Do your students know how to study?
Middle school is the perfect time for students to build strong study habits – but let’s be real: most of them have no idea where to start. Some may think that studying means reading the text over and over again, whereas other students might bust out the flashcards and mnemonic devices to memorize as much as they can.
Knowing helpful ways to teach study skills is beneficial for any middle school teacher, but with everything else you have to teach, fitting in study skills can feel overwhelming.
The good news is that you don’t have to overhaul your entire curriculum to make a difference. This post will give you simple, practical ways to teach study skills to middle school students and weave them into your lessons without adding extra stress.
Ways to Teach Study Skills to Middle School Students
When you teach study skills, you’re not just giving students the tools they need to ace a test. Learning study skills helps students to develop organization, time management, and problem-solving skills that they can use beyond their academic years.
Whether preparing for a job interview, managing their finances, or tackling a project in the workplace, the ability to absorb information, stay focused, and work efficiently is essential (and greatly appreciated by employers). When you teach study skills, you help students build strong habits and give them the confidence they need to succeed not just in school but in any challenge they take on in the future.
Here are several tips to help your students with their study skills this year and for years to come!
Start your study skills lesson with this video – 3 tips on how to study effectively from TED-Ed.
Personal Reflection
A good first step in teaching study skills is to figure out what students know about themselves and their study habits.
One idea that can tap into these habits is to give students a piece of paper and divide it into 6-8 squares like comic book panels. Have students write in the first box: “Test date announced!” and in the final box: “It’s test day!” Then, with words or images, they can fill in what they would do in the 5-6 days (each box could be a day) between those two events.
Once complete, reflect on what they’ve included with some direct questions:
- Is the experience of preparing for a test mostly positive or mostly negative?
- What aspects do they dread about the process?
- Do they recognize any habits that they currently have that support their success?
- Do they recognize any habits that prohibit them from succeeding?
Once there’s a baseline of understanding of the current routine for students’ study habits, the next steps become more impactful, particularly with setting goals.
Set a Goal
As teachers, we set learning goals and share success criteria to guide students, but they can (and should) apply this concept to their study habits in a more informal way. Encouraging students to set a small, achievable goal for each study session helps them stay focused and intentional with their time.
These goals don’t have to be complicated.
Here are some small student goal examples:
- Review their notes,
- Create a study guide with key definitions
- Watch a video about the topic
- Reread handouts to better understand a concept
- Summarize a lesson in their own words
To help students build this habit, integrate goal setting into classwork periods. Provide students with a sticky note or a scrap of paper so they can write an informal goal for the classwork period on it. They will then place this in the corner of their desk so you can review it as you walk around the classroom.
An example of a way to do this quickly is by having students complete the sentence: “This work period, I will …”
- Review two websites and take research notes.
- Plan my poster before starting the design.
- Edit my rough draft for clarity and grammar.
One great time to revisit goal-setting is after Winter Break, when students may need a fresh start. Here’s how I help them set meaningful, achievable goals for themselves: Middle School Goal Setting Lesson.
You can also check out this post where real teachers share their strategies for setting goals in the new year, as well as goal-setting activities: Fantastic New Year’s Goal Setting and Re-establishing Classroom Routines Ideas.
And for even more ways to use sticky notes in the classroom, check out this post: Reading With Sticky Notes to Increase Comprehension.
Effective Note-Taking
Some students will ease into note-taking like a duck to water. They’re the ones who love underlining titles and using different colours in their notes. However, not all students will be like this.
There are a variety of ways to have students take effective notes. Graphic organizers are adaptable and flexible, so they can be used for a variety of content. And the best part is that if students find an organizer they particularly like, they can use it repeatedly.
If you’ve never used a graphic organizer in your classroom, check out this post to learn why they are useful: Why Use Graphic Organizers?
This set of 27 different Middle School Informational Text Graphic Organizers is sure to include options your students will love. You can also try this free collection of 6 graphic organizers for reading strategies or this set of non-fiction graphic organizers that help students organize their thinking about any non-fiction text or article.
