Learning Skills II and Preparing for Midterms | 1

Lesson Plan For Week 6

At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

Demonstrate effective study skills and strategies for success in the classroom
Explain the importance of active reading and effective note-taking
Utilize instructor feedback
You will need:
LAS 101 textbook
Attendance record sheet and sign-in sheet
Chalk
Flyswatters
Candy (if desired)
Homework record sheet
Classroom technology
Identity Pyramid Worksheet (enough copies for all students)
You will check:
You will assign:
Weekly Timetable Reality
HW: Read pp. 3-4 in the LAS 101
worksheet for Credit / No Credit on p.
textbook
20
Diversity Prewrite is due Monday 10/5 at
midnight, submitted on Moodle
Identity Pyramid Worksheet due in class
Week 7.
You will remind students to:
Schedule a time for one-on-one meetings with you. These need to be completed by the end
of this week.
Check Attendance

2 minutes

Mark present students (P), absent students (A), and after 10 minutes anyone who
is late (L) on your attendance record sheet.
Collect sign-in attendance sheet.
Weekly Timetable Reality Worksheet Assignment (Starter Activity)

8-10 minutes

Starter Activity: Have students pair with a partner to discuss and reflect on the
following questions together. Have these questions projected on the board so that
all students are able to see them.
Homework Check: As the students discuss these questions, check the homework
and mark the assignment as Full Credit/Half Credit/No Credit on your homework
record sheet. Remember to input these grades into Moodle after your class.
Questions
1. Compare your proposed timetable to the timetable that reflects the reality of your
week. What factors altered your proposed schedule? (pp. 19-20).
2. Turn to the Priority Management--Fail page in your textbook (p. 21). Identify your top
three biggest distractors. Consider the action steps listed. Have you tried these action
steps to eliminate the distractors? What other action steps have you tried that have been
particularly useful in helping you eliminate distractions?
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Lesson Plan For Week 6

3. Midterms are upon us: they are either fast approaching or they have already begun for
some students. How will this/did this impact your schedule?
4. What midterms are you taking/have you taken, and how will you/did you prepare?
2 SPECIAL NOTE: Use questions 3 and 4 to segue into your own lesson plan for the week.

Pop Quiz

5 minutes
Hand out pop quiz
Give the students 5 minutes to complete. Only after the time limit is up tell them
that it isnt for points only reflection. This will ensure their focus and quality of
work for the quiz.
o The questions on the quiz are as follows:
1. If you find yourself saying, I could not recall the answer,
despite having studied it, list three ways to build better
recall to prevent this from happening again. (Potential
Answer: Reading your notes, writing flashcards for
yourself, drawing diagrams or even singing the
information. Repeat repeat repeat!)
2. How can you avoid misreading the questions or instructions
on an exam? (Potential answer: Reread all questions at
least twice, underline the important parts of the question,
too!)
3. What are three ways to ensure youre studying the right
material/understanding it properly? (Potential answer: Go
to office hours, pay attention to what the professor
emphasizes in class, and keep up with the course reading!)
4. What constitutes as a good study space? List an example.
(Potential Answer: A good study space will be a minimallydistracting space that allows all group members to
maintain their focus (i.e not too busy, loud, etc). A great
example would be an empty classroom!)
5. List three ways having a study group is helpful. (Potential
Answer: Having study groups allows you to make
connections within your class, have people hold you
accountable to do your work, and keeps you on track in
class!)

Learning From Feedback

10 minutes

Have the bold statements found on pages 38-40 written on the chalkboard or on a
projected Powerpoint Slide or document (whatever is most convenient in your
class).
Open discussion; ask the students about their immediate reactions after receiving
a poor grade on an exam. If no one raises their hand, consider asking the
following questions:
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Lesson Plan For Week 6

