An MBA student of mine scored 28 out of 100 on the first test I gave in class. Clearly, she wasn’t grasping the concepts tested. I asked her if she would meet with me an hour before class every week so that I could work with her to do better in the course. She agreed and in our first meeting, it became clear that she had been working hard but not very smart. She was struggling to solve problems because she didn’t understand what she was reading in the text.
In my book, College in Four Years, I teach students how to use outlining to improve understanding. I was sure knowing that technique would help this student.
“Read a page in the book, then close it and write a summary of what you just read without using the author’s words. If you can’t do that, either you don’t remember what you read or didn’t understand it. If that’s the case, I want you to read the page again, and outline it again until you have completely covered the important points in the chapter.” She looked at me skeptically and I already knew what she was going to ask
“Yes,” I assured her, “reading your text this way will take much longer than just reading the book. But when you’re finished, you will have a full grasp of the concepts in the material and you’ll also have a custom outline that you can use for review before an exam.”
The next time I saw her, I saw a different student.
“I really understand the material. It makes sense to me now!” I asked her to tell me what she knew about the concepts we were studying – not the mechanics of problem solutions. She was able to discuss the concepts and relate them to each other and to appropriate problem solutions. I knew instantly she had mastered the material. She was overjoyed that she now knew how to study so effectively.
“It’s exactly the same material I used to find so confusing – but know I completely understand it. I always knew what to study, I just didn’t know how. And I can use this outlining technique in your class and a lot of my other classes! I got this, Dr. Sawyer, I got this!”
Students like this one are the reason I teach. When a teacher sees a light go on in a student – when they understand, take charge and master difficult material – it is the reward every teacher is striving for. We live to see that light. I know that I helped change the direction of my student’s educational future; for her and for me, nothing is better than that!