If you’re teaching a lesson using a presentation, consider signalling the key points you want students to write down. A simple visual clue – like a small pencil or star icon – can help students identify important information at a glance.
This kind of modelling is especially useful at the start of the school year, as it helps students develop the habit of recognizing essential details. Over time, this scaffolding helps students build confidence and independence in their note-taking skills, teaching them how to filter information, organize their thoughts, and focus on what matters in the lesson.
For more note-taking ideas, check out this blog post: 12 Great Ways To Teach Note-Taking Skills.
Organization
One of the easiest (and most impactful) ways to improve study habits is by helping students stay organized. Here are two simple strategies to make it happen as you teach study skills:
Keep Binders & Folders in Order
Set aside class time regularly for students to check that they have all necessary notes and handouts in the right place. A class table of contents can make this process easier. Students can create and maintain this table of contents as a weekly classroom job, or you can create a digital table of contents. Read this blog post: Virtual Classroom Organization Tip: How to Make a Digital Table of Contents with Google Sheets.
Another great way to do this is to set up a reference station in a high-traffic area, near where students collect handouts after being absent. Use a piece of paper or a whiteboard to list the names of notes and handouts as they are distributed. Students can check this list regularly to ensure their materials are complete and organized.
Prepare Study Materials Before Starting
Students waste a lot of time constantly stopping to grab materials during study sessions. When you teach study skills, highlight the importance of building a habit of gathering everything they need at the start – pens, highlighters, notes, binders, and even snacks. Taking just a few minutes upfront prevents interruptions and helps students focus on studying efficiently.
Organization is a key skill that goes beyond the study session. When students learn how to be organized, they are building habits that will help them balance responsibilities in high school, college, university, and beyond. Even in daily life, things like budgeting, meal planning, and maintaining a clean space all rely on organization.
For even more tips for keeping students organized, check out How To Teach Students Organization Skills.
Regular Review
Often, students believe that cramming – studying intensely in a short period of time – is the way to go when faced with an impending evaluation.
However, studies show that a consistent and regular review of the material increases retention much more than a last-minute cram session. Regular review works on the neural pathways in the brain that help to build memory and recall, so smaller bits of review are far superior.
A good plan for this is to set aside time in class for review. As with all lessons, model it for students first. What does a regular review of materials look like?
- Focusing on vocabulary
- Reading notes from a recent lesson
- Jotting down questions that persist about the material
- Seeking answers to these questions
- Practicing the skill
Even if it’s 10-15 minutes each week, find time to give students a chance to review in class. Early in the school year, walk through this with a specific subject. To help facilitate this throughout the year, create a sticky note or laminated card using these 5 points to guide students in the process.
Time Management
As you teach study skills, time management is crucial. This is where the work that went into creating effective study notes, setting achievable goals, and getting organized come together.
Using time wisely is a great lesson to learn as soon as possible. There are three key things you can focus on teaching students in this area.
- How to prioritize
- Using time wisely in class.
- Setting up study schedules.
- Introducing the Pomodoro Method.
Help Students Learn How To Prioritize
Model this by teaching students about the Eisenhower Matrix Model. Get students to brainstorm a list of tasks they have to do in a week based on their current schedule. As you go through the list of items, talk about where to place each element on the matrix and why. At particularly busy seasons in the school year, create a matrix as a group so everyone can benefit from planning and prioritizing tasks.
Teaching Students to Use Time Wisely
One of the most important time management lessons students can learn is how to use class time wisely. This often comes down to choices and consequences – if students choose to chat or procrastinate, they’ll end up with more homework. Some students quickly recognize this pattern and adjust their behaviour to make better choices, but others may need more structured guidance.
For more strategies on handling classroom behaviour challenges, check out this post: Navigating 10 Student Behaviour Issues.
Setting Up Study Schedules
As you teach study skills, reinforce the importance of keeping a digital or paper agenda. Agendas are a fantastic way to help students track dates and deadlines and establish a schedule for homework or upcoming projects or a study schedule for tests. Remind students that while an agenda is ideal, if they don’t use it or are not effective with it, an agenda won’t be helpful.