o What do you think the main causes of receiving a poor exam score
are? (Potential answers: didnt study enough, didnt study the
proper material, didnt adequately use office hours, failed to take
good notes, havent paid attention in class, forgot about the exam)
o How do you think you can prevent these causes? (Potential
answers: studying more, meeting with TAs and Professors,
creating a study group, creating a study schedule)
o Is a poor exam score the end of the world? Why not? (Potential
answers: ABSOLUTELY NOT, NOPE, and of course not. Thats
because you can always learn from your mistakes and apply what
youve learned for your next exam)
o Talk about your own experiences with receiving a poor exam
score//if you dont have a personal story to share, anonymously
share a friends reaction to a poor score. This reminds students that
it happens to everyone and that its not something that cant be
fixed.
After discussing, have the students turn to pages 38-40 in their textbooks (starting
at Using Your Test Results: Learning From Your Mistakes.)
Ask the students to raise their hand if theyve experienced the bold statements (I
studied the wrong material, I did not fully understand the material I studied,
etc.)
Put a tally-count next to each statement as the students raise their hand (these are
the same statements you have projected and/or written on the board). This again
stresses that they are not alone, hopefully ensuring that they dont feel singled out
after experiencing a poor score.
Go through each statement. Ask whoever raised their hand to raise it once more,
and call on 1-3 volunteers. Have someone paraphrase from the textbook to restate
options for learning from your mistakes, then ask for one or more volunteers to
suggest something thats not listed, therefore allowing them to personalize and
think outside the lines for future reference. This will hopefully have the students
think deeper about how to avoid the respective bolded statement, and give the rest
of the class ideas on prevention as well.
Ask if anyone has any questions/comments or concerns before moving on.
End this activity by asking students to once again raise their hand if theyve ever
experienced a bad exam score, then ask them to drop their hands if they now
know its not the end of the world, it happens to everyone, and can now see that it
can be avoidable. Hopefully all hands go down! This will serve as one last
reassurance that its not an isolated feeling.
Take Away: Students understand that a failed exam is NOT the end of the world,
that mistakes provide EXTREMELY helpful feedback that can help you find
success on your next exam. Students also learn how to handle constructive
feedback and apply that to future study habits.

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Lesson Plan For Week 6

For each activity, answer the following questions before describing the next activity.
A. The entire lesson seeks to teach students about learning skills and preparing for midterms.
1) What aspects of learning skills and preparing for midterms, in particular, does
the activity seek to address?
Answer: My hope for this part of the lesson is that the students will leave it
feeling better about their exams as a whole not just midterms, but any exam
they may face in the next handful of years. Physically seeing (by the hand-raising
and tallies) that everyone struggles with exams and then having them verbally
talk through the common issues behind poor scores will ideally leave them
feeling more confident in preventing future fumbles. By going through each
individual bolded statement and furthermore having a student or two give a
solution not listed in the textbook, students will have to think deeper about how
to solve the respective statements, hopefully leading them to avoid them
altogether in the future.
2) How does this activity connect with the learning outcomes for the week?
Answer: Ideally it effectively connects with all three learning outcomes for the
week! By going through each bolded statement and collaboratively coming up
with additional solutions, the students will hopefully learn how to demonstrate
effective study skills. By learning what not to do and just how to counteract that,
the outcome will hopefully produce itself as an effective study habit. Also from
such a discussion, the students will gain an understanding for effective notetaking and reading, especially after analyzing ways to avoid not doing this. Half
the time success in an exam circulates around those two things; again, after
thoroughly discussing all the options for avoiding poor study habits, inevitably
those two solutions will come up. Given how important they are, the goal would
be to have them come up a lot, especially when the students have to develop their
own ideas. Lastly, utilizing from instructor feedback will also inescapably
protrude from this plan, as, again, thats a response that will hopefully come up
often when analyzing the poor study skills. Ill also make sure to stress that as
well, as I think meeting with professors and TAs is an unparalleled study skill to
have throughout college.
B. You have been with your class for six weeks now. Describe why you chose the particular
instructional strategies youve chosen for Activity #1 (e.g. Youtube video, game, or discussion/
will it be small group or whole group instruction). How/why does your instructional approach
appeal to your students in your classroom?
Answer: I feel ridiculously spoiled to say that my class responds incredibly to
group discussions. Ive never had the silent classroom issue; all 21 of us are
absolute chatterboxes. Also, ever since employing the two notecard
participation strategy, theyre all that much more eager to raise their hand to give
up a notecard. I chose to start this way just to keep it casual and open, giving
both my students and myself time to be honest about a topic thats commonly
avoided. I feel like the typical response to a poor exam score is making fun of
oneself, the professor, or the class the classic whatever, its stupid anyways
mode of thinking. I think having an open space for saying hey! Its avoidable!
Will allow them to see that they dont have to continuously drown themselves in
poor scores, no matter the difficulty of the class. I avoided adding a game or
candy/incentive in this section to also keep the tone relatively serious, stressing
to them that this is something they need to hear. Its not something to mess
around with. If they leave the class having listened to any of it, the goal is that
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Lesson Plan For Week 6

even the small bit that might make a home in their mind will impact their study
skills for the next exam.

