I have a confession to make: I love to read and sleep at the same time. Well, not literally at the same time (that would be impossible). But interchanging napping and reading is one of my favorite ways to learn new material.

In my work as an academic coach, parents are often asking me whether it’s ok for kids to read and study in bed, and I have a hard time saying “No” when I do it so often myself. There’s something to be said for doing something hard and potentially distasteful, like reading, in a comfortable place. It makes the act a bit more tolerable.

But falling asleep can be a huge problem, especially if (like many teenagers do), you forget to return to your task once you’ve awoken from the blissful nap. It’s also problematic if your brain is starting to nosedive into sleep-land and therefore is not fully paying attention to what you’re reading. Then you can’t take notes, annotate, or think actively about what you are reading.

On days like today, when I allow myself the luxury of reading-and-napping, I usually read in about 10 minute segments, and the very instant I feel myself getting tired, I put the book down and doze. A little later, I’ll wake up (thanks, perhaps, to a well timed snore), and then I’ll take the book in hand again. At some point, I’ll be totally refreshed that I wont sink into sleep anymore. That’s the point that I take up my pen, skim over what I’ve just read, and take some notes. It works for me!

I’m not necessarily advocating that teenagers try this at home. But I AM advocating that students have permission to find their own methods, even if those methods seem crazy to others. If I can prove that the ultimate learning goal is being achieved ( for example,I have a detailed page of notes from the 80 pages that I read), why not accomplish the task in m own, unorthodox way?

As an academic coach, I work with a lot of fidgety teens with ADD and ADHD. Every fall I buy some new toys to add to my collection. This year I ordered from Fat Brain Toys. We’ll see whether my coaching clients enjoy the Acrobots, pictured left .

I also ordered these  Magnetic Marbles, pictured here. However, I’m not pleased with their magnetism, which isn’t very strong. Maybe my students will find fun ways to play with them. (I’m always blown away by new magnetic tricks discovered accidentally while discussing breaking down their next history project into manageable parts).

Finally, I ordered Rory’s Story Cubes. These are more of a treat for me because they remind me of the MuseCubes.  I might use these as creative warm-ups with the teens, before we move into our time management and organization tasks. There’s also a fun iPhone app.

School began this week all over the Bay Area!  I love the first week of school because students are full of hope and their organizational systems haven’t yet succumbed to a sea of papers.

As an academic coaching, I work one on one with students, but no session is alike. Sometimes it feels like a grand improvisation, encountering new issues every hour and figuring out how to approach them.  Here are some tasks that Week One was filled with:

• Received tours of  backpacks and school supplies. Once student was oh-so-proud of her knew REI backpack which is evidently much more comfortable than a standard backpack.
• Helped binder-hating students figure out an alternative organization method  (the accordion folder or the Circa planners are nice backups)
• Taught students how to use a hanging file system at home to file older papers that need to be saved for final exams
• Brainstormed topics for college essays (the challenge of painting with watercolor and how it is a metaphor for my life; why I’m grateful I stuck with the “torture” of preparing for my bat mitvah)
• Calmed several students down who are anticipating an insane homework load
• Collaged new planner covers (I’m a firm believer that if you decorate your planner, you are more likely to use it)
• Renovated planners for all the students who took my DIY Planner workshop last year
• Problem solved what technology a non-artsy student should use for their first English project, which requires some art-making(we landed on GoogleDocs drawings).
• Convinced a student who has never before used a planner to set up iCal to track all his work
• Practiced a locker combination 6 times with a client until she got it right and could open her locker
• Planning when a student should go to her locker during the course of the day, so that she doesn’t have to lug a day’s worth of heavy textbooks with her
• Uncovered a stack of loose papers in a backpack and helped devise locations for all the homeless papers
• Outlined a student’s first essay of the year

All in a week’s work!

I just finished a coaching session with Amy, a high school junior who is a notorious procrastinator. Actually, most of my high school students are procrastinators; I’m starting to believe that this is just a natural part of being human! I’m mean, I notice myself procrastinating more often than not in my life (why else do the dirty dishes sit for sooooo long in my sink?).

The difference between Amy and many of my clients, however, is that she is completely distraught at the amount she procrastinates (most of the others just shrug it off). She goes to a prestigious college prep high school, and she wants very badly to compete with the brightest students. The fact that she put off her homework in favor of procrastinating really distresses her.

Tonight, I introduced her to the idea of desire versus obligation. “Can you notice when you’re doing homework out of obligation rather than desire? For example, I’m less likely to do the dishes if I tell myself I should do them. However, I’m more likely if I take a moment to imagine myself waking up to an apartment with a clean kitchen tomorrow!”

We then reflected about a biology presentation for which she “should” be preparing. “Can you be in touch with a desire around this presentation?” I asked. Amy thought for a moment, and then said with a clenched sounding voice, “Well, I really want to prove to myself that I can finally get something accomplished.” I pointed out that this sounded much more like obligation then desire.

She thought again, and then suddenly her whole face brightened. “I really want to make it into AP Biology next year, and doing a good job on this project will communicate to my teacher that I am ready for that class!” Aha! That sounded closer to a desire to me.

I pointed out that, although homework might seem to be an obligation, if she thinks deeply enough about it, she will probably locate a desire that will propel her to action more quickly than a “should”. And that desire is the feeling she can hold as she begins to do her homework.

Who knows if this will work?! I’m looking forward to seeing her next week so we can check in about it.