Cognitive Processing Difficulties Improving during the Testing - Essay Example

 Learning Intervention: Test Taking Abstract This is a working document that presents the development of a learning intervention course designed to help high school students with cognitive processing difficulties improve their test taking skills and capacities. The intervention will cover methods and skills to implement when studying for the test, taking the test, and after the test. It is intended to help the students cope with stress/nervousness and overcome the obstacles of processing weakness by learning basic and easily implemented strategies and skills that directly respond to their weakness. ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY Intervention: This intervention is a test taking intervention course that will focus primarily on test taking skills, and methods to improve academic achievement through tests and exams. The intervention will include steps and methods to be implemented before, during, and after the test session to ensure maximum performance. The intervention will also focus on skills that help the student analyze and retain the information in the best possible manner so passing tests is not seen as an end goal, but becomes a means of helping the students obtain long-term retention. Audience: This intervention course is specifically geared toward students in 9th and 10th grade who have a difficulty in test taking that they have been unable to overcome through mere practice and normal methods of improvement such as extra study time and guidelines from the teachers. While the intervention could also apply to 11th and 12th graders, it would be more effectively given in 9th and 10th grade, so the students overcome their difficulties in the beginning of high school, and don’t carry the struggle until the fourth year. The majority of these students have processing difficulties. Such difficulties, which affect the students’ capacity for comprehension, memorization, and expression, negatively impact the students’ test taking capacities and prevent them from being able to overcome test taking difficulties through the standard tactics. As a result of continual difficulties, many of the students are plagued by exaggerated nervousness about tests, which inhibits their capacities even further. Others feel as though they will never be able to succeed, succumb to discouragement, and stop trying. Studies have shown that students with such processing weaknesses need supplementary support if they are to reach their true potential. This learning intervention course is dedicated to providing this support for the students specifically in the area of test taking. Goals: - Increase confidence and decrease nervousness and stress in terms of test taking - Help the students use studying for tests as a way to enhance their overall academic achievement, comprehension, and related study skills. - Help the students learn study strategies that enable them to overcome their processing weaknesses. - Help the students strengthen their written communication skills - Measurably improve test taking results. Measurable Learning Outcomes: - Students will improve in their test taking performance. This should be seen through quality of work, both in identification and analytical/communicative sessions of tests, and should be reflected in higher grades. This will take place slowly, as they start regularly implementing the skills learned through the intervention, but should happen steadily. - Enhanced note-taking skills. The test preparation skills learned through the intervention should be reflected in improved note-taking: better handwriting, clear structure, effective use of margins and side notes, special marking of essential points (high light, underline, etc.) - Increased comprehension of material through a simple three point method. Students should be able to retain the basic information of any given topic by summarizing it into three simple points that help them provide structured and complete answers. They should be able to show these points on a test, or tell them to the teacher if asked what the topic was about. - Differentiation in study methods for different subjects. Students should have different strategies to apply when studying for tests in different subjects. This can be measured specifically by their use of study materials – flash cards, vocabulary lists, practice writing, etc. - Increased confidence and decreased nervousness and stress. This should be able to be visibly seen when tests are approaching and in the room when the students are taking the test. Content Outline: Relation of intervention to the complete course: - This intervention is not limited in relation to one subject. In essence, it relates to all courses and the entire study program, because test taking is a universal tool of measurement and is of great importance in study, comprehension, and retention skills. - This intervention should result in improvement in all subjects, provided the student is not hindered by subject-specific learning disabilities. - This intervention could be given as an individual credit (Test Taking Intervention Course, study skills course, etc.), or can be given within a particular course where the teacher sees that subject performance would be greatly enhanced as a result. - While including strategies for all subject areas, the course is more heavily focused on the cognitive, verbal and communicative skills, so if given as part of a subject course, it would be most appropriate to embed it into a history, literature, or humanity course. Topics I. Prior to test taking a. Taking good notes – handwriting, structure, clearly marking essential information b. Summarize each main topic into three main points. Grouping details under the main points. c. Asking questions in class to increase comprehension d. How to anticipate what could come up on the test and prepare for written expression sections, practicing how to expressing essential information ahead of time. e. Subject specific strategies i. General structures that can help in learning history, literature, and humanities subjects. ii. Flash card, formula, and vocabulary strategies for math and science. f. Immediate preparation for the test: coming well prepared, tips for decreasing nervousness II. During the Test a. Timing and order of importance b. Knowing your own strengths and weaknesses c. How to make use of your three points to answer well d. Process for written expression III. After the test a. Making the most of teachers’ comments – compare with other assignments/previous tests in the same subject to detect consistent strengths and weaknesses b. Comparing tests between subjects to detect weaknesses that span all subjects as opposed to subject-specific weaknesses. c. Forming personal study plan based on strengths/weaknesses reflected in tests d. Patience UNIT PLAN Topic Titles: Test Preparation In-Test Skills Post-testing Optimization Time Frames: 4 hours total, not counting breaks. There are two options for execution: Option 1: Morning long intervention course: 9:00 AM – 1:30 PM 9:00 Test