Success in 2019 - Tomlinscote School

Success in 2019

Picture the scene…

Aims of the evening

•   An exploration of differing mindsets
•   To reflect on grade goals.
•   To learn effective revision techniques
•   To look at how to create a revision timetable

Two types of thinking about
    Classic Michael Jordan quotes
               ABILITY
 “You can practice shooting 8 hours a day, but if your technique is
wrong, then all you become is very good at shooting the wrong
way. Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you
do will rise.” – Michael Jordan

“You must expect great things of yourself before you can do
them.” – Michael Jordan

Two types of thinking about
There are 2 ways to view ability
          ABILITY

            Ability is FIXED
       – you have it or you don’t

        Ability GROWS with effort
   - practise makes you achieve more
 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-
                 Dn2KEjPuc
                 Youtube

Carol Dweck in her own words

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiiEeM
  N7vbQ

Fixed Mindset people live in a
          FIXED MINDSET
            world where:-
Personality is fixed – sociable or not;
Intelligence is fixed – smart or not;
Leadership ability is fixed – talented or not;
Sporting ability is fixed – have the physical skills/physique or not.

TYPICALLY FIXED MINDSET PEOPLE
Avoid risk at all cost - situations where feedback might be given
  that you
don’t have the ‘fixed gift’ anymore

Are obsessed with avoiding making mistakes and failing. Why?

Growth Mindset MINDSET
        GROWTH     people live in a
:
           world where:-
Personality develops – become more or less sociable;
Intelligence grows – harder you work, more able you become;
Leadership ability develops with experience – training can be key;
Sporting ability develops – even Olympians admit they persevered more
than most – often they were not the best at the beginning.

TYPICALLY GROWTH MINDSET PEOPLE:
Are risk takers - Risk helps expose weakness - situations where you
might learn more. Growth mindset people view making mistakes and
failing as a vital part of the learning process. Why?

BBC

Mindset and view on effort
                 Effort?
• A growth mindset puts in effort.

• Fixed mindset avoids effort.

                  But why?

Grade goals
• What are they?
• How did you come about them?
• What are they influenced by?

Creating the right environment
            for revising
• For some students, revision can be a lonely activity.
• Do you have plenty of space? Quiet space?
• It is also quite challenging for you to remain focused if
  you are upstairs in your bedroom and away
   from the rest of your family.
• Do you revise at a desk? On the floor? On
   the bed?
• A bedroom can also be filled with
  distractions, such as…………..

Consider

Keeping the following away from you when
you revise:-

• Phones
• Computer games of any sort
• Music

Revision Strategy Impact

      But Prof Dunlovsky says :-
        (Kent State University in the US)

   "To our surprise it turns out that
   writing summaries doesn't help
                at all.”

The impact of different revision
              skills

"Students who go back and re-read learn as
 much as students who write a summary as
            they are reading."

Forgetting

             Ebbinghaus

The impact of different revision
               skills
• Summarising - writing
  summaries of texts - LOW
• Highlighting/underlining - LOW
• Keyword mnemonics - choosing
  a word to associate with
  information - LOW
• Imagery - forming mental
  pictures while reading or
  listening - LOW

The impact of different revision
               skills
• Elaborative
  interrogation - being
  able to explain a point or
  fact - MODERATE
• Self-explanation - how a
  problem was solved -
  MODERATE

The The
         impact
             impact ofof  different
                       different           revision
                                 revision skills
                        skills
• Interleaved practice -
  switching between different
  kinds of problems -
  MODERATE
• Practice testing - Self-testing
  to check knowledge -
  especially using flash cards -
  HIGH
• Distributed (Spaced) practice
  - spreading out study over
  time - HIGH

Retrieval

Retrieval Practice
• This is all about trying to recreate something that
  you have learnt about in the past. This is best
  used weeks, months or years after you have first
  learnt about something.
• The process of retrieval (or trying to think of
  something in your head), helps you to remember
  more in the long run. This is MUCH more effective
  than just reading over your notes.

Retrieval practice

• If your teacher provides practice tests, or
  there are practice questions in your
  textbook, make sure to do them – but
  without looking at your book or notes!

Retrieval practice
• Using a blank piece of paper, try to
  remember as much as you can about a
  topic and write it all down.
• After practicing retrieval, it is best to then
  check your book and notes from class to
  make sure you correctly and completely
  retrieved the information.

Retrieval practice
• When you start doing this, you will spend a
  great deal of time adding the extra detail
  for a topic. This will be your model page on
  this topic.
• In the future when you revisit this topic, try
  to remember as much as possible of what
  you wrote on this topic in your first
  retrieval exercise.

The Leitner System (flash cards)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C20Ev
  KtdJwQ

Dual coding
–   The human brain remembers thing that are
    exaggerated, weird and different. Use your
    senses to help you.
–   Exaggerate to help you to remember.
    •   COLOURS - Use colours when taking notes. Don’t just
        use pens, use multicoloured paper too when revising.
–   Use highlighter sparingly.
    •   DUAL CODING - PICTURES AND SYMBOLS –
        Exaggerate when you draw pictures in terms of their
        size and their wackiness. This will help your brain to
        remember them.