Teach the specific skill of using an agenda with a purpose. To do this, provide students with a template for a week, including weekends. Help them to record the following:
- Write an overview of everything that’s set to happen during the week.
- If students have extracurriculars or other responsibilities, have them record those.
- Then, they can look at school requirements such as (daily) homework or upcoming projects or tests and add those.
Do this as a whole class for a couple of weeks. When you notice students better understand the process, you can have them transition to an agenda. You will know your students best, so evaluate what would be most effective and efficient for them. This might mean continuing to provide schedules that include more than one week for some students (or perhaps a whole class).
This lesson might evolve to helping students learn how to use their cellphones as their organization and agenda tools. Show students that these expensive pieces of technology are not just for texting and social media. To learn more about this topic, check out this article: How Can Cell Phones Help Students Be More Organized?
Introducing the Pomodoro Study Method
Once students have an idea of how to create a study schedule, share the Pomodoro Method with them so that they can stay focused and study efficiently.
The Pomodoro Method involves setting a timer for 25 minutes (use less of a duration with students who are just starting this process). During this time, students can study a specific concept or complete a specific task. After 25 minutes of dedicated and focused work, students can take a 5-minute break. They will then repeat this as necessary.
This method can help students stay on task while avoiding burnout, making study time more effective.
Extending the Lesson with a Homework Debate
Tie time management lessons into larger discussions by having students debate the merits of homework. Use this non-fiction article to spark discussion and guide students through analyzing the pros and cons of homework. This not only reinforces time management skills but can also help students think critically about study habits and workload balance.
Know Yourself
There are many ways we help students figure out who they are as people, and this includes study habits. However, this requires students to be honest with themselves about what actually helps them learn effectively.
When you teach study skills, encourage students to conduct a study habits inventory or assessment that asks questions such as:
- Where do you usually study (At a desk, in a different dedicated space, or wherever you can find room?)
- Do you listen to music when you study? For the next few study or homework sessions, alternate between music and no music, and take note of your time and efficiency in completing work. Which version was better for you?
- Do you require snacks before or while studying?
- Do you find you work better alone or in a group?
Give students time in class to brainstorm additional questions, then assign the self-assessment as homework or an in-class activity.
Specific Test Preparation
This last tip can help teach study skills, but also help students with managing anxiety. When students feel prepared, they often feel less anxious, so teaching specific test preparation is good for students’ social and emotional learning too!
There are a variety of question types that students will encounter in their education careers, so understanding these question types is a great first step in preparation.
You might provide students with a list of question types, such as fill-in-the-blank, short answer, multiple choice, match column, etc., and then teach each type in class. Students should be able to decipher what the question is asking and how best to answer. Practice with sample questions of each type, but not all at once! Scaffold this as you would any other lesson. Start with fill-in-the-blank and short-answer questions since they’re often easier than multiple-choice questions.
Here are some websites that can help you prepare to teach different types of test questions:
- How should I study for different formats of tests? – Arts & Science – U of T
- Exam Questions: Types, Characteristics, and Suggestions | Centre for Teaching Excellence | University of Waterloo
- How to Tackle Exam Questions – Learning Strategies Center
- Tips for answering different types of exam questions
- Multiple Choice Exams – Succeed at Exams – Guides at University of Guelph
- Exam Preparation: Multiple Choice Exam Strategies | SFU Library
When I give a test, I like to tell students the specific format, what types of questions will be on the test and even give them the essay questions ahead of time (if possible) so that they can come prepared. I let them know what specific topics from the unit will be on the test. They do not need to spend time studying information that won’t be assessed. More information helps to reduce students’ test anxiety and helps them focus their study time.
When you teach study skills, you are teaching students a lifelong skill that will benefit them for years to come. Study skills aren’t just about doing well in school – they are lifelong tools that will help students manage responsibilities, meet deadlines, and work efficiently in the future. When you explicitly teach study skills in your classroom, you’re setting students up for success far beyond their time in school.
Additional Resources For Teaching Study Skills
- Helping Reluctant Students Prepare for Tests
- 7 Essential Skills To Prepare Middle School Students For High School
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