BLOG: Alan David Pritchard Blog #1: STUDY SKILLS: The 6S Study Skills Information Booklet

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Did you know that getting into the right mental state when preparing for exams actually improves your chances of success? Are you aware that even a slight change in your sleep pattern by as little as an hour can cause you to forget up to 30% of what you have learned? Have you heard that drinking water regularly can lead to an improvement in mathematic abilities?

Each day scientists and educational folk are discovering new and startling facts about our ability to learn and the learning process. Discoveries are regularly being made regarding the biology and chemistry of our bodies and how our memories can be strengthened or weakened by everyday factors like exercise, diet and mental outlook. More and more schools are beginning to make a link between healthy lifestyle-choices and the ability to learn effectively.

 

  

Many students walk around thinking that they are not very smart, and, because they may find it difficult to learn or remember or concentrate for some things, they end up labelling themselves as not very able. “I’m not good at this,” and “I can’t do that” are words such students use – you can almost hear their voices.

What they don’t realise is just how very capable they are – it could well be a simple case of their sleeping patterns, life-style habits and mental self-talk preventing their brains from processing information properly.

 

Many students, despite their best intentions, will find themselves locked in a mental pattern whereby they perceive themselves as under-achievers, and passively accept that they may not be very bright.

 

Here’s an example: a student goes out over the weekend and sleeps in late both Saturday and Sunday mornings. That student has now disrupted his natural sleep-wake cycle, and will probably not be able to go to sleep at the usual time on Sunday night. This means he will not get the full quota of sleep that his body needs to face the week ahead. Come Monday morning, when his brain needs to process the previous day’s events through sleep, the student finds he has to be awake and attentive at school. So while his brain is technically still sleeping, he is receiving new input and data. It is not possible for him to pay complete attention in class, and his body will want to go back to bed.

 

The danger in this scenario is the student may then label himself as stupid / slow/ not able when he is asked to recall Monday’s information – and can’t.

 

If the student then goes on to repeat these negative labels over and over again, he is basically hot-wiring/ programming his brain to fail at most things in life.

 

Recognising how one’s lifestyle choices and daily habits of mind can affect one’s abilities to learn and remember new information is a crucial step for students to make before they can begin to dream big. This is where we come in.

 

CHANGING MINDSETS THROUGH REFLECTIVE PRACTICE

 

Positively MAD is a company passionate about making a positive difference to the way students study and learn – but we do more than that: our aim is to change the way students THINK. We want to change those mental patterns which are based on negative assumptions and enforced through unhealthy lifestyle choices.

 

We understand that you may well have pupils in your school with very low self-esteem and who have been labelled as less-able because they have developed negative mindsets and unproductive learning habits. Those labels may be self-imposed or created through patterns of mediocrity.

 

We also realise that many of those students could significantly improve if they made small but substantial changes to areas in their life concerning SLEEP, MENTAL STATE, LEVELS OF SUPPORT, EXERCISE, DIET, and the practise of basic study SKILLS.

 

Furthermore, if those students could be shown how they can take charge of the change process by reflecting on their lifestyle choices and using the reflective practice cycle to make, implement, reflect and evaluate their own progress – then it is highly likely that those students will notice a positive change in their mental outlook and experience more moments of success in their endeavours.

 

For example: do you have students who arrive at school sluggish, slow and a tad moody? Do you have pupils who find it difficult to concentrate in class and who would probably do a lot better if only they applied themselves more?

 

Are there some in your school whom you know to be very able, but for some reason they just don’t think of themselves that way?

 

Chances are they have incurred what is known as sleep-debt (the hours you owe your brain through lost sleep), which has been shown to affect memory and self-esteem. If they learned ways to regulate and maintain a regular sleep cycle, their concentration in class would significantly improve and their ability to process information and remember things would be enhanced.

 

Now, if those students were also taught a range of effective learning tools and then shown ways to apply those techniques using the reflective practice cycle, their chances of becoming versatile, life-long learners are greatly increased.

 

So how can a school motivate its low-achieving students to want to make changes to their lifestyle and to reflect on ways of learning in order to improve their performance?

 

Well, for hundreds and hundreds of schools countrywide, giving Positively MAD a call was all that was necessary.

 

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

 

The acronym implicit in our company name boldly indicates our intent: to Make A Difference.

In fact, our world-class, multi-media presentations have such an impact on students that they resort to superlatives and a flurry of exclamation marks when providing feedback. Comments like “Fantastic!! Very worthwhile!!” seem to be the predominant theme underlying much of the evaluations we receive.

