Practical Parental Strategies to S upport L earning

1. Practical Parental Strategies to Support Learning Mr J Frew Learning and Teaching

3. Where are we now? • 11 weeks until written papers start • Time for effective learning and revision to be taking place is NOW • Parents – your role is vital!

4. Strategies • The Study Environment • Organisation • Screentime • Time-management • ‘Good cop, bad cop’ • Monitoring progress • Examination requirements and technique

5. The Study Environment • Effective study and revision requires correct environment • Quiet and calm to facilitate concentration • Depending on your family size/age – kitchen table, study, landing, bedroom • Try to keep to limited number of places • Music can benefit some but distracts others…also depends on nature of task. Low volume. • School is running a ‘study club’ for Y12 • The public library

6. The Study Environment Resources • File paper • Post-its • Cards • Highlighters • Coloured pencils/pens • B&M bargains, The Works, Poundland

7. Organisation • Pupils need to be organised and you can support them in this • Textbooks, files and resources in one place (study environment) • Ensure exterior of files is in reasonable condition and the mechanisms work.

8. Organisation • Do the notes look to be in a logical order and complete? Use file dividers and ‘tabs’ to help with this. • Pupils should check with a classmate • Teachers can help check your files and notes • Help your son/daughter to draw up a revision timetable and set realistic targets

9. Time management • Revision time table • Manage extra-curricular and social activities • Plan ahead. Look at their examination timetable well in advance – where are the ‘pressure points’ and the ‘gaps’ • Manage the work/break ratios

13. Good Cop • Support your children • Encourage them • Talk to them • Listen to them • Stay calm • Be consistent • Patient but firm – the work needs to be done

14. Bad Cop • The work has to be done • They do need to ‘put in the hours’ • Don’t be fooled • Ask the difficult questions • Curfews and sanctions may be needed • Keep your expectations high • Which leads us to…

15. Screentime Phones/tablets/social media MUST be limited

17. Screen time • Set up Apple ‘Family Sharing’ – allows you to limit screen time for specific apps • Many broadband providers now enable you to switch off Wi-Fi at certain times • Phones and devices should be in another room under your control

18. Monitoring Progress How do you know they are working effectively? • Mind-maps/Spider diagrams • Scientific/geographical diagrams/labels • Notes – highlighted • Postcards – key words/terms - definitions • Completed past paper questions • Write Questions/Revise/Ask them • Completing online listening tests - MFL

19. Learning Log

24. Post-Its • Use these to note down key points or questions you have • Are also good for sequencing activities etc

25. Know the ‘Success Criteria’ • Success Criteria provide guidance as to what students need to do to achieve in a task or subject area • At GCSE the success criteria are often linked to the techniques which need to be used in Controlled Assessment and examinations

26. Examination requirements and technique • Try to become as familiar as possible with what is expected of the pupils in each subject • Guidance booklet produced by departments • Look through & practice sample exam questions (eg. CCEA website) • Read through and use mark schemes to plan revision • http://ccea.org.uk/

27. Message for Pupils

28. Are struggling to get started? • If you are…. • You do need to find ways to motivate yourself • Parents, teachers and friends are all important but the most effective motivation will come from yourselves • Set yourself clear and achievable targets – be specific about what you want to achieve at the end of 30 minutes revision

29. Hard work will bring success – talent and natural ability are only a small part of story • “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration” Thomas Edison after 10,000 attempts to create the light bulb