Learning from Retrieval

My dad sent me an article from Science Magazine called "Retrieval Practice Produces More Learning than Elaborative Studying with Concept Mapping," by Annette Ives, et al.  I was intrigued when I first opened the mail to see this, and it's a fascinating article.  I think I might make a powerpoint for my students....

Anyways, the study compared retrieval, where students read a text and then try to recall as much as they can through free recall, and then read again to see what they missed and recall for a second time, versus elaborative studying where students read a text and then created a concept map from the text.  When tested on the information a week later, the students who studied through retrieval earned 50% better than the concept mapping students in long-term retention.  50%!!!!! That's huge!  The authors then did a second experiment to look at different types of texts (enumeration or lists, versus sequence, which in history would be chronological), individual differences, and long term learning on different test types.  In terms of the text types, again, the retrieval students outperformed the concept mapping students by one standard deviation, which is pretty big. Individually, of the 120 students in the study, 101 students (84%) performed better on a final test when using retrieval study methods than concept mapping.  Finally, when looking at different test types, a short answer test, versus drawing a concept map from memory test, in both cases, the retrieval students did better than the concept map studying students.

The lesson from this is: when you are studying, review your notes/the text, cover them and try to remember everything that you just read/reviewed.  You can do this mentally or on a piece of paper.  Check your answers and repeat for that section, before moving on to the next section.  If you like making concept maps (especially if you are a visual learner), then do it without looking at the text, do it from memory.  Use a pencil and you can always go back and add more/change things when you check.  It will take more time to study this way, but I think the 50% increase in scores is a pretty big trade-off for time.

Day 30

A picture of someone you miss.

While I'm teaching WWI right now to my AP classes, I'll be teaching WWII in about 2-3 weeks. I wish that I could ask Poppa all about his experience in WWII and in France.  I wish that I knew more about his early life, but hopefully the family can fill in some details for me.

Last of the 30 days...hope you've enjoyed them!

Day 29

A picture that can always make you smile.

Visiting A in NYC

Cousins before beach week

Family with the jokester

Proud Gma

My grandmother just told me she's "so proud to have a teacher for a granddaughter!"  I'm happy to make her proud.

Day 28

A picture of something you're afraid of.

Image from: http://www.conversationalcurrency.com/ccwp/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/failure.jpg

Day 27

For Today

A picture of yourself and a family member.

After presenting my paper at the JMU conference

Beach week 2010

Tailgating for my birthday weekend

Of course I couldn't pick just one!

Day 26

For Sunday

A picture of something that means a lot to you.

These words have some double meanings for me, and while I probably never will, it's what I would get in a tattoo, except written in Gaelic: Creideamh Dóchas Grá.  I'll stick with drawing in marker on my skin.

Day 25

A picture of your day.

I'm going to pretend #25 was Saturday, because that was a great day! Picture down the mall from the US Capitol as the sun was setting...

Day 24: Part 2

A picture of something you wish you could change...

Day 24

A picture of something you wish you could change.

I wish that I could either see perfectly, or be able to wear contacts, at least for a little bit of the day.

Image credit: http://hownottomakeasite.net/Images/reading%20glasses.jpg

quote for St. Pat

Your feet will bring you where your heart is. ~Irish Proverb

Day 23

A picture of your favorite book.  

Oh this is a hard picture to come up with.  In honor of St. Pat's, I'll pick a Sister Fidelma book.  Set in the 600s Ireland, Sister Fidelma is not only a religious and sister to the King of Muman, but also an advocate.  She solves mysteries as a detective and argues before the law as a lawyer.  Each book is sure to keep you on your toes.

Image from: http://www.southampton.gov.uk/Images/Tremayne_tcm46-235749.jpg

Everyone's Irish Today!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!! I hope you remember to wear green, count your blessings, listen to some jigs and reels and have some beer today!

Can't wait to head to Ireland in 2 months and 15 days!

Water

Recently we had some issues with calcium showing up in our water, like chunks of calcium (so not healthy) so we put in a work order and maintenance came in and drained the hot water heater and scrubbed out the calcium.  Then our kitchen faucet clogged up and the dish washer stopped working so they sent someone in to fix that.  Then the bathroom sinks clogged, that got fixed, and then the bathtubs started losing pressure.  Today I got home to meet the maintenance man who had drained our hot water heater, replaced a heating unit and flushed our pipes.  He left, and then the people from downstairs came up to tell me that they had water gushing into their apartment.  So I cut off the hot water heater, which had water pouring out of it and called our housing people.  Hopefully we'll have hot water (or water in general) back in our apartment tonight, without more water running into the apartment below us.  I have no idea why there is a hole drilled in our floor under the water heater that does not lead to a drain, but it seems to work as a very effective drain.