We know, from the vast amount of anecdotal evidence we have gathered over the years, that we make an enormous impact, at the point of delivery, on the mindsets of students. One of the many joys of our engagement with schools is seeing students emerge, after one of our courses, feeling more confident about their abilities as learners and equipped with a range of learning tools that they can immediately apply to their own areas of study.

This is why Positively MAD has created a unique and holistic whole-day training workshop for Year 10 and 11 secondary school pupils which not only introduces them to some of the latest research into holistic learning approaches, but also shows them how they can reflect upon key areas in order to maximise their chances of success in the examinations.

Our unique approach enables students to apply our methods long after the course is finished, with template resources and step-by-step guides which enable students to use reflection as a means of self-development and self-improvement.

This means that the course does not just provide students with useful information, ready-to-use ideas, practical tips and effective techniques - but it also provides a scaffolded and structured system of regular review and self-reflection that they can use long afterwards as they fine-tune their body and master the skills needed for exam success.

For schools seeking formative data on the learning of their students, these documents will prove invaluable evidence of self-directed learning and the impact of adopting reflective practice as habit.

 

We have called our system

 

THE 6S LEARNING TO LEARN SYSTEM

OF

REGULAR REVIEW AND SELF-REFLECTION

 

and the course we have created to introduce the system into schools is known simply as

THE 6S SUCCESS COURSE.

 

 

THE 6S SUCCESS COURSE

 

Aims

Firstly, the course aims to show students how very powerful their brains are by introducing them to fourteen specific learning tools and allowing them to experience the simplicity and power of each of the methods.

They will then use those tools to remember information about sleep, diet, exercise, state, support and skills – which will better enable them to prepare their whole bodies for the exam experience.

After applying the methods, they will evaluate the effectiveness of each to determine its usefulness. Students are then invited to reflect on areas of the curriculum to which the methods and tools can be applied, and to share their findings with each other.

In short, they will:

• Remember and comprehend the simplicity and usefulness of a range of learning methods
• Apply those learning methods to information regarding whole-body exam-preparation
• Analyse each method with regards to its practicality
• Evaluate the effectiveness of the methods
• Record their findings in an in-course workbook and a pre-during-post reflection feedback form

Secondly, the course aims to introduce students to the concept of reflective practice, and, in particular, to encourage the adoption of the REGULAR REVIEW PROCESS and the reflective practice cycle.

 

The Regular Review Process

The REGULAR REVIEW PROCESS works on the premise that it is better to learn little chunks of information and then review them regularly (which echoes the brain’s natural way of learning and accesses all learners, regardless of ability) – than it is to cram study the night before.

 

The REGULAR REVIEW PROCESS is a system that guides students into reflecting daily on what they have learned, and into experimenting with ways, there and then, to remember that information.

 

Using the 14 learning methods that are introduced during the SUCCESS COURSE, the students are then able to fix the information so that after just a few reviews, it is lodged in their permanent memories and they just know it.

 

This will make preparing for the exams a much less stressful and more rewarding experience.

 

The students are provided with a book called The Student Guide to the Regular Review Process which contains fact sheets and examples of the process in action. This is to support them once the course is over.

 

Documented Evidence

The Student Guide contains the Daily Lesson Review Pages and the accompanying Topic Envelope Templates which provide a simple format to follow and a means to record and document student progress. In addition, the in-course workbook contains templated PRE AND POST TEST REFLECTION PAGES, which enables students to record their thinking and approaches to studying tests and mock-exams.

 

This means that students can take charge of the learning to learn process by using reflective practice to experiment with and master effective learning tools and methods.

Because they have a structure onto which the process can be captured, the data that they produce can be used, not only as evidence of formative procedures like supported-self-study, but also as evidence to support answers to questions in the S.E.F.

 

The STUDENT GUIDE TO THE REGULAR REVIEW PROCESS supports and captures students’ learning-learn approaches.

 

To support more whole-body approaches to exam-preparation and to develop the adoption of reflective practice as habit, students will also receive a copy of THE 6S REFLECTIVE JOURNAL.

 

The 6S Reflective Journal

The 6S Reflective Journal is a self-help reflective manual for teenagers who wish to prepare their whole bodies for the exam experience. This book is based on the reflective practice cycle and invites students to reflect on their lifestyle choices and daily habits to determine which areas need focus and attention.

 

The six areas they are invited to reflect upon are: SLEEP, SPORT (exercise), SUSTENANCE (diet), STATE (mental outlook), SUPPORT (levels of support given, received and needed to prepare for examinations) and SKILLS (daily practice of necessary exam skills).

 

Students then choose an area they wish to focus on, and are guided through daily reflections, to plan changes that can be made. The students are then invited to record what changes they wish to make and how they plan on implementing them. They then reflect upon the effect of the changes and are encouraged to decide which changes to make habit in order to best enhance their ability to prepare holistically for their examinations.

