Redefining revision

Rupali Sachdev

As a teacher I would find revision classes exhausting and dull. While teaching a chapter, I would do all that I possibly could – sing, dance, write poems, watch films, etc. – and so, when revising, I felt mere repetition of content would not engage the students. Only absentees might benefit, but the majority would not. I found it baffling that year after year, no matter how clear the principal’s vision was regarding education and its goals, we were allotted 10 days before the exams for revision. TEN days meant that one had to use at least 350 minutes of the child’s time fruitfully.

Parental pressure, of course, is always there. They worry if the syllabus is completed ahead of time and revised, they worry if the syllabus is completed just on time and not revised. And if you reflect deeply, who are these parents? You and me. I am sure some of us have behaved similarly while dealing with our children’s teachers.

So, revision classes are compulsory, and I did go through a long phase of wanting to be absent on those days till this thought struck me – how would I like my revision classes to be? This guided me towards experimenting and developing practices that would enliven the revision classes. I have used them while teaching students as well as teacher trainees and they have worked.

Why did they work?

Children love stimulation.

Children love movement.

Children enjoy games.

Children like to reflect.

Children delight in playful experiences.

Children love to collaborate and co-operate.

Children like to live in the moment.

Points to remember

• Investing time in preparation is essential for achieving fruitful outcomes.
• A large group working together is more excited and excitable. To keep a control on the noise levels, groups of four students are ideal. This will also ensure that every child is participating.
• The methods shared are mainly for language teachers but can be extended to social science classes as well. Teachers of other subjects may find these ideas inspiring and come up with even better methods tailored to their own areas of teaching.

Cut and paste

Preparation

• You will need to cut the lesson to be revised into many pieces.
• Make photocopies of the text. The number of copies will depend on the number of groups you have. A lesson of three pages for eight groups would translate into eight sets of photocopies, a total of 24 pages.
• Arrange the pages set wise and page wise, cut them up into 5-6 pieces according to the paragraphs. A piece of dialogue can be cut in between.
• Mix the strips in such a way that they are not in chronological order.
• Put them in an envelope.
• Every envelope should have the same contents. Eight sets of photocopies will mean that you will have eight envelopes.
• Ask the children to bring glue.

Execution

• Form groups and make sure children are sitting facing one another.
• Give each group one foolscap sheet. They can use both sides.
• Carry a paper/cloth/jute bag containing the envelopes to each group and let them pick one.
• Ask the students to paste the strips in the correct order, as they occur in the lesson, on the foolscap sheet.

You can make the task challenging by choosing chapters that have a lot of conversation or are more like journals. The groups can exchange their sheets with each other or they can match it with the text themselves.

The simple act of reading and re-reading the text, especially reading the last and first sentences of different paragraphs will ensure that all students have revised that chapter.

Tell me why

Preparation

• Use any guide book/sample paper book/internet and photocopy pages which have solved questions. E.g., find a chapter with objective, short answer, and HOTS questions, with answers that are reasonably well written.
• Make as many photocopies as the number of groups in your class.
• Cut the questions and answers separately and mix them up. Put the strips in envelopes as written above.

Execution

Follow the guidelines of the exercise above and ask the students to paste the strips in the correct order. Not only should the answers be stuck after the questions, but they should also be chronological, i.e., as the events appear in the lesson.

While reading and re-reading answers as well as questions, not only will they know the content of the chapter, but also how to frame a question as well as begin an answer.

Variation

Give children the strips with just the answers and let them frame the questions. Of course, I do not believe in giving children readymade answers, for the task of education is to help the child discover and explore. But I have noted that a few children, passionate about a non-academic field of interest do benefit.

Flipped classroom

Many children (as I did 50 years ago) likely believe that teachers have a wonderful time making question papers and that they take sadistic pleasure in deducting marks from students’ answer scripts. Well, after this revision exercise, they are bound to have second thoughts.

Preparation

Make photocopies of the text.

Execution

Form groups of 4-5.

Give each group a copy of the text.

Let them frame a question paper of 15 marks for a chapter using guidelines such as –

Should include –

• 2 MCQ – 2 marks
• 3 objective type – 1 sentence answer – 3 marks
• 2 short answers – 2×2=4 marks
• 1 long answer – HOTS – 6 marks

Total marks – 15

You can add that they should have at least one question each beginning with What, When, Where, How, Why. For HOTS question, you can give words from Bloom’s taxonomy like justify, interpret, infer, connect, illustrate, etc.

One can ask them to use their textbooks, but I suggest you give them photocopies, so that they don’t refer to the questions given at the end of the chapter.

While framing the questions, they will come to know of the answers in a very natural manner. Mission accomplished!

Key idea

Choose any text, and in pairs or groups, ask the children to give sub-headings to each paragraph or underline key ideas. After all have completed the task, ask the students to write them on the board, and then compare/analyze.

Here is an example of Reach for the top, a part of CBSE class IX curriculum.

