A REVISION INFORMATION EVENING FOR YEAR 11 PARENTS

WEDNESDAY 22ND FEBRUARY

Making a difference…

• The good news is that you don’t need to be an expert in any of the subjects your child chooses to make a real difference

You are the expert in knowing your child

• One of the hardest demands on students is understanding the long-term importance of doing the best they can, and learning to shelve short-term fun in the interest of long-term benefit

• Children will also differ in their levels of maturity, their ability to take responsibility for their learning, organisational skills and levels of motivation

This is where parents come in. Your support, encouragement and interest can make a spectacular difference to your child’s motivation and ability to cope with the

academic and organisational demands of the exam period

Motivate: Parents remember Agree the balance between work and social life and stick to the agreement. Again,

flexibility is the key – if a special night comes up, agree that they can make up the work at a specified time

All students fall behind, feel demotivated or overwhelmed, or struggle with the balance of social, work and school demands at times. When your child feels like this, berating and threatening them will have a negative effect. Talk to them about the issues, acknowledge their feelings and adopt a sensible attitude in wanting to find a solution

Be flexible – use the 80/20 rule. If your child is sticking to what they are supposed to be doing 80% of the time, they will be doing alright

If your child asks for your support, encourage them by helping them to see the difficulties in perspective. Teenagers often take an all or nothing ‘catastrophic’ approach to difficulties – “I’ve messed up this essay, I might as well give up’’

Don’t stop going to, or working in, lessons you find hard or dislike – talk to someone about any difficulties you are having – there is always a solution

Plan a revision schedule and stick to it – even when you don’t feel like it. Don’t wait until you are in the mood – the further behind you get the less you will be in the mood (agree the schedule with you - this will lead to a hassle-free life)

To resist the temptation to bury their head in the sand if things are getting out of hand – talk to you/tutor/teachers/Head of Year

Tell them to Ignore what friends and others are doing or saying – they are working for an easy life for themselves now and later – let their friends worry about themselves

Motivate: Remind your Child

Remember…Stress free Support• Be positive about your child’s attempts

• It’s a good idea if your child has a break and something to eat before starting revision

• Be patient! Help your child to become an independent learner. Explain how to look up information or find a word in a dictionary rather than simply giving them the answer in order to get the task finished

• Turn off the television while revision is underway, but let your child work to music if they find it helpful (within reason!)

• It doesn’t need to be a marathon session; little and often is usually best

• Don’t be afraid to tell your child to STOP if it isn’t going well. Try to agree what the difficulty is and when to come back to it later

• ALWAYS end with praise (they’ll feel good, you’ll feel good)

What is Revision?

Revision is to actively look back over your work on an ongoing basis to:• Remind you of learning you might have forgotten

(knowledge, skills, ideas, understanding)• Make links to other learning so you have the bigger

picture• To reinforce your learning – so it stays remembered• To show what you don’t know – so you can close the

gaps• Check that you have understood everything

I’ve read all of my notes but I can’t

remember any of it…!

Parental Involvement1. Research and experience shows that children whose

parents/carers take the opportunity to be frequently interested in their child’s learning make most progress

2. It can reduce panic and instead help to develop and instil confidence

3. It means exams can reflect what they can do, not what they didn’t know

4. It can help identify areas that may be a concern or problem and solutions can be found to help overcome these

5. You will also get to know your child’s particular strengths and difficulties and find out what they are studying. Helping your children with their work is not the same as doing it for them; discussing their work with them strengthens their understanding

Encourage a growth mindset: I can’t do it…yet

Contrasting LearnersINDEPENDENT LEARNERS

• Able to be self-reliant

• Get help & problem solve

• Know their strengths & weaknesses

• Take responsibility for own learning & behaviour

• Plan their learning and set goals

• Motivated by progress in learning

• Often reflect on learning process

• Accept challenge and mistakes as part of trying

DEPENDENT LEARNERS

• Rely on teachers• Stop when stuck• Don’t know their strengths &

weaknesses• Think teacher is responsible for their

learning & behaviour• Do not know how to approach

tasks/problems• Do not set learning goals• Do not reflect on their own learning• Tend to give in when things go wrong

or are hard

When?

GCSE Exams: Tuesday 15th May – Wednesday 23rd June

1. Help them work out how much time they have: 12 weeks (includes 2 weeks Easter Holidays)NB: only 3 weeks after Easter until first written exam!

