Evaluation – is one of THE highest levels of cognitive ability when it comes to the level of questioning or the level of response in exams and assignments.
However sometimes, this level of response, the ability to EVALUATE, is a little more subtle or trickier to identify.
There is a difference between staying in your comfort zone during lessons and assignments, compared to doing this in exams…
Students can be a bit ‘out there’ in their class oral or persuasive speech.
And students should definitely try out some higher level vocabulary or more complex sentence structures in their homework.
Now of course, to raise their results, they DO need to do something different to what they’ve always done…
As a successful student, your teen needs to be the interior designer, rather than the magpie.
The interior designer is able to work out what fits, what works, what’s necessary and what’s just clutter, and what makes something truly impressive.
Your teen needs to be able to create a clear plan, structure and design for their work before they start.
I’ve been guilty in the past.
And if your teenager is a bit of a perfectionist, or a bit of a worrier, then they are probably guilty of this too.
It’s committing the sin of editing WHILE writing or typing.
This is not the most efficient or effective way to do things, for two main reasons…
Verrrryy often I see essays, assignments and analyses that are too vague.
The student might use sophisticated language, they might have a good point in there somewhere, they might include plenty of technical vocabulary, but the overall message lacks clarity – it’s just too wishy-washy.
Here are the things that start the ‘vagueness alarms’ going off for any teacher or examiner so your teen can avoid them!
Have you ever seen the demo of filling up a jar as if it’s your life – and starting with the small things, and there’s no room left for the big important things?
I was reminded of this analogy recently and I got to thinking – What are the big rocks for happy, smart and successful students?
One of my favourite motivational quotes is: the best way to predict your future is to create it.
For students, this can be tricky.
Students have all sorts of decisions to make at a relatively young age when we consider the long term impact.
The truth is,
Any choice in life takes a certain amount of courage.
It struck me recently that a significant proportion of students are just not clear on what study really involves or what elements actually comprise their study.
In this video I share a few key questions that will help your teen REALLY figure out what’s holding them back and how they can get on that fast track to amazing grades and confidence!
It is so much easier to use the efforts and the experience of others, to help us get where we want to go. As a result , we can often get further and do so faster than we might’ve done by making our own way or trying to figure it all out for ourselves.
Recently I’ve been doing some unexpected Y12 Writing Test marking for state exam trials.
This wasn’t originally in my calendar for this year, but it’s been a great opportunity to get trained in another type of mark scheme and another national exam. Being an extended response Writing Test, students have a reeealllly wide choice of options of where to go with it.
Some students love that – But for most students (even those who are strong in English) this is a real challenge. I’m the same – I really struggle without guidelines, parameters and some specifics.
So, as a direct result of my marker training AND marking 142 Year 12 diagnostic tests, here is my triple A strategy for picking a focus or topic for any open-ended task – that your teen can use in ANY subject.
