Teach students a concise note taking system. The Cornell System, taught to many secondary and college students, works well for sixth grade and beyond. Using the Cornell System, students draw a vertical line on loose-leaf paper about 2 1/2 inches from the left edge of the paper. On the right side of the vertical line, students write notes in paragraph form during lectures. Teach students to skip lines between thoughts, to use abbreviations to save time, and to write neatly. After the lecture, students use the space to the left of the vertical line to write down key words and ideas. In other words, they boil the lecture down to its most important points to grasp the main ideas. The Cornell System helps students with comprehension and recall of class material.
In addition to taking notes from lectures, students must also be able to glean information from written text. Spend a class day working on reading by practicing the following skills: study reading, skimming and scanning. Study reading is different from reading a novel or newspaper. When students read difficult material for comprehension, they should read slower than their normal rate, and often the material must be read more than once. Skimming allows students to identify the main ideas of paragraphs without reading all the details. To practice skimming, give the sixth graders an article, and instruct them to only read the topic sentences of each paragraph and give you the main ideas of the article. Scanning allows students to find specific information in a passage. For example, if you know you're looking for the height of a redwood tree, scan the article for the words "redwood tree" and perhaps a number until you find the fact you're looking for.
Sixth graders aren't strangers to taking tests, but they will be subject to higher stakes testing in coming years. Therefore, learning effective test-taking strategies will help them immensely in the future. Teach sixth graders to survey the entire test before they begin to know how to divide their time. Instruct students to answer the easiest questions first and to keep an eye on the clock. For multiple choice questions, teach students to supply their own answer before looking at any of the possible answers. If they don't know the answer, students should try to eliminate answers that don't make sense before making a guess. For essay questions, teach students to create a simple outline, answer the questions specifically, write neatly, and proofread for grammar, punctuation and spelling. Practice taking different kinds of tests in class, and give your students feedback about their effectiveness.
The teacher controls a student's learning environment at school, but students need to realize that their study environment at home has a large impact on the effectiveness of their study time. Although you can't visit their homes, teach a lesson about how to create a good learning environment at home for studying and completing homework. Teach students to turn off auditory and visual distractions such as TV and music. Advise them to set specific study hours. Perhaps they could study from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Students also need a specific place to study. A desk is ideal, although a clear kitchen table will do. A student's desk should house everything the student needs, such as pencils, paper, pens, reference materials and 3-by-5-inch cards. The desk should not be covered with toys, games, electronics and other items that will distract the student. A reading lamp helps students to read without straining their eyes. Challenge students to improve their home study environments.