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Explanation of how to get better grades by teaching others - Tricks for Good Grades: Strategies to Succeed in School. Also refer to learning, recall, verbalizing, education, homework, teachers, self-improvement, excellence, training, high school, college, Ron Kurtus, School for Champions. Copyright © Restrictions

Get Better Grades by Teaching Others

by Ron Kurtus (revised 14 July 2006)

When you read material in a textbook or hear the teacher explain it, you only retain a portion of what you learned. Must of the material is simply not digested or quickly forgotten. A good way to help in learning the material—and thus getting better grades—is to teach it to others. This forces you to review the material and also reinforces it in your memory. You can verbalize your lessons to friends or students that are having trouble with the material.

Questions you may have include:

How can teaching others help me to learn?
Who can I teach?
Will I be sure of getting better grades?

This lesson will answer those questions. There is a mini-quiz near the end of the lesson.

How can teaching others help?

It is well know that when you explain or try to teach a subject to someone else, you learn it better yourself. A big problem with learning things in class is that shortly afterwards much of the material is forgotten. Studies say that soon after you learn something in class 80% is forgotten.

Can recall better

Although you seem to forget what you've learned in class—such that your mind goes blank about some things when you take a test—the information is still really hidden in your brain. You may not be able to dredge up the answers on a test, but it is surprising how you can recall these things when you try to explain them to another person—even years later.

Verbalizing

When you verbalize information, you are using another part of your brain, and this increases your ability to understand and remember the information.

Get ideas in order

Another good thing about trying to explain a subject matter to another person is that any questions or misunderstandings you may have had come out when you have to explain the subject. Often you must work things out in you mind then, in order to properly explain them.

Makes you feel better

Another benefit of helping others learn is that it makes you feel better about yourself and the contribution you are making to making the world a better place.

Who can I teach?

Finding someone to teach or explain the subject to can be a challenge. Even finding someone to discuss the subject, so you can verbalize what you have learned, is often not easy.

Friends and classmates

One thing you can do is to try to explain things to your friends. You can even take turns in teaching each other to reinforce your knowledge. Doing this on a regular basis can even be part of doing your homework together.

Some schools have programs

Some schools have programs where students go to last year's class to help teach the younger kids. They often listen to someone a year or two older better than to the teacher, so they learn better. And of course, the student doing the teaching refreshes his or her knowledge of the material.

Although this will not directly improve your grades in classes you are presently taking, knowing last year's material better will give you a better background for this year's work.

Guaranteed better grades?

Will you be guaranteed of getting better grades if you teach others?

Common statistics in education are that you retain 10% of what you hear, 20% of what you read, 50% of what you do, 75% of what you discuss and 90% of what you teach.

You probably will know the subject better and thus do better in class and on tests, but unfortunately there are no guarantees in life. You just do the best you can.

Summary

Verbalizing your knowledge, explaining lessons to others and teaching what you have been studying are good ways to learn the material better yourself. Teaching last year's material gives you a better background for this year's work. Getting a better understanding about your subjects should help you get better grades in those classes. Besides that, it can be fun to help others learn what you know.

Answers to Readers' Questions

Feel good about yourself