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Topic:
Using the Student's Friend :
Study questions, quizzes, key points
and other strategies (T6)

We are always looking for good ways to cover the content in the Student's Friend . I have tried four writing strategies so far that seem to work:
- key points
- answering study questions
- notes followed by quiz
- written narrative

8/12/02 studentsfriend.com reply
I don't think students will find anything on the web site that will undermine your efforts. I haven't put any tests or exams on the site precisely because of the concerns you raise. One of these days I will try to make exams available to teachers through the mail with proper identification. But, exams won't be posted on the web site.

Many of my students know about my web site, and I am not too concerned that they might look up the quizzes. If any kids take the time to find the quizzes and correlate them to the units we are studying and peruse the quizzes before I administer them in class...well, I applaud their initiative. I haven't included the quiz answers on the web site, so kids would still have to figure out the right answers on their own. It's probably easier for them to just take good notes in class and use these notes when they take the quizzes. In any case, the quizzes are easy and meant only to encourage students to take decent notes from the Student's Friend.

9/1/02 Becky, teacher from Alaska
I have a few more questions. Were there...answers to the quizzes and study questions somewhere in this site? Being a new teacher, I am looking for any samples I can find.

9/2/02 studentsfriend.com reply
I don't have answers for the quizzes to give you, but they will be obvious as you teach the course. The quiz is designed primarily to get the students to take decent notes when using the notes/quiz strategy. The quiz answers are always the main topic headings in the Student's Friend, or possibly the bolded terms. I think the answers to study questions will also be obvious to you as you cover the material in the Student's Friend.

7/30/02 studentsfriend.com reply
You won't find full sets of study questions and quizzes on the web site because I alternate between four approaches: key points, study questions, notes/quiz, and the newest approach, a narrative (see below). I always begin the semester with key points. At the end of this email I will include a copy of a response I provided to an earlier question similar to yours. (That earlier conversation follows.)

7/30/02 Joe reply
I understand more clearly now. Everything sounds easy to follow.

7/9/02 Michael, teacher
Thank you for the great resource. I am wondering if the following are available: For WHG 1:
Study Questions- 21,22. Quiz Pages- 11,12 13,14 19,20 21,22 and 23,24.
For WHG 2: Study Questions- 9,10,11,12,13,17,18,19,20,21,22,23. Quiz Pages- 5,6 9,10 11,12 13,14 15,16.
I love the information that you've put together. I was just looking for some info to fill in the holes in what I already have. Thank you very much. It's good to see someone who enjoys teaching World History as much as I do.

7/27/02 studentsfriend.com reply
I didn't provide study questions for each page in the Student's Friend because study questions are only one of the exercises I use to get students to write about the material. Students probably like the study questions least of the four approaches. All four are identified in the "Using the Student's Friend" area of the website. I didn't include a full set of quizzes for the same reason - because the various activities are alternated during the course of the semester.

I tried a new approach last year for the first time, and it seemed to work pretty well. I have the students write an historical narrative incorporating all of the bold topics and terms found on a page of the Students Friend. On a following day students write a narrative covering the next page, and so on. In this way, the students create their own story about a unit from the Student's Friend . The root word of history is, of course, story. You might give it a try.

8/29/01 Keith, teacher from North Carolina
I'm writing about your study questions. I noticed that you have a copy of some of your study questions on your website. On average how many questions do you usually give?

9/1/01 studentsfriend.com reply
Study Questions:
You asked about my use of study questions. Normally, I begin a new semester using key points. That was my only strategy during the first year I taught with the Student's Friend . After students get pretty good at identifying key points, I move on to the other two strategies of study questions and notes/quiz. This is why you don't see study questions or quizzes for the early units.

If you click on some of the study questions, you will see that I generally have about five or six per page of the Student's Friend, although many of the questions have more than one part. Some questions merely ask for a term. Others require some processing of the evidence. The questions seem fairly simple and straightforward to me, but some students struggle with finding the answers. All questions involve locating the desired information within blocks of text, which I believe is a useful skill for students to practice. In the adult world, we frequently have to find needed information. When the students have found the answers to the questions, they have also identified essential material that will be on the test.

Key Points:
This is how I currently do the Key Points activities. I have class discussions of the key points after students have written them on their own. I always have the discussions after students complete an entire page from the SF. This is when I use the blackboard to illustrate various connections and when I use the overhead projector to provide visuals. The discussion always begins with a student reading aloud the information on one topic, and then other students offer their key points on that topic. It is during this discussion that I correct mispronunciations, clear up misunderstandings, ask questions and answer questions, and generally check for understanding. Students are called upon in sequential order, going around the room, so every student participates. But, any student is free to offer alternative suggestions for key points at any time. We discuss and arrive at a consensus that is then underlined in the Student's Friend, and this is the knowledge that will be tested in the unit test.

Instead of writing all topics on a page and then discussing them in turn, I think it might also make sense for students to write down the key points for one topic, then discuss, then do the next topic, then discuss, etc. I might try this approach on some occasions this year to see how it works.