Study Skills Seminar

What type of person are you?

• Type 1: Hear a name and remember it? Remember a sermon without an outline? Would rather give a 10 minute speech than write a 10 page paper?

• Type 2: Need to see someone’s name on a nametag to remember their name? Can picture your notes on the page in your notebook? Would you rather write a paper than give a speech? Do you use “To Do” list and check off items as you go?

• Type 3: Do you feel you learn more with school labs and fieldtrips than in the classroom? Would you rather create a collage or display board as opposed to a paper or speech?

Learning Styles

• Type 1: Auditory Learner

• Type 2: Visual Learner

• Type 3: Kinesthetic Learner

What does that mean???

Learning Styles - EARS

• Auditory learners receive information best by hearing and give answers best verbally.

• Positives:– Excellent in class discussions– Enjoy talking in general– Remember information from lectures and discussions– Think and talk simultaneously

Learning Styles - EARS

• Negatives:– Speak without thinking first– Easily interested by neighbors, noise– Can be overwhelmed by large reading and

writing assignments. – Tend to skip instructions on tests, miss details

in multiple choice questions– Tend to “read aloud” (subvocalize) in order to

process information through ears

Learning Styles – EYES

• Visual learners take in information by seeing it, reading it, and usually give answers best by writing.

• Positive: school is made for you!! – Read the words on the board– Write in your planner– Read the chapter– Write an essay– Fill in the circle, make no stray marks!!– Do not interrupt or talk to your neighbor in class.

Learning Styles - EYES

• Negatives:– Miss verbal directions or assignments– Lose track of classroom discussion– Distracted by loud, noisy environments– Become bored during lectures– Score low on “listening skills” section of tests– More difficulty learning a foreign language

Learning Styles - Kinesthetic

• Kinesthetic learners take in material best when touch, texture, and movement is presented. They give answers best when a variety of modes are allowed such as art, design, presentation, discussion, and acting.

• Positives:– Creative, global thinking, ‘out of the box’

solutions to problems.

Learning Styles - Kinesthetic

• Negatives:– One-style, visual or auditory, can be missed– Too many details can cause “brain-freeze”– Tend to be moving, active, fidgety in class– Tend to have reading difficulties, dyslexia– Tend to feel “dumb” for missing details despite having

great creativity and often high intelligence.– Require more teaching modalities for success

• http://www.brainstorming.co.uk/puzzles/ninedotsnj.html

Organizational Skills

Organizational Skills

• Brain “dominant side” concept– Left Brain – logical, orderly, step by step– Right Brain – global, “gestalt”, intuitive– Not “100%” either but tend toward one type– Notice – each side is OK – not right or wrong

Organizational Skills

• Left Brain Type– Tends to approach material step by step– Seeks to place things in linear order– Enjoys “to do” lists, checking off one after

another.– Likes math, science, law, visual order– Naturally “more organized” than others– Less comfortable with interpretive art, poetic

reading, mood and symbolism

Organizational Skills

• Right Brain Type– Approaches material more randomly– Places things in spatial, 3D view– Likes a flexible, changing “to do” format– Enjoys, language, art, literature, history– Tends to appear “disorganized”– Less comfortable with linear to do lists, math,

“showing all the steps” in homework.

Organizational Skills

• Problem: A Mismatch of skills and tasks!– School success requires the Left Brain student to

interpret and think abstractly in literature, history, philosophy, and art despite feeling bored by “vague” discussions.

– School success requires the Right Brain student to arrange papers in an orderly, consistent way, to write down “to do” items, to show all the steps in a math problem, and to maintain focus on details every day.

Organizational Skills

• Solution: • Recognize the Challenge • Customize the organizational skills to the

type of student.• Encourage the Left Brain type to “think

outside the box” – puzzles, art, practice• Encourage the Right Brain type to learn

the skills needed to be detail-oriented.

Organizational Skills - What

• Three main ways to keep papers:1. Traditional binder, with 3 hole punch, tabbed

dividers, lined paper, pockets for handouts. 2. Accordion File, with labeled tabs for

subjects, and spiral-bound notebooks for taking notes in class.

3. Folders for each subject with paper for notes, pockets for handouts, assignments.

Organizational Skills - What

• Traditional binder, with 3 hole punch, tabbed dividers, lined paper, pockets for handouts– Positive: Holds all subjects, (can have

separate binders for classes also), one thing to carry to each class

– Negative: Many students are in such a hurry that they don’t take the time to put papers in the proper places. Requires thinning, filing.

Organizational Skills - What

• The PLANNER – Assignment Book

• When– Was it assigned?– Is it due?– Will I work on this?– Will I get each step done?

