readers and skilled reading. 

The biggest misconception about the current iteration of the SATs standardised reading assessment is that practising lots of short texts (that look just like the streaky tenrec one), and answering questions that endlessly ‘retrieve and record information’, and ‘summarise main ideas’, (taken from the fuzzy rubric) improves your reading ability. 

Doing this can steal so much curriculum time that pupils aren’t doing the wide reading necessary to actually become skilled and knowledgeable readers. It is the SATs reading paradox that penalises most the pupils who need to read the most in our classrooms. Changing the format isn't a quick fix. What if the format of KS2 reading shifted to pre-taught topic reading? Would we merely imitate the format again and endlessly answer new question types for short texts on the known topics that have been pre-specified?

The fundamental problem is that you don’t become a skilled and knowledgeable reader by undertaking pale-imitations of reading comprehension tests. It occurs when you read widely, you read – and are taught – topics in richly connected ways. You summarise, but when you are talking about texts in a dynamic way that lets you read…and read…and read, and where you don’t have to stop and write three ‘retrieve’ questions every 5 minutes! 

Reading is complex. Improving it is slow, difficult, cumulative and needs to be well connected by design…(oh, and it’s also fun and amazing!).

There is no one solution to complex reading, but I think there are five key interlinked solutions:

1.        Get ‘learning to read’ right. It all starts early reading experiences, good phonics instruction and developing pupils’ phonemic awareness. They need lift the sounds from the page until it appears effortless. We know how to do this stuff really effectively – deploying systematic approaches to phonics alongside a rich diet of reading with and to children.

2.        Bridge to comprehension with reading fluency. The ability to read words along and start to deploy the appropriate pacing, stress, intonation and phrasing is ‘reading fluency’. Pupils need lots of practice of reading aloud and fluency. Happily, it builds nicely on phonics approaches and it bridges to lots of quality book talk and approaches that then build comprehension. 

3.        Do lots of wide, deep, rich reading, building knowledge of the world along the way. The recent focus on curriculum has foregrounded how children learn by building knowledge and connecting those schemass in helpful networks. The key here is reading lots. Reading lots of those ‘Goldilocks texts’ that aren’t too easy (otherwise what would you be learning), but not too hard either. I think we need to step away from the worksheets and five paragraph texts (those pale imitations of the SATs which were never meant for teaching). Children need to read full books. They need to read stories and informational texts. If they overlap in 'reading clusters' all the better. Only then will they make the connections and deal with the complexities that stick long in the memory.

4.        Teaching reading comprehension strategies for tricky texts. There is sound evidence that when you are reading a ‘Goldilocks text’, you need to be strategic. You need to question, clarify, think hard about the author’s intention, and summarise what you think. These reading comprehension strategies can be deployed during reading. They don’t need to be over-taught (please don't teach summarising on Weds, then questioning on Thursday). They should be focused on the text at hand, helping steer some rich book talk as a helpful scaffold. Don’t get fooled by the marks scheme – these strategies are an only a scaffold to help build the aforementioned knowledge – they aren’t the requisite knowledge itself.

5.        Explicit and implicit vocabulary instruction. It can be very helpful to explicitly teach words like ‘deforestation’, ‘decline’ and ‘population’. These are high value words that initiate lots of connections and schemas of knowledge. You can teach word roots, word families, synonyms and antonyms. If we don’t forget to do lots of wide, rich reading, and we select the words to teach carefully. Of course, may words are learnt implicitly through reading lots. In addition, by teaching a small number of words explicitly, we help foster ‘word consciousness’ – a curiosity for words – that served children well when they read widely and do generalised reading assessments. 

To do all five well needs planning and time. It probably needs the space created by not imitating the assessment over and over. In short, if practising the assessment stops you doing lots of 2, 3, 4, and 5, then just stop. It is Fool’s gold!

Let’s return to streaked tenrecs – the pesky little blighters that beset our young readers. These cute little creatures offered a vehicle for a compromised assessment that capture a partial picture of reading comprehension ability (and you'll struggle to find an assessment that does a much better job). We probably shouldn’t pay tenrecs, or the reading SATs format, too much of our attention. Instead, let’s read and read and read... about animals, and rainforests, and biomes, and brilliant characters. Let’s focus on doing that and thereby improving reading in ways that are more effective, long lasting, and more meaningful that merely aping the assessment format. 

