Firstly, I'd like to thank Barbara for her comment left after my last Post. It's good to know someone is reading this blog.
I've spent a little time thinking about my students' inability to revise adequately by themselves. My last class didn't seem to understand how to revise, as well as not understanding the need to spend sufficient time doing so. I may not be able to convince them to spend as much time revising as I would like them to, but I should be able to help them to prepare for revision.
With this in mind, I have decided to begin preparing for revision throughout the year. My September starters have completed the first topic, General Physics. I designed a revision sheet for the students to complete, covering the most important points, but only using one side of A4 paper. I gave one copy to each student and told them to complete it for homework. They were allowed to add anything of their own choosing to the sheet, so long as they only used one side of A4 paper. I want the students to learn how to make their revision notes compact and easy to use. Most importantly, I want to discourage them from trying to re-read the whole of their textbook.
In order to provide an incentive for the students to complete the task well, I told them they could use the sheet in their end of topic test.
Some revision sheets were completed well, usually by the more able students, but some were still done poorly or not at all. There were mistakes on many, indicating some misunderstandings, so that made the task worthwhile by itself.
After their test, I handed out a revision sheet I had completed correctly. I would have preferred to review the sheet in class and have the students work out where to make corrections, but I just couldn't take the time to do so. Nevertheless, the reason for the task was appreciated and commented upon by some students and I will repeat it for each topic. Maybe, now they have seen the effect that having the sheet in their test, those students who did not make much effort the first time around will be encouraged to do so next time................. At the very least, they have seen an example of how to precis a topic into one side of A4 paper.
Once they have a complete set of revision notes, I will try to encourage the students to use them to answer past exam questions. It is not going to solve the whole problem of revision, of course, but it is hopefully a start.
The Moodle lesson, based around James Bond, was a success. Students commented that having a story to read as well as questions to answer made the task much more enjoyable. Some said they didn't feel as though they were working at all! They all liked the idea that the young James Bond was studying for his IGCSE Physics exam at Bellerbys! The personal touches, especially the humour involved, were appreciated by the students.
I intend to write another story along similar lines, but possibly based around Harry Potter!
