Four Ways I Support My Students' Study Skills in my Algebra 1 Classroom

I don't know about you, but my students' lack of study skills took me by surprise when I started teaching. Study skills need to be explicitly taught to students and I try to reinforce them all year long in my Algebra class. Here are four ways I do this:

Study Guides

Study guides are nothing new, but I think it’s really important to teach students to make their own so they can take that skill with them in future learning. I first got this idea when I saw a blog post by Julie Reubach where she taught students to make “one sheet study guides." I piloted this with my students about five years ago and they loved it! Now I give students a blank study guide before each unit test and each box in the study guide corresponds to a set of notes that we took. Students go through and compile what they feel is most important from each lesson and the last box encourages them to reflect on their understanding. I have two incentives that I’ve offered for creating them - a bonus point on tests and allowing students to use it for the first few minutes of the test. Here's a template of what I use.

Portfolio/Self-Reflection/Surveying

I teach my students to self-assess and reflect on their learning by:

1. Creating Portfolios: Students keep their assessments and exemplar materials in a folder where they track their progress. They graph their assessment data and complete a quick reflection after each test so they know what skills they still need to strengthen.

2. Surveys: After every unit I present students with a Google Form that ask self-reflection questions. Some examples: How did this unit go for you? What did you struggle with? Which lesson or activity did you like the best? Which did you not like? What can you do better next time?

3. Self-reflection questions built in each day: I build the same kind of self-reflection questions from the unit surveys into my notes each day.

4. Thumbs up, down, in the middle: Throughout my lessons I ask students to self-assess their understanding after I finish a key point or example. I ask students to put their thumb up, down, or in the middle to show where they are at. It's a great way for students to stop and think about their understanding.

Choice and Differentiation in Review

Review days can get really monotonous if you don't change up with delivery. For every unit I like to have a different activity format so student engagement stays up. I also like to give students ownership by providing choice. Here are some ways I give my students choice:

1. "Level Up": in this game students complete their skills at their own pace. Using this Level Up Game Template I hyperlink online skill practice and when students "beat the skill" then they can "level up" to the next skill.

2. Tic Tac Toe: similar to "Level Up" I put options for reviewing in a tic tac toe box and students can choose any three that connect vertically, horizontally or diagonally.

3. Stations: I create stations with activities for each skill on an upcoming assessment and allow students to choose which station they need to be at.
   

Partner Practice Studying

Studying with others is an important skill. I help my students learn to do this in a few different ways:

1. Partner Practice Tasks: Students get practice worksheets with different questions, but the questions result in the same answers. This encourages discussion, peer-assessment and peer-teaching as they work together to match their answers.

2. Task Cards: I pair students up and assign task card activities where one partner completes the task on the front of the card and the other partner checks the work and provides feedback based on the answer on the back of the card. Students then trade jobs for the next task card.

3. Language Frames: I provide language frames to help build up students communication skills which is really helpful to them when they are questioning or providing feedback. Some examples: Why did you do this ____? How did you know that _____? Where do I begin here? I get stuck at this part ___. Can you tell me why you did this ____? I think you did a great job with _____. I see an error here ___. I would do this _____ differently because _____.