 

The new school year and setting goals

The new academic year can be a time of promise for pupils. The promise of new teachers, peer groups, and the relationships that come along with it. Though there can be anxieties and worries too, it offers opportunities for a fresh start and newfound success. 

That time to begin afresh, afresh, afresh can even banish old fears, doubts, and plant the seed for a better attitude and application. Of course, pupils can start the year with the best of intentions, but like the shine on their new shoes – the old routines and attitudes can kick in – and the lustre wears off.  

We know having short- and long-term goals can help students. They can be particularly useful when establishing a new academic year. For all the obvious reasons, young people can struggle look ahead and plan. As such, they need guidance to reflect on the previous year (retrospection), as well as look forward (prospection) and set goals to improve. 

Teachers can build trust by exploring and reflecting on past experiences. They can pose questions like: What were some of your biggest successes, and what challenges did you face? How can you build on your strengths and learn from your setbacks to make this year better? Even if the answers are variable and a little inaccurate, it offers meaningful insights in the thinking of pupils. As a result, it is the right type of diagnostic assessment to build trust and understanding. 

Alongside reflection, teachers can build both trust and understanding by supporting pupils to set new goals. I have written about different goal types in my book, ‘Why Learning Fails (And What to Do About It)’. It is broken down into more distinct goals that pupils can develop: 

Learning goals. Goals for a specific task and/or subject. Effort goals. Goals with a focus on extending effort in achievable small steps. Self-regulation goals. Goals with an explicit focus on managing oneself.Social goals. Goals focusing on communication, friendships, and more. Emotion goals. Goals to develop positive emotions and attitudes. 

At the start of the year, relationships, behaviours and routines are understandably foregrounded. And so, focus on emotions and relationships alongside more academic goals feels apt. 

Goals for the new academic year for a pupil could include: 

Learning goals e.g. 

An A level student may set the goal to read at least one non-fiction book per month on topics of interest in the subject to broaden understanding.

A pupil in a year 4 class may focus a goal on better editing their writing and checking their spelling. 

Effort goals e.g.

A year 11 pupil preparing for their GCSEs may commit to studying an hour extra each day (reviewing notes, creating flashcards, making voice notes etc.).

A pupil in year 6 may be supported to try harder in their physical education sessions. 

Self-regulation goals e.g. 

A year 7 pupil who knows they struggle meeting homework deadlines could set the goal to check daily for completed homework.

A year 10 pupil may commit to not using my technology at home until they have completed their homework.  

Social goals e.g. 

A new year 7 pupil may set the goal to make new friends and speak to people they don’t know in their new classes.

2. An A level student may choose to take a up a sport to get some balance in their weekly routine. 

Emotion goals e.g. 

A year 3 pupil may be encouraged to be more positive when undertaking tricky maths problems (such as using positive self-talk).

A year 11 pupil could be encouraged to approach teacher feedback in more-opened minded fashion (seeing critique has crucial to future success). 

Of course, any new teacher wouldn’t want to laden down pupils with a legion of different goals. A couple of goals is enough to offer the positive fuel of prospection. 

Setting goals isn’t some magic that transforms pupils either of course. They need reminders, updates, changes, nudges, and more. They’ll likely fail to achieve some of them and will need help to go again. But we shouldn’t underestimate the positive talk and tone-setting that setting new goals can offer to class in their first weeks. 

Related reading:

I wrote a recent blog on ‘Goal Setting and Building Cathedrals’ about helping pupils see the big picture by setting manageable goals –  HERE .My resources page includes a free graphic on the different goal types –  HERE . This helpful Psychology Today article, entitled ‘Goal-setting is linked to higher achievement’ focuses on how we can help pupils decide and write goals –  HERE .

The 3Rs - Reading, writing, and research to be interested in #46

Does your study skills curriculum work?

Do pupils need to know about ‘working memory’ or ‘procrastination’? Will a ‘study skills curriculum’, or a revision programme, really make a vital difference?

Each year it is common to see annual plans shared for study skills curricula. Whether it is a key stage three programme, more targeted at GCSE revision, or even for new university students, they prove popular and are often shared with enthusiasm. The key aim is typically to help pupils reach the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow: successful study and independent learning. 