 

Each reflective task takes less than ten minutes a day and provides the latest information regarding whole-body exam preparation.

 

Details about the course

The course begins at the start of the school day and is run in 5 workshops of one hour each. The day can be tailored to fit around existing start/break/lunch/ end routines of most schools. Because of the intensity of the course and because of the need to actively engage with each student, we are offering the course to groups of no more than 30 at a time.

 

Each workshop is designed to build upon the other and to introduce students to the concept of regular review. Students will be shown the Regular Review Process in action throughout the day and will have the opportunity to analyse and evaluate each of the techniques learnt. The study tools that they will be shown include the following:

 

• Keywording for comprehension and note-taking
• Portrait and Landscape Summary Posters
• Mnemonics
• Meaningful Movements
• The Story Link Method
• Mindmapping
• The Number Rhyme Memory Hook System
• The Number Shape Memory Hook System
• The Alphabet Memory Hook System
• Rhyming Song Method
• The Quickfire Quiz
• Roman Room System
• The Journey System
• Person as Location Method

 

Students are given opportunity to reflect on how these tools can be applied to studying areas of the curriculum and to evaluate the effectiveness of each to remember information regarding:

 

• Sleep
• State
• Sport
• Skills
• Support
• Sustenance

 

The Students will be provided with templates for daily lesson review pages and topic envelopes which can be used as a sustainable resource for a long time after.

 

They are then shown and given “The 6S Reflective Journal” and asked to reflect on whether it is something that they would share with their parents. The concept of the reflective practice cycle is introduced and the students are shown how the book uses the cycle as its basic structure. Students are invited to peruse the book and then consider its usefulness.

 

Finally the students are shown the Pre and Post Test Reflection Page, which guides them through the process of reflecting deeply on their approaches to test taking. The Pre and Post Test Reflection Page invites students to record their notes and learning approaches, and, if photocopied and used regularly, serves as invaluable formative evidence of self-directed study.

 

Course Benefits

• Changes pupils’ perception of their ability to remember and learn things
• Provides a toolkit of study strategies to be applied and assessed throughout the course
• Exposes the students to current research around key areas like sleep, sustenance, sport, support and state in order to encourage them to prepare their whole body for the exam experience
• Inspires students to further apply the tools learnt throughout the day to their study habits by using the Regular Review Process (a way of systematically reviewing work until it is “just known”.)
• Promotes the concept of self-reflection and regular reflection.
• Promotes healthier lifestyle choices and a more positive attitude to exams and tests

 

The Feedback Form

The feedback form captures the pre and post course evaluations, and also allows for students to make in-course evaluations of the methods introduced during the day.

The qualitative and quantative data is then analysed and a detailed report will then be sent to your school for your records and consideration.

 

The essential questions on that form involve:

1. Ascertaining whether the students felt that the course had changed their view of their ability to study effectively
2. Determining how effective the students found the specific learning tools
3. Determining whether the course had made them feel more confident in their ability to learn new material
4. Ascertaining how many students saw the benefit of using the regular review process
5. Determining how many students could see the benefit of using a reflective journal
6. Ascertaining how many students would be prepared to share their reflective journals with their parents
7. Collating the students’ personal responses to the course in terms of benefits, outcomes and future recommendations

 

Recent Student Responses

From the feedback we have received so far from schools that have had The Success Course, when asked if they would recommend the course to others, ALL of the students involved reported that they would DEFINITELY recommend the course.

 

Here are some comments gathered from pupils at King Edward IV School in Spilsby, Lincolnshire:

• This has helped me know what I need to do when I study”
• “Now I will prepare myself a lot more and not leave it for the last night before an exam”
• “I used to put studying aside, but I believe I will do it from now on”
• “I didn’t realise how easy it is to study”
• “I have found more easy and different ways to study”
• “It has given me new ideas to get things to stay in my head”
• “It has shown me different ways and has inspired me”
• “I have learnt different ways to study and think it will help me”
• “I will now be able to take in more information”
• “I now know how to change styles of learning”
• “It was simple to learn things that teachers would make hard”
• “I now know how to revise what I have learnt”
• “You have made it fun and given me new ways”
• “It made me a lot more confident than I was”
• “I found it hard to take in things before”
• “I feel that I have learnt a lot about different learning methods”
• “I now know loads of different ways to learn and memorise things”

 

The Success Course For Teachers

This course is ideal for teachers wishing to find ways to support their students’ learning. The course is run to the teachers as it is to the students, to allow teachers to experience the 6S System as learners themselves. Once the system is learnt, it is simple and easy to transfer and teachers will find that, not only can they better support their students, but their armoury of effective learning tools will be considerably enhanced.