Preparation 10:00 Break 10:10 Test Preparation (continued) 11:10 Break 11:20 In-Test Skills 12:20 Break 12:30 Post-testing Optimization 1:30 Departure Option 2: Four separate class times dedicated to intervention, following the same hourly breakdown as option 1. Room Set Up: Ideally, this should be done with a fairly small class or group, to ensure that each one benefits from it as much as possible. Groups of 10-20 would be ideal. The course should happen in a fairly small room, so it doesn’t seem empty. The room should be clean and bright, but without lots of distractions through the window (a view of a field or woods – something peaceful, not changing or fast moving, would be good). Inside, the room should reflect order and structure – very little hanging on the walls, so all of the students are focused on the teacher and topic of the intervention, not distracted by posters and displays about biology or presidents or student projects. At the beginning, the desks should be facing the front, but should be able to be rearranged into one large circle and 2 or more smaller circles at different points of the course. Working in a large circle instead of just facing the front helps students relax and feel more personally engaged. If there is talking, distracting, etc., the setup should be returned to the typical classroom setting. There should be a desk at the front that can hold materials to be passed out, etc. A projector screen should be set up, either front and center, or in the front left corner. Interactions: At different stages of the intervention course, students will work both alone and in groups. In the Test Preparation section, for example, students will at one point practice taking notes and coming up with three main points. This will be done alone. After the notes have been taken, however, they will get into small groups to compare ideas and learn from each other. Groups will be made by the teacher and at random, either based on seating, or by numbering off the students. Being grouped randomly helps students in this form of intervention because they don’t feel as though they are being grouped by capability, and thus don’t form attitudes of inferiority/superiority. It also allows for different groupings during the duration of the intervention, so students can discuss and benefit from a wider variety of their classmates than having one group the whole time. Media: This intervention will make use of a computer, projector and speakers to show a PowerPoint Presentation. Since these students have processing weaknesses, it will help them refer to a visual while hearing the explanation as well. The PowerPoint should be simple, because these students can also be more easily distracted than others, so all elements should be designed to help them stay focused or refocus on the intervention. Videos and more dynamic audio-visuals will not be used because the exercise of following the PowerPoint along with the presentation is in itself helping them practice the study skills that the intervention focuses on – concentration, comprehension, note-taking, etc. Materials: - A printed summary of the course will be available to distribute AFTER the course. This way, the students exercise their listening, note-taking and comprehension skills during the course, but have a complete reference available afterward to compensate for anything they missed. - Handouts a. on good note-taking b. examples of three point summary c. tips for written expression on tests d. an evaluation/feedback sheet to be taken during the last session. e. Program format that each one can take and fill out after analyzing their personal test strengths/ weaknesses, establishing two or three of the most important skills they need to work on and a couple of concrete means they can use. Learning Objectives: Know how to identify essential information and retain it using three basic points Understand the importance of neat and well structured notes, and implement this to maximize learning potential. Be able to approach a test requiring written work with confidence, knowing how to structure a good answer and support their claim. Be able to use individual study strategies when studying for tests in different subjects Understand personal strengths and weaknesses, and develop a program to maximize strengths and diminish weaknesses Gagne Level: The intervention teaches a combination of intellectual skills, cognitive strategies, and attitudes. The sections on comprehension and expression (three point method, writing methods) deal with cognitive strategy and intellectual skills (analysis, synthesis and application). Note taking, timing and prioritizing on tests also imply intellectual skills. One of the main overall results of the intervention, in addition to improved test taking is increased self-confidence and decreased stress/nervousness. The topics that relate to this have to do with attitude. Taxonomy Level: The topics of this intervention deal mainly with the cognitive level, helping overcome processing difficulty and enhance cognitive skills and methods. Some points, regarding stress and nervousness, touch on the affective level as well. Instructional Strategy: The instructional strategy would be to deliver one or two simple points both verbally and through PowerPoint, so the students receive it both orally and visually. Then, through brief discussion, have the students think about the point (this personalizes it for them). A brief practice exercise is then done individually (note taking, summarizing three points, etc.). By hearing, discussing, and practicing, the students will retain the points more comprehensively, and the teacher can then move to the next point(s). If and when beneficial, the students can get into groups after the individual exercises to compare findings and learn from each other. Plans for Assessment: - Evaluation/feedback sheet: these will reflect what each student understood and left the intervention with. Taken as a whole, these will help show the greatest strengths/weaknesses of the course. - In class follow up. Teachers should see an improvement in note taking and the quality of comprehension questions asked. - Gradual test improvement. Even if grades are not better immediately, the teacher should be able to tell a difference in the way the students approach the answers on the test (better timing, clearer topic sentences, etc.) - Follow up session one or two weeks later. Discussion with the students to see what has gotten easier, what is still most difficult, etc., now that they have been implementing the strategies. This feedback can be invaluable for improving the intervention. SOURCES for further reference: Desire2Learn. Measurement and Assessment Tools. Retrieved February 26, 2010 from www.desire2learn.com/learningenvironment/assessment/ Reviewing.co. Course Evaluation Methods. Retrieved February 26, 2010 from http://reviewing.co.uk/evaluation/methods1.htm Teacher Vision. Creating an Effective Physical Classroom Environment. Retrieved February 26, 2010 from http://www.teachervision.fen.com/classroom-management/decorative-arts/6506.html Read More