Of course, this is tricky stuff. So, do these approaches to a planned curriculum work, and under what conditions? 

Learning to manage your own learning

 What does it take to be truly effective as a learner? Researchers Professor Robert Bjork, Nate Kornell and John Dunlosky offer the following four conditions:

1)        Learners understand key aspects of how we learn and our memory e.g. knowing we are unlikely to remember a lot of the content of what we read

2)        Knowing effective techniques to enhance their learning and remembering e.g. deploying self-testing and flashcards to remember physics equations. 

3)        Knowing how to best monitor and control your own learning e.g. understanding how to limit distractions when doing homework.

4)        Knowing that our biases can negatively impact our judgement e.g. the initial feeling that we know a topic having done some revision is temporary and flawed.

If we are to help pupils address some of these conditions, we may end up teaching them a host of ideas and strategies. A response to a ‘study skills’ or ‘independent learning’ curriculum typically could include: 1) working memory; the ‘forgetting curve’; attention; multitasking; sleep; stress, etc. 2) Retrieval; self-testing; flashcards; dual coding; mind-maps; interleaving, etc. 3) Technology use; spacing; interleaving; Pomodoro method; habit building, etc. 4) Overconfidence; metacognition; hindsight bias; the ‘feeling of knowing’, etc. 

There is potential a lot to learn…and even more to do. 

For novice pupils, or even hard-working university students, there is likely to be a problematic ‘knowing and doing gap’. That is to say, they learn about procrastination but still do it anyway… a lot (like most humans). They understand some strategies for long term learning... but are too busy meeting their deadline of tomorrow morning. They know all about flashcards and the Leitner system... but they were on their phone instead of practising it! 

Teachers are left in a tricky situation. Just how much is practical to explicitly teach, thereby sustaining practice so that it becomes something like a permanent habit?

Study skills curricula may fail those who need them most

Based on what we know about the limits of memory, the difficulties of independent learning, paltry planning, and more – we should probably expect pupils will really struggle to learn how to learn. Our ‘study skills curriculum’ is likely to fail for many. Plans should reflect that reality, rather than ignore it. 

Fewer strategies, revisited routinely, are more likely to be successful than a bumper plan with lots of ideas and approaches for pupils to pick from. Lots of (sometimes frustrating) repetition will be necessary. Fewer, deeper, repeated. 

Students’ behaviour change will be hard and slow. It will fall back, and fail, more times than we’d like to consider. 

It is also likely that most strategies need to be applied with subject specificity (i.e. flashcard building in physics may look different to English Literature), over and over. You can have top-notch study sessions, but unless teachers are routinely modelling and scaffolding the same approaches, they are unlikely to stick. 

And all of our teachers’ best laid plans needs to be viewed through the lens of predictable failure, tech distractions, along with peer norms that pull pupils away from the task at hand. In short, sharing the best of what we know about the vagaries of human memory and powerful study strategies is still unlikely to lead to any meaningful behaviour change. 

But don’t give up all hope…

Monitoring study skills (and what students actually ‘do’) matters

We can anticipate an independent learning ‘knowing doing gap’. As such, we need to be specific about what learners know about how to study, what they do, and how we scaffold them to do it. We need to create the space for meaningful monitoring to ensure some ‘doing’ is happening.

A manageable start is a pre- and post-test on the knowledge and strategies we want pupils to know and use. Perhaps we create some scenario-based questions (a quick command on ChatGPT can do the trick) to test pupils’ knowledge first. For example, we could test their knowledge of effective independent study strategies e.g. 

Effective independent study skills test questions: 

1.        Using flashcards effectively

Scenario: Emma is preparing for an upcoming biology test. She made flashcards with terms and definitions. She reviews all her flashcards every night, focusing on the cards she already knows well.
Question: What could Emma do differently to improve her use of flashcards?
Options:
A) Continue reviewing all cards every night.
B) Focus more on the cards she already knows well.
C) Spend more time on the cards she struggles with and gradually reduce time on the ones she knows.
D) Stop using flashcards and rely solely on rereading her textbook.

[Correct answer: C) Spend more time on the cards she struggles with and gradually reduce time on the ones she knows.] 

