Remembering What You Read to Conquer the "End of Chapter" Questions

 As a teacher, it's not uncommon to assign chapter review questions, but many students struggle with going back and finding the answers. Some students just shut down and don't try because it looks overwhelming. I don't assign these types of assignments as much since it doesn't show me the data I need to see if students truly understand the chapter concepts. However, I love this technique offered by Jill Stowell from Stowell Learning Center. This technique is helpful for many worksheet-type assignments:

One of the more "torturous" kinds of homework is to read a worksheet or a chapter and then answer questions about what was read.

Why can this be so difficult? Because it involves so many of those underlying skills that cause students to struggle. It takes just one weak or missing skill to make life, and school, more difficult than it should be.  

Below you'll find a strategy to help your student remember what was read so that they can answer questions. It's really quite fun and will help in improving memory.

 

Conquering Those End-of the-Chapter Questions

A Student Study Tip for Remembering What You Read

A common complaint of students is that they cannot remember what they read when they get to the end of a chapter.

Answering those end-of-the-chapter questions (or worksheet questions) can be a real chore when students do not have good strategies for holding onto the information as they read, or for going back and finding it later.

Many students think that they just have to reread the chapter from the beginning over and over to locate the information.

NO!!!!

In order to understand and remember what is read or heard, individuals must be able to visualize or make pictures in their mind, letting those pictures run like a movie. Three simple steps can be used to help students visualize, understand, and remember the information more easily.

These are:

• Picture
• Replay
• Retell
  

So instead of just rereading, when your child is reading or listening, have him try to picture what is being said, to "make a movie" in his head. Then have him "replay the movie."

Replaying helps set the information into memory.

Have your child picture the information again, retelling it to you in detail as he sees it. Do this first with stories and oral directions. Then try it with content material such as Social Studies or Science.

When your child has questions to answer, have him rewind his "mental movie" to the section where the information can be found. Have him think, "Did I see that at the beginning, the middle, or at the end?"

If he can't remember, have him think, "What did I see at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end? Where does this question seem to fit?"

Once he has located a logical starting point, he can then go back and check in the book without doing a lot of unnecessary rereading.

Using this sequence will save a lot of time, especially after it becomes automatic.