How to study?

[Baseballmom]

Could you please post your favorite how to study materials for middle school students. I am looking for any books, materials, or websites that teach students how to take notes, study for tests, etc.

Thank you,

Dorothy

[sagira]

I know The Teaching Company has a DVD on Study Skills. I know a few moms here use it.

[Ria]

I think the best thing to do is to teach the kids by example. Here's how I did it:

 

I'd start with note-taking from a book. I'd read the section out loud with the child. Then I'd go back and take notes. Demonstration is the best way to teach skills like this. I'd read a paragraph and say, "So, what should I write down in my notes for this section?" My child would give some feedback, and if he missed anything, I'd add it, too, and explain why it was important. We would do this together for about a week. Next, I'd give a reading assignment and ask him to take notes. I would have already taken notes on this, and when he was done we'd compare notes.

 

Once the boys were comfortable taking notes from written material, I'd tell them that I was giving a quiz on a certain section. They had their notes and the book to study. They soon learned how to study...we'd go over the quizzes and talk about what they missed and why. Learning by doing was very efficient for this.

 

One thing I stressed - and am stressing more now that they are in public school and see the need for this - is to study a little each day. Waiting until the day before a test is NOT going to be effective.

 

If it helps any, the hardest thing for my 11th grader this year (he just started public school in late Feb. last year) has been to utilize all the material at his disposal. He's got a chemistry teacher who lectures in class but does not assign any reading from the text. The tests, however, contain material from the text and expect mastery of that material. So, you might want to progress to teaching/testing your child on material that they know is available to study but that you haven't actually assigned them to read. Knowing how to do that will be very important in college. (After a shocking C on a chemistry test my son is now seeing that Mom was right all along....lol).

 

I hope this was helpful.

 

Ria

[Melissa B]

My two favorite books are:

 

How to Read a Book - Adler

Study is Hard Work - Armstrong

[MIch elle]

http://www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/sq3r.html

[Baseballmom]

Thank you all, I will check into each of these books and methods to see what works best for our family.

Dorothy