A while ago, I came across a tweet from @Lucyjc1612 regarding 'cheat sheets', liked it and had a glance over it before forgetting about it.
It had been doing some distance in the back of my mind, because I then tweeted a poll on Tuesday night which got a decent number of interactions, many of whom were interested in the idea having not tried it. I've collated the responses to deliver to our department at some point soon, so thought I'd share my thought process in a blog for the 400+ people who haven't used the strategy but are interested in where it might go.
From the poll, 139 people said they had use the strategy of 'cheat sheets', with 88.5% of people who have suggesting positive outcomes. By comparison, 57 people dismissed the idea with or without evidence, so I think this might be worth looking into.
I have my own concerns about the use of 'cheat sheets in exams', and I'll share those as well as the positives.
Positives
- Students' motivation to keep neat/coherent notes in their exercise improves as they'll be used later to create their 'cheat sheets'. (@MissNorledge, @MathematicalH, @gkgmaths)
- Students engage with content, deciding which are the most important aspects for them to write on their sheet. Students are even discussing what the most important skills are. (@cushlat)
- Revision strategies can be developed over time through feedback and evaluation of students' 'cheat sheets'. (@MrChapmanMaths, @CantabKitty)
- Students who experience a 'wobble'/anxiety in the build up to assessments are calmed. (@unclekirk)
- The process of creating the 'cheat sheet' develops student understanding. (@UnaCumiskey)
- A dramatic shift in the atmosphere in assessments with problem classes. (@floralmaths)
Concerns
- Students can spend too long creating them. (@MrChapmanMaths, @UnaComiskey)
This is a great concern of mine too. I'll go on for far too long, with anyone who'll listen, about how inappropriate 'Make a poster' tasks and homeworks are for conscientious students. I wouldn't want students working on these until late or night, or for extended periods of time.
- It goes against the profession-wide focus on memory. (@mansbridgemaths)
Again, a big concern that I have, but is there an opportunity to develop some success and motivation in the short term that can lead to longer term success?
- Students may attribute short-term success to their 'cheat sheet'. (@mansbridgemaths)
Another concern, and one that would need to be well managed for students to feel that their success is down to their understanding rather than their reliance on a piece of paper.
- A limited amount of time is spent by students working on 'problem solving' questions in their revision, as their time is taken up creating their 'cheat sheet'. (@brendonrjones)
My response would be that this should be part of a number of activities aimed at revising for their assessments and shouldn't be the sole revision technique that students are using.
Notes
- Students should identify which questions they've used their 'cheat sheet' to help with, so they can see their success with and without their sheet. It will also help to identify areas where students lack confidence (not necessarily the understanding, but they have needed to refer to their sheet)
- More able students might refuse the 'cheat sheet', or more conscientious students might want to know where they are without the use of one.
- "I'm going to let you use a 'cheat sheet'" could be misconstrued as "I don't think you can pass this test without the use of a 'cheat sheet'", which can be a dangerous and toxic message for your classroom relationship.
- @MsEScott shared that her school had the best GCSE results ever for the two years this was in use, before the strategy was lost in a change of leadership.
My Proposal
I'm suggesting that we implement the use of an 'assessment aid'. I'm not a fan of the term 'cheat sheet', as it implies that this is 'cheating' and cheating is negative. This is a strategy that we'd be utilising to develop the revision strategies of our students from Year 7 to Year 10.
We'll start using the 'assessment aid' from our first assessment in Year 7, introducing the idea in a full 50-minute lesson, sharing good examples to get them started on a single sheet of A4 paper. Students can complete this for homework and bring it in for use in their assessment.
The structure of my assessment lessons will change. I typically give about 20 minutes of last-minute practice, run through it, and then students work on their assessments. I'll start to give 10 minutes of quick practice, have students complete their assessment, and then have students evaluate their own 'assessment aid'. Students are to list What Went Well with their 'assessment aid' and Even Better Ifs for next time on sticky notes. I'll collect these following the assessment, provide my own feedback alongside their assessment results and store these until their next assessment - so they can act upon my feedback and their own evaluation with their next 'assessment aid'.
This will be repeated for their assessments throughout Year 7 and Year 8, but in Year 8 we will move to an A5 piece of paper to make sure that students are considering which information will have the greatest impact on their own performance.
As we move into Year 9, the 'assessment aid' will still be set as a homework, collected before their assessment and not used in their assessment. Following the assessment, we'll hand time over to evaluating their revision to continually improve their revision techniques. The idea is that students are becoming more proficient in revising over time. In place of the 'assessment aid', we'll offer students the opportunity to make small improvements to their assessments where they've made silly errors.
In Year 10, the 'assessment aid' will be removed as a scaffold, with the intention being that revision skills have been developed over the previous 3 years. Time will be spent evaluating the amount of revision they've completed, but students won't be offered the opportunity to make small improvements as they move towards their GCSE exams.
Year 9 Trial
I teach a group of low-to-middle attaining Year 9 students who I'm developing a decent relationship with. I explained the idea to them today, and they were keen to try it out - giddy, even, to be the test group and told each other not to tell anybody else that they're the only ones doing this in the school.
I shared my experience of school and revision with them, offering strategies to get the best out of their A4 piece of paper and they've gone away with it to complete before they're assessed on Wednesday.
In Wednesday's lesson, we'll review how theirs helped them and the things they could've done to improve it, before we use an A5 piece of paper in the next assessment following the feedback I share.
I'm looking forward to seeing what they create.
