Dec 10 2012

A One-Size-Fits-All Method to Study for Tests

Finals are just around the corner! What a great time to revisit a study I read recently that announced a sure-fire way to study for tests: reorganize information in your own way.

Over the years as an academic coach, I’ve been helping students practice their own unique ways to do this. Some make posters; others prefer flashcards or mind maps. Some make charts and graphs; others write songs. Not only is this study method scientifically proven, but it works for learning styles of all types, which is why I call it one-size-fits-all.

In order to explain this process in more detail, I’d like to return to my client Lyndsey, about whom I wrote a few weeks ago. Lyndsey struggles with procrastination.  All year long I’ve been working with Lyndsey to build a habit of practicing her anatomy flashcards regularly, and she never follows through. I concluded that instead of being lazy, Lyndsey simply hadn’t found the right study method yet.

Remembering the study alluded to above,  I suggested that Lyndsey reorganize her anatomy notes after each lecture. This week she showed up to my session announcing that she had, indeed, tried this new tactic. “And it works!” she said.

She hauled out her binder, and showed me the before and after pictures:

Provided by Teacher: Reassembled by Student:
20121108-203649.jpg 20121108-203704.jpg

 

Note how the teacher’s notes are formatted in a list. Lyndsey’s notes, however, have more “shape” to them as she visualizes the flow of ideas using arrows, circles, and placement on the page. It’s clear that Lyndsey thought actively about the information she was learning as she reviewed her notes. Way to go!!

I’m always psyched when my clients have insightful observations about new strategies they try; I was thrilled that Lyndsey reported several benefits to this review process that she now calls “reassembling”:

  1. First, it helped her notice that there were holes in her lecture notes. Reorganizing the notes the evening of the lecture gave her a chance to look up the missing information, something she’s never done before.
  2. Secondly, it helped her notice that the information being presented was actually a flow chart; she never would have noticed this if she hadn’t forced herself to look closely —  and critically! — at the teacher’s notes.
  3. Finally, noticing the flow of the information helped her to understand how the facts relate to each other, which in turn helped her memorize them.  She’ll need to continue reviewing the information each day to fully memorize the entire list, but she’s well on her way!
If you’re digging the idea of reassembly and would like more of a “how-to” guide, check out this great resource.

And now: please tell stories! Do you, dear readers, have experience with “reassembling” your notes before tests? What’s your favorite method? I’d love to hear.

Art by Derrick Tyson on Flicker.

P.S. If you know a student who you think could use this information, be sure to forward this article to them!

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Dec 03 2012

Rock Your Finals by Making an Exam Study Schedule

The first wave of final exams are upon us, which means (drum roll, please!) it’s time to map out the final exam study schedule.

This is easier said than done. I’m saddened that most teachers seem to pass out final exam review information *only* a week before finals. From the student’s perspective, one week of a study time for 7 classes is simply not enough.

If we really want students to learn to plan out their projects and become effective time managers, we need to give them the tools they need to do this. For a majority of students to do a thorough job planning and studying for their final exams, two weeks is necessary.

In the case of Cassandra, the student whose schedule is pictured above, we sat down to map out her study schedule 2 weeks before finals began. At this point we had information for 3 of her 7 classes, so we began to map them out on a calendar. Cassandra preferred to think through exactly what task she needed to do on each day in order to be ready, and so we wrote these tasks on her schedule. Click on the picture if you’d like to see it in more detail.

Tony, on the other hand, preferred to study only one subject each day. As a result, his study schedule looks like this. You’ll note that we put his schedule in the middle of the white board, and then around the edges we wrote specific steps for him to do to study for each of the classes. Click on the picture to see it in more detail.

It doesn’t matter how you choose to map out your time; what’s more important is that you make a plan! In fact, you might not stick to every detail of your plan; however, by taking the time to think through all your tasks in advance, you’ll be more likely to study over time, rather than cramming the night before.

Good luck, and let me know if you have any questions!

What is your study schedule like? Let me know in the comments!

P.S. If you know a student who you think could use this information, be sure to forward this article!

 

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Nov 26 2012

Study Incentive for the Truly Desperate

Happy belated Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope all you students got some much needed R&R.

I’m taking this week off of blogging. However, for those of you who find yourself stuck with some homework, I recommend trying this person’s funny study incentive.

I imagine it works for books of all sorts: textbooks, SAT and GRE study guides, nonfiction tomes, law reviews, and more.

