Three pieces of evidence from this week's study-skills module. Work through them in order with your table. Nobody's grading the sort — the point is what you notice.
connecting…
Reminder: the lens we're using today
Banking model (Freire) — the module deposits a "correct," universal technique into a student treated as a neutral, empty container. The technique is presented as working the same for everyone.
Liberatory / problem-posing model — student and instructor investigate together, testing a rule against real conditions instead of accepting it as neutral. A "best practice" is a claim to test, not a deposit to accept.
EXHIBIT A
Sort the tools
🔒 Locked — waiting for your instructor to open this exhibit.
Eight study tools from this week's module. Tap each one to file it: does it assume you already know how to study, or does it actually teach you something you didn't already know how to do? Tap again to change your answer.
Assumes: 0Teaches: 0Unsorted: 8
While you sort: Guess how your table will split before you compare answers. Then pick one card you filed as "assumes" — what would have to be explained for it to become a "teaches" tool instead?
Table talk: What do the tools in the "assumes" pile have in common? Whose study habits, resources, or prior schooling do they take for granted?
Waiting for the room…
EXHIBIT B
Stress-test the calendar
🔒 Locked — waiting for your instructor to open this exhibit.
This week's Fixed-Commitment Calendar says to study 2–3 hours for every hour of class. Fair enough — but the rule doesn't know whose week it's landing on. Toggle between two students and watch what's left over.
0
HOURS LEFT, OUT OF 168, FOR EVERYTHING ELSE
While you toggle: Switch to Real Student and check the disruption box. What's the first thing you'd personally cut — sleep, class, or the job? The calendar calls a disruption "something that comes up" — how often does something come up for you in a normal semester?
EXHIBIT C
The fine print
🔒 Locked — waiting for your instructor to open this exhibit.
"Any time a professor willingly gives you an advantage in a course, use it!"
— this week's Note-Taking handout, on instructor-provided materials
Read that line again. It calls clear instructions and materials an advantage — something a professor chooses to hand out, not something you're owed.
While you read: Read the quote out loud at your table before answering alone. Does everyone hear it the same way?
Who decided that clarity is a gift instead of a baseline? What changes if you flip that assumption?
Think back to Exhibit A's "assumes" pile. Which tools there hand out that same kind of unearned advantage — to whoever already happens to know the unwritten rules?
Rewrite the quote as if professors owed students clear expectations. Say it out loud to your table.