Eliminate This Distraction

A brief piece of advice:

Turn off your phone while you study or write. 

You don't realize how much it distracts you until you become uber-productive when you turn it off.

G.P.A. Benefit:
Better focus on assignments helps you get those few extra points that you might have missed because you studied that much more material!

Best wishes for the new year,

R.L.Williams

Color Code Your Stress Away

One of the best tips about preparing for school that I decided to try (which I received from a very organized and awesome sister-in-law) is color coding my classes.

G.P.A. Benefit: The less time you spend searching for the right binder, notebook, notes, or agenda item, the more time you can spend working on valuable assignments. Color-coding takes some preparation, but is worth it.

First, assign a color to each class. For example, in a previous semester, I assigned pink to an adolescent literature class, orange to a Shakespeare class, yellow to a Milton class, Green to an Educational Psychology class, and Blue to a rhetoric class.

Then, attach color tabs or other color indicators to each binder and notebook, or buy binders and notebooks in each color you choose to use.

Finally, have on hand pens and/or highlighters matching the colors you chose so you can color coordinate your assignments in agenda entries.


I wish you all the best in your organization and hope this helps!

-R.L.Williams

Audiobooks & Academic Advice on YouTube

Audiobooks

G.P.A. Benefit: The better you absorb a book,  the better you will do on quizzes and tests

For those of you who have trouble reading long texts for English homework,  audiobooks may be a good supplement.  LibriVox has many audiobooks of literary works on YouTube that are in the public domain.  Whether you are taking middle school,  high school,  or college level English classes,  head over to YouTube.com and search for the hard-to-read titles.  Sometimes hearing a book read aloud can help you develop a greater understanding of plot,  theme,  and characters.

Common Titles in Audiobook Form:

• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickins
• Paradise Lost by John Milton
• Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare
• The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

(For a large selection of free audiobooks, you can also go to the Librivox website and view their full catalog here.  According to the website, "LibriVox audiobooks are free for anyone to listen to, on their computers, iPods or other mobile device, or to burn onto a CD.")

Academic Advice

G.P.A. Benefit: The advice others give may be key to improving writing,  studying, or planning habits that will boost your performance and raise your G.P.A

There are many YouTube videos and vlogs made by people who have gone through school,  the workplace,  or just want to help others improve personal productivity.  These people generally have great advice for whatever academic or organizational problem you are facing.  If you have a question or need help with study tips or your homework,  chances are,  someone has made a video about it that can explain things in a different or better way than you had previously known.

(Note: I do not own any part of the videos below and am only using them as good examples of the way YouTube posts can address areas in which students may have academic difficulties.)
Common Topics, Addressed By YouTubers:

Thesis Statement

College Admission

Procrastination

Hope this helps!
~~~
R.L.W

Stop Procrastinating

Good Morning, Students!

I'm getting better at setting goals for myself, thanks to author Brian Tracy. If you're looking for a book that helps you with the nitty-gritty of goal-making processes, try this one out:

Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy

My favorite quote so far:

"Only about 3 percent of adults have clear, written goals. These people accomplish five and ten times as much as people of equal or better education and ability but... have never taken the time to write out exactly what they want." (page 10, Eat That Frog!)

~~~
R.L.Williams

Study Pairing Strategy

This is a great way to motivate yourself to approach that assignment that you just don't feel like doing. 

1. Identify the particular assignment you need to complete.
2. Imagine things you enjoy doing that you could pair with the dreaded assignment.
3. Set yourself up with both the thing you like to do and your assignment. Time to begin!

Here's an example that follows these directions:


First, I identify the assignment.

Then, I like to think about things that make me feel more comfortable and then pair them with my work. For example, I am currently working on a paper, but have a heated blanket that is helping me feel relaxed.

Other ideas:

• Make a cup of hot cocoa/tea/coffee and get comfortable in your favorite study spot.
• Find your favorite relaxation snack (mine would be chocolate!) and have it readily available as you work.
• Listen to music that motivates but does not distract. For me, this depends on the mood, but I have been known to use techno, folksy, or acoustic music (violin/cello) without any words. 
• Make sure the clothes you are wearing make you feel comfortable and keep you at a perfect temperature.

Finally, begin. You can do it!

~~~

R. L. Williams

Memorizing Concepts in a List

So I have my list of concepts to memorize for a quiz. The first step I take may be to memorize the list in order; know concepts based on what came before and what came after. However, to solidify the definitions outside of the context of an ordered list (quizzes may not include terms in order), there is something else I can do.

a) Look at the list. Be able to identify definitions without looking at them on paper, using the structure of the ordered list to help.

b) Create another list with the terms out of order. Try to remember definitions for each term. Check off the terms that I know easily off the top of my head, but put a star next to the terms that are harder to remember when decontextualized from their original list order.

c) Create another list, just using the terms next to which I put a star. Repeat steps one - three until I have checked off all of my terms.

This is very helpful for strict memorization. However, if I want to remember these concepts long-term, the best way to do this is to find a way to use them or link them to something that is happening in the "real world", The more I use concepts, the more familiar they will become to me.

Example:

Art Concepts - List 1 (original list of concepts)
1. Contrast - [definition]
2. Shading - [definition]
3. Aestheticism - [definition]
4. Pointillism - [definition]

Art Concepts - List 2 (out of order list of concepts)
3. Aestheticism*
1. Contrast
4. Pointillism*
2. Shading

Art Concepts - List 3 (starred concepts: Use these two terms to repeat the cycle)
Pointillism
Aestheticism

Balance and Mastery

A problem I often run into when studying is how to balance my time. Do I spend a lot of time on one thing, or a little bit of time on many things?

The problem: 

If I A) spend a lot of time on one thing: Maybe I can move towards a greater mastery of that one thing. A musician learns mastery through hours of practice. So a student can be a master if they focus on one specific thing?

If I B) spend a little bit of time on many different things: Mastery of individual things will take longer. The phrase goes, "Jack of all trades, but master of none." So then, a student might not master anything if they focus on too many little things?

Both approaches have difficulties. 

Approach A depends on the method of study. One person could learn a lot from three hours of study, whereas another could learn little and end up frustrated from having wasted so much time.

Approach B, too, depends on the method of study. While one person may not be able to master learning when they only spend a little bit of time on each subject, another person could develop strategies to work on relevant tasks that, when done in a short amount of time repeatedly over the course of a week or a month or a year, will lead to mastery.

This all goes to say that mastery of learning depends largely upon the learner and if they have acquired sufficient strategies to accomplish their goals regardless of time constraints.

*Edit: 6.29.2017 @ 11:00 am: After a little more experience and reading advice from others, something to help with both mastery and balance seems to be to start with the biggest, most valuable task, start early, make a written (pen and paper) plan that has doable increments every day, and then stick to it! Easier than trying to get everything done in a 3 hour chunk on one day, and you have more time between working to complete other necessary tasks. But this will necessitate that you learn to prioritize assignments as well as plan far in advance how you will complete everything together.

-R.L.Williams