Organizational Skills - Where

• A Place to Study– Quiet– Consistent – not the kitchen table– Blah surroundings – not visually distracting– Supplies available – dictionary, tools, paper,

water bottle, timer, calendar– File box or drawer with labeled folders

Time Management

• Analyze current daily schedule & activities– Wake up, get ready for school, leave house– End of school, getting home– Activities, meetings, chores– Sleep time

Time Management

– How much time is LEFT OVER for homework?

– What is your best time of day to study? – Make a schedule– Use a timer– Take short breaks (time them also!)– Reward yourself for finishing tasks

Time Management

• To Do Lists– Linear Left Brain type

• Traditional “to do” list, check off in order• Prioritize the tasks – easy, medium, difficult or

favorite, OK, least favorite.• Start off with a medium, take a break, get going on

the harder tasks, finish, then do easy tasks.

Time Management

• Global, Right-Brain Type– Write assignments or subjects on sticky notes– Arrange sticky notes on a clipboard– Estimate time required for each task– Re-arrange placement of sticky notes by preference,

ease, or time required– Remove the sticky note when task completed– Take brief, timed breaks, using timer

Time Management

• Getting Homework DONE– Be REALISTIC about how long things take– DIVIDE large tasks into smaller ones with

shorter time frames, “personal” due dates– START a task, write down your ideas, begin

the reading = ANYTHING to get started.– Now that you have started, plan out how to

finish on time.

Time Management

• Drinking from the Fire Hydrant– When there isn’t enough time to do it all– Learn to Get the Big Picture– Do the most important, costly work first– Skim and review the main ideas– Do something for each subject daily, even if

there is no assignment that day.

Study Skills - Reading

• The word “Reading” represents several types of skills– Recognizing letters and words– Processing the symbols for meaning– Connecting new information to old– Creating a mental picture of what is written– Processing ideas and concepts as one reads– Reading ACTIVELY - “critically” for meaning

Study Skills - Reading

• What is ACTIVE reading?– NOT like reading the cereal box– MORE like hunting for a certain phone

number in the phone book– EVEN MORE like re-reading a romantic note

from a friend– ACTIVE reading calls for purpose, an alert

mind, a sense of searching, and a belief that there is something to be gained by reading.

Study Skills - Reading

• Purpose– Go after each text with a purpose

• Alert Mind– Awake, sitting up, leaning forward

• Sense of searching– Search hard for information and meaning

• Belief that you will find something– Expect to learn something new and find it

Study Skills – Read the Chapter

• When the teacher says, “Read chapter 5 for tomorrow”, you should hear:– Review all the chapter headings– Review the sub-headings– Look at the pictures, read the captions– Study the diagrams, maps, tables– Write down the new vocabulary– Then, read the text!

Study Skills – Read the Chapter

• Why go to so much trouble?– You will get the overview and have places to

file the details when you come to them.– You will have reviewed the main ideas at least

four times– You will be more ready for a quiz than if you

started the first page, got sleepy on the second page, and never finished the chapter.

Study Skills - Math

• Mathematics, algebra, geometry – these subjects build step by step on previous concepts.

• If the current math material is very difficult, it may be that previous concepts or memorized facts are missing

• Success in math depends on attention to details, showing all work, and keeping up with daily assignments.

Study Skills - Math

• Help for the “Right-Brain” math student– Tell your instructor you may need extra help– Find or ask for ways to learn math concepts

with hands-on tools.– Use enough space on your papers to show all

your work easily, without having to cramp your handwriting.

– Show every step of a problem, even if it seems “silly” to do so.

Study Skills – Vocabulary

• Vocabulary is easier with words in context– The text puts words into sentences already– Memorize the whole sentence if necessary– Make up odd associations with new words

• Sounds like, reminds you of, looks like

Study Skills- Test Preparation

• DON’T ONLY STUDY THE NIGHT BEFORE*• Review as you go• Save quizzes and homework• Don’t study what you already know well• Make up study cards for difficult areas• ***Of course, review some details, but it is really

too late to learn new material. Relax, sleep enough, eat a healthy breakfast.

Study Skills – Test Taking

• Eat enough protein for breakfast• Keep up with water – ½ ounce per pound per day• Get enough sleep• Learn how to calm yourself with prayer, slow, deep

breaths, memorized Bible verses.• Bring extra pens and pencils• Expect to think clearly – you have prepared well• Keep track of time as you work through the test.

Study Skills Seminar Goals

• Identify main learning styles• Review organizational skills• Highlight Time Management basics• Target specific study skills for

– Reading, – Chapter review in any subject area, – math, – Tests: preparing and taking with success

Study Skills Resources

• Your teachers

• Guidance counselor

• Your parents

• Books – see bibliography

• Websites – see list

• Your rights – U.S. Gov Americans with Disabilities Act, section 504