Quizlet Project Update: Persistence and The Power of Ten Minutes

Persistence is among the most important characteristics for success in life.  My mother, who taught for 35 years, called it "sticktoitiveness." The popular educational buzzword is "grit"; it is essential that students to learn to struggle with difficult content.  Exactly how much struggle is useful is a matter of debate among educators, but pretty much all of us can agree that cultivating a disposition that feels (buzzword alert) empowered when confronted with new and challenging material is a positive thing — in school, and in life.

Some students have bona fide "executive function" deficits, however, and for those students, envisioning how to structure their own study is a seemingly insurmountable task.  These same students have difficulty cleaning their rooms because it is hard for them to envision where to begin creating order out of chaos. Simply telling a student whose "inner executive" is poorly formed to "study the material" is not a helpful instruction, because planning how to attack the material is a difficult task. When that student goes to study, his binder may be filled with a jumbled collection of dogeared, torn papers from several chapters or indeed several classes.  Studying would require him to first complete a mechanical task so frustrating that he might study only part of the content, or may indeed become embarrassed that he cannot locate something he vaguely recalls is important, so he simply opts to quietly do poorly and feel lousy about himself. He does not persist. Feeling rotten about one's failed attempt at study does not often result in being hopeful about success the next time. In class, that student's head is down and his shoulders are slumped and he's praying silently for the bell to ring rather than engaging in the lesson. No eye contact from that student.

There have, however, been noticeable changes among this particular group of students since beginning our scheduled, almost daily, ten-minute practice sessions of relevant terms.  Our class researches and creates our Quizlet cards collectively before beginning to discuss a chapter.  Most of these students raise their hands far more often these days, because they anticipate they are bringing some knowledge to the party. They correct me if I misspeak.  They respond to my questions with vocabulary that is specific and academic, and their credibility within the classroom increases as they ask thoughtful questions themselves.  They may suggest edits to a Quizlet card based on material they encounter in the text. Their overall confidence entering the classroom is enhanced.  They actually sit up straighter in class.

Teachers talk a great deal about "metacognition," or "thinking about thinking." We believe there is tremendous benefit to helping students think deeply about their own reasoning process. Likewise, students benefit from studying how to study. Not only are students with anemic executive function learning the content more effectively, they are developing expertise in the different functions of an application with almost universal applications for their academic future.  They have opinions as to the efficacy of different Quizlet modes, and they instruct one another as to the best way to use it.  They counsel each other about the specific benefits of accessing it via the browser rather than the app. Consistently using this tool to efficiently self-assess has helped build a hopeful feeling of control for some who have not exhibited it in my class before.  Of course, the confident, naturally-organized students are still making "As". But all are learning to incorporate a pattern of distributed practice and self-assessment that they can employ when they encounter content that is difficult, unfamiliar, and overwhelming to master, as most students eventually do. 

The takeaway?  I want my students to develop an internal protocol that equips them to succeed. Learning to structure their rehearsal of content over several days using a specific process has reaped a payoff that is not only visible in my gradebook, but in their posture.  Especially for certain students,  I believe in the power of ten minutes.