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Education Opinion

Preparation, Practice, Praise = Purpose

By Hanne Denney — January 16, 2006 2 min read
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It’s almost semester exam time. Each student in each class will take a two-hour cumulative exam. This exam will weigh in at 20% of the semester grade. It counts a lot. Students are getting nervous, teachers are getting nervous, and apparently the copiers are getting very nervous because none of them are working.

So I am spending this holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King by dedicating it to a day of work. I am honoring him through service to my students. I’ve set my Purpose for this week – Preparation, Practice, and Praise. I work with many disadvantaged children, as a special educator. I work with those high school students with attention disorders, learning disabilities, poor reading skills, physical limitations, and emotional/behavioral issues. They have to pass the same exams as everyone else, with some modification as appropriate for the IEP.

This week my purpose is to prepare the exams for the students, and the students for the exams. In some cases I’ll create word banks for students to use, or revise the wording of an essay question, or provide definitions for key terms. I might change the multiple choices from four to three. I could even shorten the length of the test for the student with time issues. All students get a review sheet to study from, with questions to answer and terms to define. For some of my students I have to prepare those answers and definitions for them. And with the study materials we provide I also need to provide encouragement, and reassurance, and practice enough so they become confident of their success.

Too many special education students come to exams thinking “I can’t do this, I am going to fail again.” I failed some tests in my lifetime, and I know success takes PREPARATION and PRACTICE. I’m giving them practice work and materials for preparation. But they need something more.

So I’m adding PRAISE – the third “P” of exam time. My students need praise – good words congratulating them on what they have already accomplished, and recognition of what they can do. We have two days of study time in each class this week. On those two days I’ll fit in these three important elements. Preparation – study review guides to complete and learn/memorize. Here’s a tip: I’ll let the students pick out which classical music CD they want to listen to during the study days, so when I play the same thing during exams it will be a mental trigger. Practice – sample problems, both multiple choice and essay questions, which the students will grade themselves. Praise – I’ll pass out grade sheets to show successes, and I’ll talk about how well the class has worked together. We’ll do some partner work so students can encourage each other. I’ll write a note for each student with a word of encouragement. I’ll ask them to write a paragraph of self-encouragement. I’ll let them know how much I care about their success now and in the future.

It’s what I do for a living- I teach the “P’s” – Prepare, Practice, Praise. It’s my PURPOSE.

The opinions expressed in Ready or Not are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.