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Techniques for checking work
Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 8:50 pm
by coolmum123
Hello all,
If I may - can I ask for your advice / tips once more please?!!!
DS is working hard in prep for entrance exams and he never complains about doing practice papaers BUT he doesn't go back and check his work once he has finished hence there are usually a few mistakes which had he gone over it he would have spotted and could have corrected!
Can someone please advise as to the best way of him re-checking his work or is it really just a case of re-answering the whole paper. Are there any ways he can quick check his work?
I don't know how to go about advising him - useless aren't I?
Thanks in anticipation
Coolmum
Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 9:37 pm
by yoyo123
don't know if it will help him, but I really manged to reinforce this with a pupil by marking his work and then going over the questions and contrasting his ACTUAL % with what he could have acheived if he hadn't rushed the answers and not checked. Invariably they were the difference between a pass and a spectacular fail and all because he had not read the WHOLE of the question or had made silly arithmetic mistakes.
Reminding them that the papers (Multiple choice) are marked by a computer who won;t give them the benefit of the doubt also has an effect.
I worked witha great y6 teacher who used to give her pupils a test with about 30 questions. she told them to read teh instructions carefully before starting. The majority struggled through all the questions , whereas the ones who had listened just ignored the first 25 and just answered the last 5 (easy ) questions...just as the instructions ahd told them too!!
Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 9:55 pm
by patricia
Dear Coolmum
Follows a copy of a message, I recently posted in the Bucks section...
patricia wrote:Dear Willow
I reward with stickers. A test maked at 86% or over gets a yellow highlight. A test score of 90% plus gets a sticker [plus the yellow highlight] 100% receives 2 stickers. All this is placed on an A4 paper at the front of their 'Test' section in their folder.
They also receive a sticker for working well in the session. This is placed on the inside cover of their file. They make patterns/pictures/initials
When I review their test, I place an asterix against all answers that I class as silly mistakes which covers all the questions I expect 100% .
In addition any question that has not had appropriate notes made eg writing out words together to find the compound word will also have an asterix placed next to the question number.
I then have a moan and a nag...
The test is then scored twice, once as the true mark then second as the score with all the silly mistakes added. They then can see 'what could have been' Of course they only get their highlights and stickers for the true score. This seems to spurr them on.
You could of course use a bit of bribary, for every test 90% or above £1 [or whatever the going rate is ] in a tin to be spent once all the tests are over. I do not believe in rewards for passing the real test, its a reward for working well [without whinging] leading up to the tests.
I have been known to be really mean, particulary with a child who constantly does not follow my rules and as a consequence makes many errors: for every silly mistake, I leave as homework an extra 5 questions. 8 silly mistakes, 40 extra questions....
Patricia
edit to add: I do not accept children guessing on any question that I expect 100% marks. No excuses. All the information is there for them to get it right...
As YoYo123 stated, I also tell my students that the computer is not going to ring them up and say, 'Johnny did you mean to give that answer?'
Once they think they have finished the test, their 1st check is make sure
ALL questions have been answered on the answer sheet [if its multiple choice]
Their second check is to go back to all the questions they put a ring round [questions that they took an educated guess at]
Their 3rd check is to look at vocab questions, ensuring they have not fallen into any traps eg Instructions say find 2 words with similar meanings, but the publishers like to throw in opposites, compounds and relationships. One of my favourites is Bucket and Spade, you would be surprised at the amount of children who mark these 2 words as being similar in meaning!
Patricia
Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 10:09 pm
by patricia
yoyo123 wrote:
I worked witha great y6 teacher who used to give her pupils a test with about 30 questions. she told them to read teh instructions carefully before starting. The majority struggled through all the questions , whereas the ones who had listened just ignored the first 25 and just answered the last 5 (easy ) questions...just as the instructions ahd told them too!!
Dear YoYo
Yes, this is a common technique. I have attended courses, where you are asked to read
ALL the instructions before picking up your pen, the very last point then says do not answer any of the questions, turn your paper over and close your eyes!
Have to say though, I teach my 11 plus students
NOT TO BOTHER READING THE INSTRUCTIONS! For VR 21 types by NFER the layout of the questions are all different, except for 3 [similar, opposite and compounds] After a few weeks of teaching, I cover the instructions up and ask the child to explain to me what he/she needs to do. Saves a lot of time...
P
Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 8:46 am
by yoyo123
That's a good idea Patricia, I have one pupil who is accurate but also very slow.I was wondering how we could shave a few minutes off without losing that attention to detail.
Melx
Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 1:02 pm
by Road Runner
Hi coolmum
I use Patricias way in that I ask my dd to circle any Questions that she isn't completely certain of or that she has guessed and then when she finishes she goes back to them to check.
I do time dd and she does normally finish before the time allowed. I then start the clock again and tell her she has that amount of time left to check
the answers as I will only mark the apper after she has done that
She is usually very chuffed especially if after she finds her checking has meant she got a correct answer. I usually give her a treat then nothing major usually just a cookie or something similar
Mel
Instructions
Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 1:07 pm
by Drastic Dad
We are using Susan Doherty's Bright Sparks Series for Verbal Reasoning. I've told that they are very close to NFER Nelson papers. Are instructions the same? It is a good idea. You can have them learn the instructions by heart if the practice papers have same things written on the first page as the real thing.
Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 1:30 pm
by patricia
Dear Drastic Dad
If your area uses VR by Nfer in M/C. The 21 types of questions all look different [except 3] Once the child has learnt the style/look of the questions [not the instructions] there is no need to read the instructions at all, except for the 3 that do have the same look. [ similar/ opposites/ compound words]
Bright Sparks have the same layout as Nfer. The instructions are the same. [slight variance in actual words but the same instruction]
Patricia
Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 1:39 pm
by yoyo123
interestingly today the difference between careless mistakes score and corrected score was 67% to 97%!!
One bright little boy who will remember to read the question properly and THINK in future