What other treats — sweet and/or savory — could you use to provide incentive through dull reading? Please comment below and tell me!!

Source: www.weknowmemes.com.

 

P.S. If you know someone who you think would like this idea, be sure to forward this article to them!

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Nov 19 2012

3 Simple Questions That Unlock Hidden Brilliance

How do you go more deeply when you are writing a paper? It’s one of those catch 22′s, isn’t it. Don’t you think you WOULD engage in more critical thinking if only you knew HOW?!

Today I was working with a college sophomore who had just finished writing a draft of an essay for her Italian Culture class. She felt pretty confident that she was addressing the prompt. However, when I asked her if she had any way of assessing whether she was pushing herself to think deeply about the issue in question, she looked a bit confused.

‘Aha!’, I thought, ‘What a great opportunity for one of my 5-minute “mini-lectures.”‘  I whipped out a sheet of paper, and began to draw the image you see above, of 3 levels of questions.

The Three Levels of Questions

Level 1 — Factual. “Who, What, and Where”. In Level 1 thinking, the writer states the facts directly. There is often a “right” or a “wrong” way to answer Level 1 questions.

Example: What were Cinderella’s slippers made out of? How did Cinderella get to the ball? (Source: USD497)

Level 2 — Analysis. ”Why, How, So What?!” Level 2 thinking analyzes data, looking for patterns, reasons, motives, etc. This is the beginning of critical thinking in action.

Example: Why does Cinderella’s stepmother care whether or not she goes to the ball? Why did everything turn back the way it was except the glass slipper? Why don’t the step sisters like Cinderella? (Source: USD497)

Level 3 — Connections. ”Now What?!” This type of thinking goes beyond the text, assessing the value of the idea in a broader context. Level 3 thinking can make connections between the idea and other, seemingly irrelevant concepts; furthermore, the writer can make personal connections between the idea and his/her life. These types of questions are the “home run” of critical thinking; they knock your writing out of the park.

Example: Does a woman’s salvation always lie with a man? What does it mean to live happily ever after? Does good always overcome evil? (Source: USD497)

Applying the 3 Levels to Essay Writing

After I introduced these Levels to Elizabeth, she was easily able to see that her roughdraft — comparing feminism during the Renaissance and the 1960s — was largely a Level 1 essay. She had read the book and was re-presenting the information that she had gleaned. However, she hadn’t thought to look for patterns in feminist thought between the two eras (Level 2) or the impact of the history of feminism on her life today (Level 3).

When you sit down to write an essay, take a moment to jot down several questions that you hope to explore in your writing. Make sure that you have questions from each Level, as all of them are important. By asking — and answering — questions at each level, you can unlock your own hidden brilliance, and take your essay writing to a new level.

However, the three levels of questions are not just for writing. Here are some other school-related environments in which you can use these ideas:

  • analyze the type of questions your teacher asks, so that you know what kind of thinking they are *really* looking for.
  • participate in class discussion by asking yourself, classmates, and teachers questions at higher levels
  • annotate your readings, challenging yourself to write a Level 1, 2 and 3 question and/or comment on every page

What other places would these three levels of thinking come in handy? Please tell me, below!
Many thanks to the web pages at USD497, Mr. Kash, and Noelle Combs for helping me hone my understanding of the 3 Levels of questions.

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Nov 12 2012

A Surprising New Way to Think About Procrastination

 So many teens come to me distraught about how much they procrastinate! They always reveal it quietly, shamefully, as if procrastination is a huge sin.

But what if procrastination isn’t all bad?! What if — in fact — there are some gifts to be found in putting tasks off?

Let’s look at one of my clients, Lyndsey. Every week in our sessions, she assigns herself several tasks on which she wants to follow through. Lately she has been trying to review her anatomy flashcards every day for just 5 minutes. Just five minutes; that shouldn’t be too hard, right?

Each week, however, Lyndsey reports that she has — yet again — “failed” to follow through; there’s a different “excuse” as to why it didn’t make sense to do her flashcards that week.

Trying not to sound too frustrated, I asked Lyndsey about whether seeing me weekly is helping her break her procrastination habit. She had a fascinating response: although she’s not yet following through on the behaviors I suggest, she is actually NOTICING when she procrastinates. Whereas last school year she was procrastinating unconsciously, this year she is procrastinating mindfully, becoming more and more conscious of the choices she’s making.

