Every year around this time, I take a stack of 12×18 construction paper, distribute a piece to each of my students, and tell them that I have a secret. I tell them that what they’re about to hear is pretty…crazy. So crazy that I can barely believe it myself. So crazy that people would think that I’m crazy if any of them heard about it. The students giggle and laugh and look at me like I’ve really gone nuts.
I tell them that I know this method…this ridiculous, crazy, silly method that somehow helps students learn. I tell them that when I first learned of the idea, I thought it was crazy, too…but we tried it anyway. And then…then, we realized that it actually worked. (I’ve been at my school for a number of years now, and having past students mention that they saw their older sibling do this only adds to the effect). So we make the folders. We fold the construction paper precisely to ensure the transmission will occur properly…they don’t want to know what will happen if they fold it haphazardly…bad things, bad, bad things.
We then walk through the procedure:
1. Place material to be learned into the folder. The more red correcting pen marks on it, the better. (These are the students’ marks, not mine).
2. Right before going to bed, review the top page for one minute exactly. No more, no less. (If they get the timing off, again, potentially disastrous results).
3. Close the folder and place it underneath one’s pillow, then go to sleep. (If students have trouble sleeping with it underneath their pillow, it can go below the bed, on a nightstand, etc., but no more than five meters from one’s head).
Of course, they want to know what will happen if they don’t get the minute exactly right. I reiterate how important reading for exactly one minute is…I don’t want any more students telling me of nightmares of being chased by a tertiary consumer, or becoming a crash-test-dummy in a classroom K’Nex vehicle experiment, or other stories derived from the material we’ve been learning.
By the end, the students are at a fever-pitch, asking questions, doubting the method (and my teaching in general, I am sure), but wondering whether what I say could possibly be true. And yet, this evening I am positive that at least three quarters of my students are sleeping with their past assessments underneath their pillows.
Okay, I know what you’re thinking – it’s easy to get students to do silly things. Some students live for silly things, but this is different. I don’t have my students do silly things just for the sake of silly things; it’s all about learning here. Students are a) reviewing class material without any competition from other distractions, b) reviewing content they likely need to revisit or refresh their memories upon (the more correcting marks, the better), c) they think about the content as they go to bed as well as when they wake, and d) they think it’s all silliness, which makes it fun, thereby increasing the chance of retention. If anything, it gives them a central spot at home for their papers to go (one subject only), instead of instantly to the recycle bin, where there is no chance for later review.
So I know this whole process is a bit crazy, but here’s the thing…do you want to know what’s really crazy? I’ve been doing this for so many years, I think it might actually work.
Do you do anything crazy to help your students learn? Tell us in the comments or submit it here, and we may just feature it in a future post!
Photo from here
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