 2.        Spacing independent study

 Scenario: Alex has a math test in two weeks. He decides to study by doing practice problems for several hours on the weekend before the test.
Question: Which study approach would be more effective for Alex?
Options:
A) Study for several hours the weekend before the test.
B) Study a little each day in the two weeks leading up to the test.
C) Review everything the night before the test.
D) Skip practice problems and read through the textbook instead.

[Correct answer: B) Study a little each day in the two weeks leading up to the test.] 

3.        Actively making notes when reading

Scenario: Jordan is reading a chapter on world history and wants to take notes. He highlights the key points and then copies them word-for-word into his notebook.
Question: How could Jordan improve his note-taking strategy?
Options:
A) Continue highlighting and copying text directly into his notes.
B) Write summaries in his own words after reading each section.
C) Take notes by writing down everything in the chapter.
D) Skip taking notes and focus on memorizing the highlighted sections.

[Correct answer: B) Write summaries in his own words after reading each section.] 

4.        Reviewing notes and flashcards

Scenario: Priya has been studying for a chemistry exam using both her notes and flashcards. She finds that she’s starting to forget the material she learned earlier in the week.
Question: What should Priya do to better retain the information?
Options:
A) Review her notes and flashcards frequently, spacing out the reviews over several days.
B) Only review her notes the night before the exam.
C) Study for a long session in one sitting the day before the test.
D) Focus on rereading her notes instead of using flashcards.

[Correct answer: A) Review her notes and flashcards frequently, spacing out the reviews over several days.]

These study skills pre-tests can be a handy way to start the academic year, both testing, and re-teaching important strategies. Of course, knowing what to do is not the same as doing it week in, week out. As such, it is also crucial to monitor if students’ are changing their study routines. With a lot on online apps, we can analyse time on task and topic completion. Teachers can retain simple records on homework completion (and the quality and likely time taken to achieve it). 

A powerful tool to monitor independent study skills an ‘exam wrapper’. These are short surveys that can be attached to an exam to understand the preparation and revision that went into them. It needn’t only be an exam, of course, any topic, or independent study, can be analysed in this way.  See the following common question types: 

Typical exam wrapper questions:

Preparation

How much time did you spend studying for this exam?
A) Less than 2 hours
B) 2-5 hours
C) 5-10 hours
D) More than 10 hoursWhich study strategies did you use the most? (Select all that apply)
A) Rereading notes or textbooks
B) Using flashcards or quizzes
C) Practicing past exam questions
D) Researching online for additional information
E) Creating summaries or concept mapsHow consistently did you space out your study sessions over the days or weeks before the exam?
A) I crammed the night before
B) I studied mostly in the last few days
C) I spaced out my study sessions over several days
D) I consistently studied throughout the weeks leading up to the exam

Exam Performance

How confident did you feel going into the exam?
A) Very confident
B) Somewhat confident
C) Not very confident
D) Not confident at allWhich part of the exam did you find most challenging?
A) Multiple choice questions
B) Short answer questions
C) Case study question
D) Q6 essay questionHow well do you think your study strategies matched the format of the exam?
A) Very well matched
B) Somewhat matched
C) Poorly matched
D) Not matched at all

Reflection and Future Strategies

What do you think was your biggest strength in this exam?
A) Understanding key concepts
B) Memorising information
C) Applying knowledge to new situations
D) Managing time effectivelyWhat do you think was your biggest weakness in this exam?
A) Understanding key concepts
B) Memorising information
C) Applying knowledge to new situations
D) Managing time effectivelyWhat will you do differently to prepare for the next exam?
A) Start studying earlier
B) Use more active study strategies (e.g., practice tests, flashcards)
C) Focus on weak areas identified in this exam
D) Improve time management during the examOverall, how satisfied are you with your performance on this exam?
A) Very satisfied
B) Somewhat satisfied
C) Neutral
D) Dissatisfied

Who has the time to do this extra monitoring?

You’d be right to question, what teacher has time to do tests, surveys, and to keep records on study habits and skills. And yet, for many of the ambitious study skills curricula I see, there is a lot of effort going into planning lessons, undertaking assemblies, communicating to parents, and more. Not only that, how much curriculum time do we waste reteaching how to study, what strategies to use, when best to do it etc. 

With some monitoring data captured with some time-efficient technology, we can, and should, end up saving teacher time, curriculum time, and reduce wasteful practice from students (ok, ok – maybe that is too rosy a picture). 