C. Each section must have discussion questions to help facilitate discussion and engagement. What
discussion questions will you be asking? Identify how these questions match your instructional
strategies mentioned above.
Answer: I made sure to begin with discussion questions before even entering my
tally-activity. I plan on asking my students What they think main causes of poor
scores are (before even opening/referring to their books), how they personally
think receiving said poor scores can be avoided, if a poor score is the end of the
world (spoiler alert: its not!), and then potentially asking them to respond to a
personal poor score dilemma of my own if engagement isnt particularly great for
the first few questions. By starting off with these questions, I hope to get my
students mindsets on the task at hand, setting the tone for a relatively serious
activity before having some fun with the one that follows. By also personally
bringing up experiences of my own, I hope to create a feeling of safety in the
classroom, hopefully making my students feel like they can share and be honest,
too. I also believe that starting with an open discussion further motivates my
students to speak up during the more structured part of this particular activity,
ideally creating good, thought-provoking and authentic conversation.

D. What additional materials will you use (if any) and why did you choose them? Cite sources as
necessary.
Answer: Nothing for this particular section! If anything, I just plan on reminding
them of my e-mail in case they have any further/personal questions for me.

Study Groups/Collaborative Learning

15 minutes

Split the class evenly into two groups by having the students count off by twos
this ensures that students who always sit next to one another will get to socialize
with other classmates! After counting off, have the students sit with their
respective number, making a clear division of the two teams in the class
(separate the chairs a bit)
Have the students open up to page 35-36 to do some individual reviewing
(considering, of course, that theyve done their homework and read it!) for
roughly 3-5 minutes. Let them know this information will be quizzed!
While theyre reviewing, write the following statements on the board (this can
also be done before class due to time restrictions and/or can also just be projected
from your computer to save time).
Make Connections
Good Responses in Class
Ask
Exchange Contact Information
Catch Up on Missed Assignments
Selecting the Right Space
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Lesson Plan For Week 6

Quiet, Well Lit, Free from Distractions

Coffee Shops, Empty Classrooms, Study Spaces
Remove Electronic Distractions
Set Ground Rules
Limiting Multitasking
Maintain Group Integrity
Seek to understand rather than memorize
Evaluate the Quality of the Group
Deciding How Often You Should Meet
Create a division of Labor
Assign tasks accordingly
Create a shared document
Outline Meeting Times & Tasks
Ensure that work gets done
Establish Check Points
Seek Assistance/Assist Others
Hold One Another Accountable
Preparing for your professional life
Handle Your Group
Once their study time is up, announce that youll be playing a game (hopefully
earning some applause) and bring out the two flyswatters (or any other light
object you can find for each team)
Explain to your students that youll ask a question regarding the reading while
one member from each team will be standing at board. Once youre done reading
the question, those two students will have to quickly seek the answer on the
board, and slap it with the flyswatter (example: If you ask What constitutes as
creating a division of labor? The first person to slap one the answer above [Create
a Shared Document] wins a point for their team. They ONLY get the point if they
can then give a little explanation about why their answer is correct, therefore
ensuring absolute understanding of that particular answer/idea.
Some questions to pose are as follows (some questions have multiple answers,
meaning whoever slaps one of the appropriate answers and can explain first gets
the point):
Make Connections (How do you create a study group?/Whats another
way to explain finding people in class who appear very knowledgeable?)
Good Responses in Class (What kind of students do you want to have in
your study group?//Whats a way to evaluate if someone will be a good
addition to a study group?)
Ask (Whats the single word that can lead you to creating a study
group?//To form a study group, all you have to do is _______)
Exchange Contact Information (Whats one of the first things you should
do when forming a study group?)
Catch Up on Missed Assignments (What is a helpful result of exchanging
contact information?)
Selecting the Right Space (After exchanging contact information, what
should your next step be to prepare for meeting?)
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Lesson Plan For Week 6