Dual coding

• When reading over your class notes, try
  and draw visual things that you can put
  alongside your notes.

• Now look at the visuals and try and explain
  what they mean.

Elaborative Interrogation
• This involves explaining and describing ideas with
  many details.
• It involves making connections among ideas you
  are trying to learn and connecting the material to
  your own experiences, memories, and day-to-day
  life.
• Start by making a list of all of the ideas you need
  to learn from your class materials.

Elaborative Interrogation
• Then, go down the list and ask yourself questions about how
  these ideas work and why. You might ask :-
       What?
       Where?
       Why?
        How?
        Look for similarities and Differences
• As you ask yourself questions, go through your class materials
  (e.g., your textbook, class notes, any materials your teacher has
  provided, etc.) and look for the answers to your questions.

Spaced Practice
• Spaced practice is the exact opposite of
  cramming.
• When you cram, you study for a long, intense
  period close to an exam.
• When you space your learning, you spread out
  your studying across a much longer period of
  time.

Spaced Practice
• Doing it this way, that same amount of study time
  will produce more long-lasting learning. For
  example, five hours spread out over two weeks is
  better than the same five hours right before the
  exam.

Spaced practice

• The more you repeat something the more
  your brain will remember it.
• The more you repeat something the more
  your brain will remember it.
• The more you repeat something the more
  your brain will remember it
• The more you repeat something the more
  your brain will remember it

Spaced practice
   • The human brain needs to
     learn something 6 times for it
     to stick in our heads.
   • In order for your brain to
     remember 2 neurons have to
     be connected by a synapse.
   • If 2 neurons do not connect
     you won’t remember.

Spaced practice
• Research suggests it takes 6
  attempts before the neuron
  is connected to the
  synapse.
• Get your family to test you
    on what you have been
    revising once a week.
• It is the only way of you
    knowing how your
    revision is progressing.

Spaced practice
• Leading researchers in the field of memory
  consider testing yourself as one of the most
  effective ways to improve your ability to recall
  information.
• Testing yourself also helps you check for any gaps
  in your knowledge.
• Practice papers provide a good starting point, as
  well as quizzing yourself at the end of your
  revision session.
• Teach someone.

Spaced practice

• Start planning early – the beginning of the
  Autumn term, or even earlier.
• Set aside a bit of time every day, just for
  studying, even if you do not yet know when
  a test is.
• This may seem strange at first, if you are
  used to cramming right before an exam;
  but it’s just a new habit that you will get
  used to if you persevere.

Spaced practice

• After you study information from your
  most recent lessons, make sure to go back
  and study important older information to
  keep it fresh.
• This may seem difficult and you may forget
  some information from day to day, but this
  is actually a good thing! You need to forget
  a little bit in order to benefit from spaced
  practice.

Small chunks

• The human brain can remember at
  any one time 7 facts.
• 20 mins is how long the average
  brain can concentrate for – you then
  need to take a 1 – 2 minute break.
  However if your concentration is
  going well, keep on going.
• Re-oxygenate your brain!!

Small chunks
• Sip water and eat lots of fresh fruit. These
  things will help you with your
  concentration.
• You need to revise for 2 hour blocks.

 • LISTEN TO THE RHYTHM OF YOUR BODY!

Making a revision timetable

CAN YOUR CONTROLLED ASSESSMENTS BE
         IMPROVED FURTHER?

WHEN YOU GO INTO THOSE EXAMS I WANT YOU TO BE ABLE
 TO SAY TO YOURSELF THAT YOU HAVE DONE EVERYTHING
 THAT YOU COULD POSSIBLY HAVE DONE IN ORDER TO DO
                       WELL

Practice on exam questions

   Do you know the syllabus codes for your subject?
   Have you looked at past papers?
   Do you know what is expected in each paper?
   Are there practice papers online?
   Are there mark schemes online?
   What is the key vocabulary used in each subject?

If you’d like to know more
The Learning Scientists -http://www.learningscientists.org/

Bjork: https://bjorklab.psych.ucla.edu/research/

Revision Myths -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJwSSczgfxQ

How to memorise flash cards -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7DrQNX-ABA

Supporting each other
 Please discuss as a family what strategies you will
  take away and use throughout Year 11.
 How will you ensure that your son/daughter has
  the right environment for revision?
 How will you manage the distractions together?
 When will that Revision Timetable start?
 Have you got hold of all the revision guides –
  specific ones to your course?

Support from the school

• We will introduce from Thursday this week a
  ‘Revision session’ in school (Room T1) from
  3.15pm- 4.15pm for all students in this hall
  tonight. It will take place on a Tuesday and
  Thursday afternoon until after the Mocks. This is
  not instead of your own revision but to
  supplement it.
• Weekly Mindfulness sessions – Ms Bennett

7p.m. December 6
    Main Hall
   Evening for
  Parent/Carers