2. Take into account their ideal time of day to work – when will they best revise? Plan regular slots around other commitments

3. Help to break it down to seem more manageable. ‘Revising for GCSEs’ sounds like too much hard work. ‘Revising key French verb endings’ is do-able

4. Use planners and timetables to keep up with revision5. Attend revision sessions and support offered by departments

Preparing to revise…

Start revision early. The sooner your child starts the less you will have to do each day and the less stressed out you both will be

The most important thing is to make a realistic revision timetable that your child will stick to

Get one good revision book or aid for every subject. They do much of the initial work for you by breaking the subject down into ‘do-able’ chunks

Preparing to revise…

What…How?

Does your child know what they need to know…

• What will actually be tested on in the exam? • On what day is the exam? • When does the exam start and how long does it last?

Do they have the notes and material they need?

• Exercise books, textbooks, folders • Most revision guides have key information already summarised

What…How?

Help provide the right resources for your child to revise actively: • post-it notes • pen, ruler, paper, scissors & glue • internet access - if you have it • dictionary • highlighter pens • coloured pens • revision guides, revision CDs and podcasts

Help your child by asking the right questions:• When is your exam…? • What are you likely to be tested on…? • What do you need to take on the day…? • What strategies are helping you most..? • You’ve been studying…What can you teach me…? • What support do you need…?

If there are any gaps in knowledge, encourage them to ask their subject teacher…

or…

… if that fails you can email teaching staff!

Happy Brains…

Practice and Rehearsal…• 66% material is forgotten after 7 days• 88% material is forgotten after 6 weeks

• Reading notes and text books leads to a mere 10% retention

After a 45 minute session:• 10 minutes later revise the topic for 10 minutes• 1 day later revise the topic for 5 minutes• 1 week later revise the topic for 2-5 minutes• 1 month later revise the topic for 2-5 minutes• Before exams revise the topic as required• Each time knowledge is reinforced; it enters deeper into the long-term

memory and becomes more stable and easier to recall

Questioning and Teaching

We learn:

• 10% of what we read• 20% of what we hear • 30% of what we see • 40% of what we see and hear• 70% of what is discussed • 95% of what we teach to someone else

This means that the best method of learning is having to explain or teach a topic to someone else.

Visual

• Use post its and stick on wall

• Summarise notes – cue cards

• Highlight or circle important information

• Use a traffic light system to indicate progress in learning and action points

• Draw diagrams, pictures, mind maps, collage

• Keywords displayed around the room

Auditory

• Make up mnemonics, rhymes, acrostics

• Create a podcast and listen

• Test yourself or friends

• Be the teacher – teach someone else something you’re revising

• Raps, rhyme, chants and verse, dramatic readings

• Music for energising, relaxing visualising and reviewing

Kinaesthetic

• Make a PowerPoint presentation

• Create revision cards

• Act topics out!

• Play a revision game on BBC Bitesize

• Design and build activities

• Gestures or movements to demonstrate a concept

Mnemonics

Study Cards

Thinking Maps

Mind Maps

Note-taking

5-5-1

Reduce the article to:1) 5 key ideas2) 5 key words3) Finally, to most important word

Support from Brockington…

• Departmental intervention and revision sessions

• LRC - Computer/internet access

• Exam timetable – website

• Revision Timetable Templates on Enrichment Day

• Revision Techniques on Enrichment Day

• Study leave from Monday 12th June (final Y11 Assembly Friday 9th June 2.30pm)

Message for your children…

You don’t have to change much to make a BIG difference…

• Ask a few more questions• Write a bit more detail• Spend a few more minutes on your homework• Spend a few less minutes watching TV• Go to bed a bit earlier• Eat a bit healthier• Turn up to a revision session (or two)• Chat a bit less• Revise a bit more• Practise a few more exam questions• Concentrate a bit more

Preparing for your Exams

• Make a Start (just do it)

• Prepare a Revision Timetable (build in some breaks to reward you for all yourself for all your hard work)

• Make notes on your notes on your notes

• Test each other (revise with your friends)

• Practise, Practise, Practise, (and put yourself under exam conditions where possible – past papers/questions etc)

• Go to all the catch up sessions you can – they’re free!

All this information…

• In the Parent Guidance booklet issued

• On the school website

• Via presentations from Departments

• If at the end we have not answered all your questions…

Complete the question sheet

At times…