This observation about mindful procrastination corresponds with a quote by David Whyte that a friend recently shared on Facebook:

Procrastination is not what it seems. …what looks from the outside like our delay; our lack of commitment; even our laziness may have more to do with a slow, necessary ripening through time and the central struggle with the realities of any endeavor to which we have set our minds. To hate our procrastinating tendencies is in someway to hate our relationship with time itself, to be unequal to the phenomenology of revelation and the way it works its own way in its very own sweet, gifted time, only emerging when the very qualities it represents have a firm correspondence in our struggling heart and imagination.

..Procrastination does not stop a project from coming to fruition -what stops us is giving up on an original idea because we have not got to the heart of the reason we are delaying, nor let the true form of our reluctance instruct us in the way ahead…

From Readers’ Circle Essay, “Procrastination”

Too often I — and my clients, as well as their teachers and parents — interpret procrastination as delay and lack of commitment. It’s all too easy for both Lyndsey and me to conclude that she is not committed enough to her studies because she is not using her flashcards daily, as we’ve decided.

What if, though, Lyndsey’s lack of follow through on flashcards was actually, as Whyte says here, a “slow, necessary ripening through time”? What if, rather than judging her relationship to procrastination, she were to view it as a revelation in the making?

What if I, as Lyndsey’s academic coach, see myself as someone who can nurture this revelation? Rather than just giving up on the idea of flashcards, what if we take Whyte’s advice to “go to the heart of the reason” that she is delaying and “let the true form of her reluctance instruct us”?

If we look deeply enough, we see that the real need here is not to follow through with flashcards. Rather, Lyndsey needs to learn about anatomy effectively and efficiently, in a way that works for her. The flashcards are just *one* of many strategies towards that goal. When I actually looked at the anatomy worksheets that Lyndsey’s teacher provides daily, I realized that perhaps she needs a more foundational study skill: to re-imagining her notes (which have been organized by her teacher) into a structure that makes sense to Lyndsey’s brain.

We spent the rest of our time practicing rewriting the notes, finding new ways to present the same information. It only took 5 minutes to work through one day’s lecture, and Lyndsey realized how effective it might be to practice this “reorganization” strategy every day after class. She appreciated this new problem solving task, which was more engaging than the memorization task that flashcards provided.

Will this new habit be the one that sticks for Lyndsey? Only time will tell. However, thanks to David Whyte’s re-framing of procrastination as a ripening, I find myself honored to be a witness to this “ripening” of habits that emerge only “when the very qualities [the habit] represents have a firm correspondence in our struggling heart and imagination.”

What tasks do you procrastinate on? What do you notice when you reframe them as a “ripening” instead? Please comment below; I’d love to hear.

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Nov 05 2012

Why Independence Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up To Be

It’s college. You’re no longer living at home. Your time is your own to manage as you please. You no longer have to suffer under constant watchfulness from teachers and parents. Especially for kids with learning differences — many of whom received tons of extra support in middle and high school — going to college is the time when they can do school on their own! It’s the ultimate opportunity to FINALLY be independent, right?!

Wrong!

Well actually…right! But with reservations. Let me explain.

College is a great time to flex your independence muscles. The problem is: independence is not all it’s cracked up to be.

One of my clients is a freshman at a school that provides all kinds of support services:

  • a math and writing lab every weekday
  • a math study group for his math class
  • an upperclassman who is the TA for the freshman seminars, and available for hw support
  • a graduate student mentor
  • and more!!

This student, however, has been feeling resistant to using any of these services because he wants to — finally!!! — be able to do things on his own. In high school he saw me twice a week, received several accommodations such as extra time on tests and papers, and received a great deal of one-on-one attention from teachers. In college, he wants to be independent and so has been has not been taking advantage of the available resources (except for a once-weekly session with me).

Today, though, the minute his face popped up in my skype window, he bemoaned, “I’m drowning in assignments!!!” Uh oh. It seems as if independence is not working!

My client’s dilemma prompted me to muse about the classic idea of Freedom From and Freedom To.

Independence to many of my teen clients is often equated with Freedom From External Restraint. They do not want to be restrained by rules, guidelines, and guidance from teachers, parents, tutors, coaches, etc.

However, there is a different way to think about independence: Freedom To Make Choices for oneself. In other words: autonomy.

As my client and I discussed the idea of independence, we turned our attention to 6 journal assignments that need to be rewritten this weekend. He had misunderstood the directions, and so needs to fix them before Monday’s deadline.