When we consider time and effort, it makes me reflect that we need to keep the scope of the study skills curriculum feasible, and not try and create mini cognitive psychologists. Instead, we should focus in on a small number of high value skills and strategies and do them well over time so they become an unbreakable habit. 

If our monitoring is effective, it will highlight the flaws in our study skills curriculum and the gaps in students’ knowledge and their actual independent study. The core tenets of effective independent study are relatively unchanging, so we can wheel out our curriculum for several years, regardless of whether qualifications change or exams or other assessments shift. 

Related reading:There are lots of excellent books in this area, including ‘Study Like a Champ’, by Dunlosky & Gurung; ‘Outsmart your Brain’, by Dan Willingham’; ‘Strengthening the Student Toolbox in Action’, by Amarbeer Singh Gill; and ‘The Revision Revolution’ by Helen Howell. One of my most read blogs is ‘ Top 10 Revision Strategies ’John Dunlosky’s article on ‘ Strengthening the Student Toolbox ’ is a seminal read based on evidence from cognitive science.

 

The 3Rs - Reading, writing, and research to be interested in #45

Goal Setting and Building Cathedrals

How do we encourage reluctant children to successfully stick with a tricky task? How do we advise truculent teens to persist through a long and winding learning curve fraught with failure? These are the perennial questions we ask that are about how best to motivate learners to undertake the struggle needed to achieve learning success. 

Helping pupils to set goals may be one of the best opportunities to motivate pupils to persevere through difficult tasks. It is no silver bullet, but if we can help pupils to look forward into the future – they may find more meaning in their current efforts – thereby  seeing more value of persisting through their present struggles. 

Stone cutters or cathedral builders?  

 

In a 1954 book, Peter Drucker relays ‘The Parable of the Stonecutters’:

“While walking, a traveller came across three stonecutters and asked each of them what they were doing. The first replied, "I am making a living." The second kept on hammering and replied, "I am doing the best job of stone cutting in the entire country." The third stopped, looked up at the traveller with a visionary gleam in his eye, and said, "I am building a cathedral."

This tale of medieval cathedral builders helps capture that difficult task for teachers: helping their pupils finding meaning in often humdrum tasks. Novice pupils routinely fail to see the big picture. For example, pupils may know exams are valuable, but it is still hard to stick with revision when distractions abound. They cannot quite project into the future where the value of their persistence leads to their dream job. 

Pupils need support to see their classroom stonecutting and how they may be building the cathedral that is achieving and succeeding in their dream job. 

A more intentional approach to supporting pupils to set timely goals can go one small step to help them see their very own cathedrals. 

We need to get specific and precise about different types of short- term goals that pupils can pursue (typically after lots of explicit instruction and modelling of goal setting). The following different goal types can develop the different knowledge and skills needed for pupils to succeed: 

Learning goals. Goals for a specific task, for example, using an imaginative range of similes and metaphors in my story writing. Effort goals. Goals with a focus on extending one’s effort in achievable small steps, such as spending an additional 5 minutes practising my scales during my music practice. Self-regulation goals. Goals with an explicit focus on managing one’s self, for instance, completing my homework without my mobile phone in my room.  Social goals. Goals with a focus on communication, friendships, and more, for example, discussing and constructively building on the ideas of others when debating Henry’s reign in history. Emotion goals. Goals that attend to developing positive emotions and attitudes, such as counting to 10 and starting again when I am stuck on a tricky algebra question. 

By repeating the likes of self-regulation and emotion goals in the classroom, pupils can gradually learn how to deploy them with independence too. Sticking with writing tasks in year 6 via carefully crafted goal setting can lead to later application of similar strategies, such as sustaining revision in year 11.

Of course, many of these goals interact with one another. Therefore, it is not easy to diagnose what goals will best trigger increased motivation for our pupils and what might fail. And yet, the more intentional teachers are about scaffolding goal setting the better. 

It is entirely typical for a young novice pupil to have little sense of the cathedral they are building when they are in the classroom. We need to help them connect the foundations of school success to their future. We will need to help them see the cathedral standing before them. 

This blog is adapted from my new book 'Why Learning Fails (And What To Do About It)'. You can find it on Amazon HERE and on Routledge HERE.

Not only that, I've developed free resources related to my book you can freely access on my resources page.