Quiet, Well Lit, Free from Distractions (What constitutes as a good study
space?)
Coffee Shops, Empty Classrooms, Study Spaces (What are some examples
of some good study spaces?)
Remove Electronic Distractions (What should you immediately do when
meeting with your group?//Whats an easy way to remain focused during
group time?)
Set Ground Rules (Whats an important step to ensure everyone in your
group is on the same page?)
Limit Multitasking (What can removing electronic devices therefore do?)
Maintain Group Integrity (What does encouraging your members to
participate therefore do?)
Seek to understand rather than memorize (What can maintaining group
integrity help you do?)
Evaluate the Quality of the Group (What are you doing when you think
critically about what worked in your group?)
Deciding How Often You Should Meet (__________ is a direct result
from properly evaluating the quality of your group)
Create a division of Labor (This is an important step in order to
successfully complete any group task at hand)
Assign tasks accordingly (By assigning Math-major Johnny to the
statistics portion of an assignment, you are _____________)
Create a shared document (Doing this allows your group to successfully
communicate and display any progress on your project)
Outline Meeting Times & Tasks (This is an example of what can be put in
a shared document, allowing all group members to remain on the same
page)
Ensure that work gets done (By keeping in mind that every group member
will be evaluated as one, what should you do?)
Establish Check Points (Whats one way to ensure work gets done?//By
using a calendar to set specific dates for specific tasks to be finished by,
you are ____________)
Seek Assistance/Assist Others (Whats another way to ensure that work
gets done?)
Hold One Another Accountable (By contacting someone if theyre late to
a meeting, you are ___________)
Preparing for your professional life (What does group work inevitably help
you do?//By having to handle your group on your own, what does this help
you do?)
Handle Your Group (Whats a key responsibility you have to own going
into college-level group work?//What do you need to do at all times?)
Once the game concludes and a winner selected (keep track of the score), offer
a prize or small reward to the winning group.
Finish this activity by asking anyone if they have any
questions/comments/concerns on the content covered
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Lesson Plan For Week 6

Take Away: Students understand the unparalleled helpfulness finding a proper

study group can provide, know how to structure a group properly, and also know
how to handle group members once invested in one.
For each activity, answer the following questions before describing the next activity.
E. The entire lesson seeks to teach students about learning skills and preparing for midterms.
1) What aspects of learning skills and preparing for midterms, in particular, does
the activity seek to address?
Answer: I think group work/collaborative learning is so, so important in finding
success on exams. Having people to rely on, to bounce ideas off of, or even just
plainly to meet and study with one another is unmatchable. Also, the overarching
theme of this activity isgroup work! Its working with a team to find success in
the game, which, in turn, can hopefully be translated into working with a team to
find success outside the game.
2) How does this activity connect with the learning outcomes for the week?
Answer: This activity demonstrates effective study skills and strategies for
success in the classroom because its theme is built off a group work, a hugely
important and effective study skill and strategy to possess. It has the students
answering questions on how exactly to build one, what constitutes a good one,
and what successes can be found within one, overall effectively demonstrating
the incredible use and value of study groups and collaborative learning in
general. Furthermore, it explain the importance of active reading when
discussing keeping both yourself and group members responsible, leading you to
maintain your groups integrity. Lastly, in terms of utilizing instructor feedback, it
gets a little tricky, as this revolves around focusing on your group. However, any
feedback granted after a group assignment is essential, and can help lead you to
maintaining your good choices in groups//help you figure out what you can do
next time to ensure success. That will be discussed after the activity.
F. You have been with your class for six weeks now. Describe why you chose the particular
instructional strategies youve chosen for Activity #1 (e.g. Youtube video, game, or
discussion/ will it be small group or whole group instruction). How/why does your
instructional approach appeal to your students in your classroom?
Answer: The energy in my class is ridiculously great. Again, Im very fortunate
to have an upbeat, open classroom, one where Im proud to say most everyone
knows one anothers names at this point. However, since my class is relatively
late in the day, and, on top of that, early in the week, my students are sometimes
visually worn-down, tired, exhausted, etc. I always threaten them with having
to do 10 jumping jacks just to restore their energy, so this is actually the perfect,
fun way to get them moving, interacting with our course content, and having fun
while doing it. They are all also very welcoming and kind to one another, which
gives me no doubts about dividing them into teams to work together. I also like
the theme of discussing collaborative learning while doing an activity reliant on
collaborative group work. Doesnt get much better than that!

G. Each section must have discussion questions to help facilitate discussion and engagement.
What discussion questions will you be asking? Identify how these questions match your
instructional strategies mentioned above.
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Lesson Plan For Week 6

Answer: My discussion questions are woven within the activity (see the
questions listed next to the statements above). These questions will be asked both
to the contestant and their teammates, creating authentic discussion to exhibit
their understanding. Every time someone answers Ill also open the floor to
anyone else who has something different to contribute, maybe even offering half
a point to whatever team suggests a new, well thought-out answer.