“Why don’t you ask the TA to help you with rewriting them?” I suggested.
“Sure, I could do that,” he said, suddenly sounding morose.
“Your voice changed. You sound disappointed. What do you really think about asking the TA for help?” I pushed.
“I want to be able to try it myself first, and then get help! How about if I try to rewrite two of the entries first, and then ask the TA for feedback about what I’ve done?”
“Perfect!” I responded. “The only thing I suggest is that you make an appointment with the TA now, before you’ve done the two journal entries. That way you will have a deadline, and someone to whom to be accountable. You will be more likely to follow through on your goal.”

Through the skype window I heard the clitter clatter of typing, and sure enough: he was emailing off a request to the TA. Nice work!

I love my client’s new plan. He is still honoring his desire to learn on his own, but he is also welcoming support. Getting support is not a sign of weakness, but rather of maturity. Of realizing that no one person can do life completely on her own, and that we need each other.

Freedom To…

When I asked my Facebook friends for their own list of Freedom To’s, this is what they came up with (brilliant group of folks, don’t you think?):

  • Take a look at the people around you, evaluate the results others are getting, and choose who to ask for help/ consult with.
  • Receive parents’ love, wisdom and counsel with an open mind and heart,  rather than reactive rebellion
  • Make mistakes and try again, based on the feedback you just got!
  • Get a job, pay rent, get health insurance, buy groceries…freedom isn’t free.
  •  Choose one’s value system and be held accountable to your actions as they relate to that value system. Asking for help is an way of achieving results in accordance with your value system. Certain politicians seem to be asking for our help all the time these days!
  •  Choose your own goals and how you go about meeting them, rather than having others tell you what to do. And once you’ve done that, figure out what resources you need. Like driving: decide where you’re going, what route you’re taking and whether you need to stop for gas!
For the last word on freedom, let’s hear from Viktor Frankl: “[T]he last of human freedoms [is] to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
What do you think are some important Freedom To’s? Leave a comment telling me yours!

P.S. Do you know a student who would find this article useful? Be sure to forward it to them!

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Oct 29 2012

The Shit List: Honest Advice from an Academic Coach to a Teenager Near You

Sometimes my teenage clients crack me up so much I can hardly contain the giggles. Tonight was one of those nights.

Allen was a mess last year. Total sportster, he couldn’t stand school. He had zero motivation, which translated to tons of zeros on he report card. He didn’t keep a planner. He didn’t write assignments down. He didn’t turn work in.

This year we are trying to nip all those behaviors in the bud by making a list to help him remember his new habits. But sometimes lists are hard to remember!

Enter: the swear word. Nothing like a well placed “shit” to help a kid remember what he needs to do next.

Here’s what Allen and I fondly call his Shit List:

1. Write shit down
2. Do shit
3. Turn shit in
4. Put shit away.

If Allen can consistently follow The Shit List, he will be far ahead of where he was last year.

In fact, I’m sure we’ll think of more “shits” as the year wears on. If you can think of your own “shits” for The Shit List, please feel free to comment below. I bet we’ll have a great many, and it will be fun!

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Oct 22 2012

An Easy Dinner Table Conversation That Jumpstarts Learning for the Whole Family

A couple years ago I gave a talk called “Parenting for Academic Success” that I gave for Diablo Valley College’s New Horizons Program.

It was the beginning of the school year (just as it is now), and these 50 parents were HUNGRY for help on how to support their 8th graders as they move through high school and into college. Given that we’re at the start of another school year, it’s worth reviewing the main point that got the most nods and “mmmmmhmmmmmms” from these eager parents.

 Learning Styles: Figure Them Out for the Whole Family

Each of us learns in a unique way. We have preferences for how we like to learn, and which learning styles are most/least effective for us.  Often, parents’ learning styles are different than their child’s, a discrepancy which often causes arguments between parents and children about how to study.

Take, for example, an experience from my own teen years about doing math homework with my dad (who is a mathematician). I always wanted to know how to do a problem; dad always wanted to tell me why the math works the way it does. This drove me crazy!! Clearly, my father and I had a different way of learning and loving math. I wanted step by step instructions; he wanted the big picture theory. (Side note: While I was telling this story at my talk, a dad in the front row burst out laughing; evidently he and his daughter have exactly the same problem!).