Day 22

A picture of something you wish you were better at.

Image from: http://www.thecontrarianmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/patience.jpg; http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/funny-pictures-cat-teaches-dog-patience.jpg

Day 21

A picture of something you wish you could forget.

Hooked Acromian: decreases the subacromial space, causing impingement

I wish I could forget the day I was told that shoulder surgery would not work and that I would never be able to competitively swim.

Image from: http://img.medscape.com/fullsize/migrated/565/556/ajr565556.fig2.gif

Day 20

A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel.

Istanbul!

photo from: http://arion.lupacovka.cz/www_data/Image/turkey/istanbul_genel.jpg

Day 19

A picture of you when you were little.

I want a chip!

Day 18

A picture of your biggest insecurity. (A day late.)

Disappointing others who expect something from me...

Day 17

A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently.

This word has been coming up a lot lately in my life, perspective.  It's alway important to get another perspective on what you think is going on.  Something I learned from my first Cooperating Teacher.

Dream House

If you had an unlimited budget and could design your dream house, what would it include?

Mine would include:
-library with collections of books, natural light and comfy chairs to relax and read in, also a big table to get work done on, all dark wood
-incredible kitchen with counter space, gas stove, large fridge (everything we're lacking in this apt), wine fridge
-solar panels to offset costs of electricity
-large garden for both flowers (english style) and fresh veggies and herbs
-tree house for potential kids
-huge walk in closet for all of my things
-enough wall space for my collections (art, photos and collectables)
-bathtub large enough for water + me, with jets
I'm sure I can think of more...but off to teach now!

Day 16

A picture of someone who inspires you.

Going to have to say my grandmother, who is able to talk to anyone and hear their story and is always polite and tactful, not to mention beautiful.  Plus she never let go of her dreams and was always working for something better, going back to school as a young mother to finish her college degree and then going back later to get her masters.

Day 15

A picture of something you want to do before you die.

Flip a house.

Day 14

 A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without.

Christmas

AXP Summer party

Billy's 50th Birthday party

I'm not so good at choosing only one picture.  But I'm also not good at having only one favorite, I don't like to discriminate.   When we lived in California (I was 2ish, A was barely 1) mom would notice I had disappeared and I would always be in our room watching Alex sleep, I guess I was fascinated by this new thing called a little brother.  Now I can't imagine life without him, hearing about Cornell life, being his AT, and hanging out when we can.  Love you A!!!

My education is more than that...

"Teaching is about lessons learned, especially the ones that linger long after the closing bell has rung.  Authentic assessments involving real life applications are, to me, the best way to determine what a student has or has not mastered.  As the young lady with the winning medal argued in her debate, “It is ridiculous to try to measure all I have learned in high school by two three-hour, fill-in-the-bubble tests taken in the tenth grade.  My education is more than that’”" -From Teachermandc


So True!!!!

Day 13

A picture of your favorite band or artist.

JT

Waiting for Superman

Yesterday I rented Waiting for Superman from Redbox (my first Redbox experience) so I could watch this movie about education that everyone says I should see.

I thought the film did a good job of highlighting problems, which I suppose is it's purpose.  It also appeared very anti-union, and raises good questions about tenure, especially how tenure is different between K-12 teachers and university professors.  It mentioned that we had a decent system 50 years ago, no real global competition then, but our schools haven't changed with the times. High Schools are doing the job set 50 years ago, tracking worked 50 years ago, but not today b/c there aren’t jobs for the lower end, schools haven’t changed but world has, today if you don’t go to college = “kinda screwed,” which screws over America in the end because we have to import educated workers.  Interesting how US kids rank #1 in confidence, but #8 in scores when compared to 7 other countries.

I felt that the film was quite biased for charter schools, which are experiments with public funds, independent from school districts, and only 1 in 5 are actually producing results.  I'm glad that they pointed out that 80% of charter schools are no better than public schools, but then they didn't show any successful public schools.  It seemed like charter schools were the only ones who know how to turn things around.  The California example was interesting where average home prices of $1mil in Redwood City, but students are not doing so well in reading and math, the family highlighted wants a charter school b/c it doesn’t track like the public school.  Tracking is done by a single school official,where  lower tracks have lower expectations and worse teachers, and it's then increasingly difficult for those kids to ever catch up.  The CA University system has to remediate 50-60% of all incoming freshmen, even those who are "prepared" for college.  What is that saying about our education system?  They also highlighted the KIPP: Knowledge is Power Schools and Jeff Canada’s school in Harlem.  Canada's school rethinks how school works in troubled neighborhood, never let kids get behind, pipeline that starts at birth with kids, increase classroom hours, summer school, Saturday school, pathway to college singular achievement, which is great, but we only saw one side of things, the positive.

