US History II

Today we focused on how your historical knowledge can be tested, such as on an exam. We brainstormed a long list of types of test questions.* We discussed how different kind of questions elicit different kinds of thinking, from simple recall of memorized material or recognition of a statement’s accuracy, to more complex thinking (explain, re-tell, synthesize, or in the case of an essay: develop points using evidence, empathize or think like a person in the past, etc). A good exam will do more than ask you to produce “lower order” or basic-level thinking – it will require you to do more with your brain. Research shows that when you use more of your brain, you learn better and retain more.

So, as a workshop, we divided up Chapters 25 and 26 into the book’s sections and split it up among the class so each person had one section. Each of you became experts on your section and then taught it to a partner. I would love to hear feedback on how you thought that went (I enabled comments on this post, if you’d like to comment), but from my perspective it seemed like that went very well – I saw lots of eye contact, close listening, nodding, asking of questions, give-and-take. In other words, you didn’t zone out on each other, doodle, text, stare off into space, or act disengaged. If only all lectures could be one-on-one! Hmm…

Then, once you had taught each other, I asked you to condense your knowledge (re-formulate, re-process) into a different format: something I call “8 Things.” For each section, I asked you to select or come up with 2 adjectives, 2 nouns, 2 verbs and 2 numbers. We recorded those on a wiki-page, which can be found here.

Finally, although we ran out of time for it, I had planned to have you write an exam question based on your section. I hope I get them via email from each of you sometime today, and I do promise to use the good ones on our next test. (“Good” = they involve different skills or parts of your brain; well-written; they don’t just focus on trivia but invite reflection, connection or critical thought).

*Our list of question types = multiple choice, true-false, fill-in-the-blank, essay, short answer, definition, identification, matching, map, timeline or chronological order, photograph/cartoon/visual image, correction, document-based-question, case study. Did I leave anything out?
Types of exams: in-class v. take-home; self v. professor-graded; open v. closed book.

This past weekend, I read an interesting editorial essay in the Boston Globe Magazine from a college senior who’d done a semester abroad in Britain, which has an entirely different model of higher education from ours. I was struck by something he said: since they have only a weekly “tutorial” with their instructors, students must be self-directed and treat schoolwork as if it’s their job. Which… it is. Consequently, they spend hours studying, or as they put it, “revising.”

The results of Exam 1 suggest that some of you may need to take the coursework more seriously, but also, that many of you may benefit from strengthening the skills of independent studying – since, as I explained the syllabus, we cannot cover everything in class. You need to be aware of how you learn best, and make sure that you are taking responsibility for your own learning. Knowledge is not something “the professor gives you,” it is something you make for yourself.

Especially if your Daily Work grade and your exam grade are both below where you want them, then answer these questions honestly:

1) Do you do the assigned textbook reading, before class?

2) Do you take notes in class?

3) Are you spending 2-3 hours of studying on your own, for each hour of classtime (i.e. 6-10 hours a week)?

4) During that study time, do you take notes on the textbook? Highlighting is not the same as note-taking.

5) Do you copy over, revise, or index your class notes? See below for recommended reading on some handy methods and suggestions about how to do that.

6) Are you using any of the tools on Norton Study Space? Those include flashcards, quizzes, map exercises, and a printable outline of each chapter.

If you answer “No” to any of those questions, then those should be your first fixes to improve your performance in this class.

If you answered “Yes” to all of them, and you still did poorly on the exam or you are struggling with the Daily Work and the Document Responses, then please schedule a meeting with me during my office hours. Perhaps we can identify where your trouble lies, and brainstorm a strategy to go forward, possibly with the assistance of the (free!) tutoring service of the Academic Success Center here on campus.

Recommended Reading:

Advice for Students: Taking Notes That Work (Stepcase LifeHack)
Geek to Live: Take Study-Worthy Lecture Notes (LifeHacker)
The Cornell Note Method (HackCollege)
More Free Cornell Method Forms Here