Student A	Student B	Student C	Student D
1) the birth of a legend 2) rebellion for a better cause 3) the evil society 4) struggle for education 5) the first step 6) getting professional 7) small steps lead to thousand miles 8) act of benevolence 9) hard work leads to success 10) love for the nation	1) birth of a new prodigy 2) non-traditional Santosh 3) desire for education 4) a good cause for rebellion 5) takes to climbing 6) beginning of the journey 7) a remarkable climber 8) the other side of Santosh as a climber 9) conquers Everest the second time 10) the indescribable moment	1) welcoming a baby girl 2) naming the baby 3) will Santosh marry or continue with her studies? 4) fees to be paid 5) the mystery behind the hills 6) a new journey begins 7) becoming the youngest to scale Mt.Everest 8) sharing is caring 9) a line of achievements 10) Santosh describing her feelings	1) Santosh’s birth 2) her non-traditional attitude 3) desire for education 4) wanting proper education 5) days in Jaipur 6) her passion for climbing 7) scaling Mt. Everest 8) compassion for fellow climbers 9) scales Everest again 10) feeling on top of the world and concern for environment

Once they go through this activity, they know the summary of the story thoroughly! In one class, I was met with a great surprise. A child, for the same text, wrote –

1) The sunflower in a field full of roses

2) who’s the man

3) the diamond still rough cut

4) tell and alone

5) the shocking response

6) white lie

7) one step towards greatness

8) team work makes the dream work

9) badge of honour

10) that Indian girl

This was very different from the others, and did not say much about the content. When compiled, it did not lead to a summary, and hence, defeated the purpose of revision. Yet, it was far more imaginatively written. I praised the child for her creativity and originality, more valued than precision and grammatical correctness. Today, she edits her college magazine and leads all literary activities there. So, we should know when to bend our rules and be flexible about our outcomes.

The magic word

This needs an ICR (interactive classroom) board and the entire class must participate. It is an entertaining way to ask the children to fill in the blanks.

Preparation

We can copy the summary of any chapter on to a pendrive. Certain words can be typed in red and then in white. So the children will see some blanks when the file is opened.

Execution

Open the file on the ICR and the entire class can participate in guessing the missing word. Do not tell them whether it is correct or not. Be dramatic and say aabra cadabra or just, ‘let me see if you are right’, and then, highlight the blank so that they can see the correct word in red, after guessing. Though children from classes 3-6 enjoy this, I have noticed older children wait with bated breath to see if the word in red is what they had guessed.

Diffit for the teachers

If you are in a hurry and have little time to prepare, and still want to revise, you can always turn to an AI tool, Diffit for teachers. You may look at –  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOB_3TUwgsGflQPpWZrZbTg

If you paste or attach the text you want to revise, it will give you a readymade question paper (with answers). There are questions on vocabulary, MCQs, short answer questions as well as open-ended prompts. You get all this in a matter of a few seconds. Edit it, print it, and distribute it to students.

Hope you enjoy these activities. Not only will the children know their text better, but also learn how to coordinate, collaborate, cooperate, and share with one another. Here are a few remarks by my colleagues from Sarala Birla Public School.

The method you shared, where students arranged and pasted photocopies of text and question answers in correct order, was a huge success! This activity was a game-changer compared to my usual methods of revision, such as board work, oral question-answers, or written tests. This approach not only made the revision process engaging and interactive but also helped my students develop problem-solving skills.

The children’s intensity of involvement during the activity was remarkable. They were completely engaged, motivated, and absorbed in the task. As their teacher, it was incredible to see them so focused and enthusiastic about learning. The feeling of fulfillment I experienced after this revision class was overwhelming. Seeing my students so engaged and motivated, and knowing that they had gained a deeper understanding of the subject, left me feeling inspired and rejuvenated.

• Poonam Razdan, social studies teacher

आपके द्वारा साझा किएगए तरीके, जिसमें छात्रों ने पाठ, शब्दार्थ और प्रश्नोत्तर की फोटोकॉपी को सही क्रम में व्यवस्थित कर चिपकाया, एकबड़ी सफलता थी। यह गति विधि पुनरावृत्ति के मेरे सामान्य तरीकों से बिल्कुल हटकर थी। इस दृष्टिकोण ने पुनरा वृत्ति प्रक्रिया को और आकर्षक एवं रोचक बनाया। गति विधि के दौरान बच्चे पूरी तरह से व्यस्त, कार्य में लीन और उत्साहित थे। उनके शिक्षक के रूप में, उन्हें सीखने के प्रति इतना केंद्रित और उत्साहित देखना अत्यंत हीआनंदमयी था।पुनरा वृत्ति कक्षा के दौरान अपने छात्रों को इतना व्यस्त और प्रेरित देखना, और यह जानना कि उन्होंने विषय की गहरी समझ हासिल करली है, मुझे संतोष जनक महसूस हुआ। आपके सुझाव से छात्रों के साथ-साथ हम शिक्षकों कोभी बहुत मदद मिली है।

• सुशीला पाण्डेय, हिन्दी शिक्षिका

The author is Academic Advisor, Sarala Birla Public School, Ranchi. She can be reached at rupalisachdev@yahoo.co.in.