Some Questions Raised:

Do bad neighborhoods cause bad schools? Or other way around?

What is our obligation to other people’s children and not just our own?

What happens to the kids who are not accepted to better schools?  Are they doomed by fate?

Can the gap btwn rich and poor be closed?

Why is it so hard to be an engaging teacher and create engaging lessons?

How to overcome the problems from home? Poverty, crime, troubled homes, kids know more people who had gone to prison than who had gone to college...

I think there are some very interesting and valid points raised in the film, especially thinking about DC and the battle over tenures.  I think that tenure should be awarded only after 5 years of experience so that there is a benefit of staying with the school, but it's not automatic in the 2nd year.  I think that it needs to be awarded after a review system, that is streamlined from whatever they have now, and I don't think it should be a guarantee for life.  There needs to be a check to make sure that educators are still teaching students and not just slacking off, but there needs to be lots of documentation and reviews in order for that to happen.  And schools must try to work with the bad teachers who have tenure to help them improve, before there are any mentions of firing.  I also believe that the reviews should be done quickly so you don't have a room of educators waiting for decisions while un-licensed subs are teaching kids.  That's ridiculous.  However, (moving on) I think that there are some things that KIPP and Canada's School are doing really well and that I think public education should be more willing to try, such as longer school days, a longer school year, not promoting students just by age (you actually have to pass to move to the next grade) and focusing on real world experiences, not teaching to a test.  Maybe someday schools will embrace these changes.

Day 12

A picture of something you love.

Tulips at Keukenhof

An old windmill near Maakum

Both pictures are from the trip to Holland that my grandparents took me on, May 2007, to meet family and see the old country.

Day 11

A picture of something you hate.

Dishes piled in the sink, stresses me out!

Day 10

A picture of the person you do the most messed up things with.

Triumvirate: two words: wax bombs

Shindig crew, always an adventure

Trevor, the picture explains all

Day 9

A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most.

BFF and the one that has been there throughout college

We've been there for each other...

30 Pics Recap

Day 01 - A picture of yourself with fifteen facts.
Day 02 - A picture of you and the person you have been close with for the longest.
Day 03 - A picture of the cast from your favorite show.
Day 04 - A picture of your night.
Day 05 - A picture of your favorite memory.
Day 06 - A picture of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day.
Day 07 - A picture of your most treasured item.
Day 08 - A picture that makes you laugh.
Day 09 - A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most.
Day 10 - A picture of the person you do the most messed up things with.
Day 11 - A picture of something you hate.
Day 12 - A picture of something you love.
Day 13 - A picture of your favorite band or artist.
Day 14 - A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without.
Day 15 - A picture of something you want to do before you die.
Day 16 - A picture of someone who inspires you.
Day 17 - A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently.
Day 18 - A picture of your biggest insecurity.
Day 19 - A picture of you when you were little.
Day 20 - A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel.
Day 21 - A picture of something you wish you could forget.
Day 22 - A picture of something you wish you were better at.
Day 23 - A picture of your favorite book.
Day 24 - A picture of something you wish you could change.
Day 25 - A picture of your day.
Day 26 - A picture of something that means a lot to you.
Day 27 - A picture of yourself and a family member.
Day 28 - A picture of something you're afraid of.
Day 29 - A picture that can always make you smile.

Day 30 - A picture of someone you miss.

Phone videos

Last night at dance we videotaped our choreography for both soft shoe and hard shoe (just me) on my phone because we all forgot cameras.  I wanted to download the video from my phone to my computer so that I could show my students something about me, but couldn't find the video on my phone when I connected it this morning, and can't take my phone out at school.  I then tried to email the video to myself, but my phone wouldn't let me attach it....

Any suggestions of how to get videos off my android (original droid) phone? HELP!

Day 8

A picture that makes you laugh.

Wish I had been there to see that, but I'm glad someone got photo evidence of my brother carrying my mom into the pool!

Day 7

A picture of your most treasured item.

Don't laugh, it's true, my family is my most treasured item.  I've learned over the years, and especially in the last few how precious relationships are with people and how important family is.  This is my dad's side (missing 4 people) at the beach last summer for our Doll Beach Week.