In English, we have a problem with quotations, when it comes to revision.
A large number of students reduce revision to quotation learning. Whilst, there is no doubt that some quotation knowledge is useful for formulating answers, they are not the behemoths that students think they are. I will do okay as I know some quotations about Macbeth. Quotations can, and do, give false confidence. Students panic about other subjects in school and their lack of knowledge in a topic, yet in English there is a nonchalance as they can remember the film and they’d got a few quotations in their head. The problem is that we often reinforce the quotation emphasis as the closer we get to the final exam we make the revision largely about quotations.
The problem with quotations is they give the impression of understanding texts without forcing students to work on their understanding. The exams expect them to think, explain and reason, yet all too often their brains are full of massive quotations to the detriment of their thinking. They can have 99 quotations yet not one reasonable idea between them. The ideas get the marks and not the quotations. A quotation is a vehicle for thinking and not the destination. All too often students see quotations as a mic drop. Scrooge is a lonely character. The quote ‘solitary as an oyster’ shows us this. Boom. Drop the mic.
To move students from focusing solely on quotations, we are releasing a weekly ‘possible’ exam paper in the lead up to the exam. The emphasis on thinking. What would you do if this was the question? Rather than focus on predicting the exam question, we are building the thinking into the revision process. At the same time, revising themes, threads or strands in the texts. Each week students plan how they’d respond to the questions and share in the lesson. They are preparing to think. Not preparing to repeat quotations.
Here's an example:
Thanks for reading,
Xris
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