Dad and I muddled through our homework together okay, but it was always tension-filled (for me, at least). I wonder how it would have been different if we had a language with which to talk about our differences. It can be highly effective for families to learn about each others’ learning styles and then introduce “learning styles language” into their family conversations:

  • Take a learning style assessment all together. There are tons available online.
  • Share the results with each other. Know who in your family is more visual, more kinesthetic, more verbal, and so on.
  • Build learning styles language into family conversations. For example, at dinner talk about your day from the reference point of learning styles. Perhaps tell a story about how your boss expected you to do a project in a way that felt unnatural to you. Discuss how you advocated to get the same project done, but in a way that suited your learning style better.
  • Ask kids questions about how they learned what they learned in school that day, and note the successes that come with kids are learning in ways that are natural to them.
  • As parents, practice some learning styles that are outside your comfort zone, and encourage your kids to do the same. After all, just because we have preferences for how we learn doesn’t mean we can’t grow in other areas. And the more you’re willing to model hard work and growth, the more your student will be comfortable learning in ways that don’t always suit their preferences.

 Advocacy: Role Play How to Ask Teacher’s For Help

Once students know their learning style and understand the importance of studying according to that style, they will have an easier time getting help from their teachers and their parents. They can more easily name their learning challenge and ask their teachers and parents for exactly what they need.

Instead of “help me with my math homework,” (to use my own story as an example), a student might say, “Can you walk me through the steps for solving this problem?” or “Can you watch me do this problem, and tell me where I go wrong?”

If you know your child is having a hard time, suggest they go talk to the teacher — but FIRST make sure they are equipped with the right language that will get them what they need. Spend some time at diner role-playing the requests they might make of their teacher the next day. Make it easy and quick, but do make sure your teen practices saying things outloud.

Learning styles aren’t just visible at school or at work; they are all around us! Incorporating more discussion about learning styles into your family discussions will pay off over the long run, as kids become more and more comfortable talking about, trouble shooting, and advocating for their learning styles.

 

How do you prefer to learn? Has your method of learning every clashed with someone else’s? Let me know in the comments!

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Oct 15 2012

The Surprising yet Simple Tool that Gets Kids Organizing in Seconds

My client Jasmine is in 7th grade, has ADHD, and is an organizational disaster. Last week I asked her to organize her accordion folder by class; this week she had failed to do so. Papers were everywhere, in all kinds of disorder.

And then…I pulled out a tool that changed everything (dun dun duuuuuun!): my label maker.

Whereas before she was a happy but distracted kid totally disinterested in organizing, suddenly she was a changed child: sitting up straight, typing in all her little labels, cutting them out, putting them in all the correct slots in her file.

At one point I heard her giggle, and she passed over the label maker to me. “Can I print this one out? Pleeeeaaaaase?!” On the label were the words: “I am awesome.”

“Of course,” I responded… and soon she had a new sticker gracing the front of her planner as well.

Of course, it remains to be seen whether she actually maintains her organization system. However, we’ll tackle that next week. I’m thrilled that she actually HAS an organization system to MAINTAIN thanks to the label maker.

Have you tried a label maker in your own household? Did it drastically shift your ability to organize? I’d love to hear about it! Please comment, below.

P.S. Do you know a student who could use some help organizing? Forward them this article!

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Oct 08 2012

Learning from Taking Tests

Doing poorly on a test is not a failure: it’s a powerful learning opportunity!

Students can learn so much by taking a close look at what they did well on tests — and where they went wrong. I love Cal Newport’s three pieces of advice for how to do a “post-mortem” on a test:

“What did I do right? What note-taking and study strategies served you well on the exam? What was a waste of time? Which strategies took up time but did not help? What did I miss? Where were you caught off guard? What type of question were you not prepared for? What type of material did you miss in your review?”

This is one reason why it drives me CRAZY that so many teachers do not allow students to keep their exams! I find this is the case most often with public school teachers, who have so many students coming through their classrooms AND so much concern about eliminating the opportunity to cheat. I do feel sorry about the administrative hassle that test-taking causes. However, so many of my clients consistently do poorly on tests even though they do well on all the assignments leading up to the test. And we have no way of reviewing the tests to see what is wrong. I have to admit that when I was a teacher, I often kept kids’ tests, too, because I was concerned about them losing them … and then not being able to use them for the final exam. However, this micromanaging of kids’ organization process doesn’t help them in the least.

I strongly believe that a student’s answers are their intellectual property, and therefore belong to them.

What do you learn and take away from your tests? Leave a comment and let me know!

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