H. What additional materials will you use (if any) and why did you choose them? Cite sources
as necessary.
Answer: The only additional materials would be the two flyswatters and some
candy if you so desire (for that added incentive!)

Preview Next Weeks Inclusivity Assignment

10 minutes

(5 minutes) Begin by introducing the topic of diversity, salient identity, and

inclusivity by reminding students of the following:
Diversity and inclusivity does not just mean differences in races, even
though race attracts a lot of attention.
Our varied characteristics (e.g. nationality, gender, economic status,
political background, native language, ethnicity, sexual orientation, ability,
and age) as well as our special skills and talents (e.g. the kinds of
knowledge, experience, and characteristics an individual can gain from
military experience, or from being the oldest (or the youngest) child in a
family) all contribute to our diversity.
Inclusion allows us to value the differences in characteristics and special
skills and talents others bring to the table.
Hand out the Identity Pyramid Worksheet sheet to students and preview the
handout with students.
Define the concept of salient identity. Remind students that salient
identity is simply the dominant characteristic with which one sees
him/herself in light of various personal characteristics. These salient
identities may vary depending on the context of the situation. For
example, when people identify themselves as a strong athlete when they
are in a sports game, they may identify themselves as a reserved scholar in
the classroom.
Tell students to complete both sides of the Identity Pyramid Worksheet as
homework. Side one asks students to list their personal factors that
contribute to their uniqueness, personalities, and dispositions, while side
two asks students to describe their salient identities in terms of
location/situation.
Remind students that this handout will be play an intricate part in next
weeks lesson and that students must come to class with the handout
completed.
(5 minutes) End class with a diversity conversation based on a current diversity
related event or based on the Tacos and Tequila scenario provided for you in
the intern extra. Briefly explain the scenario and have students discuss the
following questions:
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Lesson Plan For Week 6

Discuss the facts of the case. What stands out to you about this case?
How does such a situation impact the culture and climate of U of I
campus?
Intern generated question: How do you think people of the Mexican
American culture felt when they saw those photos? How does it affect the
entire school? How would you feel if the group you identified with was
the target?

If time permits, students may begin to work on the Identity Pyramid Worksheet
for next week.
Wrap-Up

1 minute
Remind students they must have the Diversity/Inclusivity Pre-write completed on
Moodle by 10/5 at midnight, and to bring the completed Identity Pyramid
Worksheet to class next week.
Remind students of your email (once again), and reinstate that it can be used at
anytime if they find they need help with something.
Review quiz answers that were not covered within the two activities.
(Quickly) review key points from today:
A low score does NOT mean a low semester
There is ALWAYS a way to get yourself back on trackyou just have to
be willing to get there!
Forming the right study group is extremely important; you dont want
people who stray you away from learning in class.
Have students write one fact they learned from today onto their notecard before
dismissing.

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Lesson Plan For Week 6

INTERN EXTRA
Tacos and Tequila (2006)
Gladys, M. (2007). Discrimination of another color. Retrieved from:
http://www.imprintmagazine.org/life_style/discrimination_another_color. Retrieval date: 3.3.2015.
Nunez, D. The blurred lines between racism and innocent depictions. Retrieved from:
https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ideals.illinois.edu%2Fbitstream%2Fhan
dle%2F2142%2F3658%2FEthnography_on_Tacos_and_Tequila%255b1%255d.doc%3Fsequence%3D2. Retrieval
date: 3.3.2015.

On October 5, 2006, members of two fraternities and sororities at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign threw a party with a fiesta theme. The party was dubbed the Tacos and
Tequila party and portrayed Latinos using derogatory stereotypes, with students dressing up as
janitors, pregnant welfare moms, and wearing gardening gear. Soon, however, pictures of the
party ended up on Facebook and sparked a firestorm of criticism on campus. It also brought a
controversial issue to the forefront of the public eye: racism against minorities other than
African-Americans.
Nunez argues that members of the sorority and fraternity claim their intentions were not to be
offensive to any particular population, but to simply have fun, while critics of the event say the
event was based on malicious, racist notions about Mexican Americans. He further adds that the
white students who portrayed Mexican Americans in such light likely grew up in socially
economically privileged communities and likely had little to no contact with Mexican
Americans. Rather, they relied on media depictions and stereotypical of this population.

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