How Not to Get Surprise Grades

Even though you are a good student, have you had the chance to be riding home on a school bus and dreading the moment when you’d have to hand your report card over to your mom and dad? What may have made it worse was that you saw it coming. After several low test scores and times when your professors seemed to be speaking in some secret language, you were pretty sure that your grades for the quarter would be a C, D or possibly worse.
You have the opportunity to avoid having the same experience again. Doing so is a two-step process. First, you need to become more vigilant in keeping track or your progress throughout the year. Second, you need to start a calendar with check-in points and due dates so that you know in advance. The following are some steps for doing both.
Build a Relationship with Your Teachers
You should begin by talking with the teacher a few times after class a couple of times so that the teacher gets to know you more personally. You can ask about something you didn’t understand in class and teachers always want to hear from you that you would be interested in extra credit.
· Get to know how much homework the teachers will be assigning and how much time it will usually take to completer. Then you can better budget your after-school time and know how much time you have to spend on other homework.
· When is the homework more intense? These are the times prior to major tests or days when major projects are due. Times like these should be clearly marked on your calendar so you’ll know when you will need extra time and support.
· Ask the teacher periodically about your progress to date. Many teachers will be happy to update you about your current grade so that you know whether you need to take remedial action or not.
Find Out When the Big Tests
Most public school students take at least two major tests mandated by their schools or school systems during the year. Many students tend to focus on the tests in the spring, which are increasingly used for high stakes decisions such as whether or not a student will move on to the next grade or graduate. But the tests that are given in the fall are especially important for you to find out about problem areas while there’s still plenty of time to do something about them. Even though it’s natural to look at the scores to determine how well you think you measure up, you also need to remember that the tests are diagnostic tools for revealing academic strengths and weaknesses. Understanding these strengths and weaknesses will enable you to determine what kind of tutoring and other support you may need to ensure that the fall, winter and spring are all winning seasons for high test scores and overall success.
Create the Right Space to Study In
Studying can be hard work and with the many distractions of MySpace, IM’ing, cell phones, etc. you may find the whole evening has slipped by without getting much homework done. Establishing a quiet, tidy space with good lighting for studying will help you focus on homework and greatly increase your ability to retain your subject matter. Be sure to have everything you will need in one place such as paper, pencils and pens, a dictionary, a thesaurus and a calculator readily at hand so that you don’t have to interrupt yourself to go find them. The seat should be somewhat comfortable with support for your back but not so comfortable that you are half-reclining and getting drowsy.
Reward Yourself for a Job Well Done!
While it’s critical that you are aware of any difficulties with your studies, it is also important to expect success from yourself. Everyone struggles at some point in the school days, but know that there is support out there if you need it, i.e. tutors, teachers after class, etc. When you finish a large project that you feel good about or you ace a test, do something good for yourself.
 posted by Jane    0 comments

Listening Is an Ignored Communication Skill

Many students feel that listening is merely hearing. But as many of us know, merely letting words pour into our ears is not listening. Yet, listening is the most used technique of learning.
To assist you in becoming a better listener, you should consider a set of rules called LISAN. The letters of this mnemonic device stand for the key words in five rules for successful listening:

Lead, don't follow--Anticipate what's going to be said
Ideas—Look for them
Signals--Watch for them
Active, not passive involvement
Notes--Take them and then organize them
The first letter in LISAN reminds you to LEAD instead of follow. Leading involves two steps:
Read chapter assignments before your class. If you read before you hear the lecture you will be more alert to important ideas, names and words. You will anticipate them.
Think up questions to keep yourself in the forefront . These are not questions that you ask your teacher, but ones around which you will plan your listening.
The I in LISAN tells you to look for the IMPORTANT ideas. Many professors will introduce a couple new ideas and provide explanation, examples and additional support for them. Your task is to identify the main ideas. The professor may come back to the similar couple of ideas again and again. Being aware of them beforehand will help you to "listen".
The S in LISAN reminds you to listen for the SIGNAL words. A good speaker uses signals to relay what he is going to say. Common signs that these are coming up are:
To introduce an example: "for example" "There are five reasons why...."
To signal support material: "For instance...." "Similarly...." "In contrast...." "On the other hand..."
To signal a summary or conclusion: "Therefore..." "In conclusion...." "Finally...." "As a result...."
To signal importance: "Now this is very important...." "Remember that...."
The A in LISAN reminds you to be an ACTIVE listener. Listening is not just soaking up sound. To be an effective listener, you need to be active and not passive. This can be done in a couple or ways:
Use the situation in the classroom for active listening. Sit close enough (front 1/3 of the room, near center) to see and hear the teacher as well as be seen and heard by him. Remember, the further away you are from the teacher, the greater the chance of not being able to hear everything correctly. An empty room is easy to hear sounds in, but when that room is filled with others, sound tends to get "consumed" and lost the further it is from its source. Add to that normal classroom noises, outside noises, fans and air conditioning units, heaters, etc., and the chances of hearing the entire lecture properly decreases.
Retain eye contact. The eyes can add a lot to the story. A teacher can tell whether you're "getting it" or not simply by looking at you, especially, your eyes. And, it is quite difficult to fall asleep when looking someone directly in the eyes, so your ability to concentrate should increase!
Let the teacher know you are listening. Ask and answer questions to nodding in understanding or smiling appropriately at your instructor's attempts at humor.
Ask questions for active listening.
Resist distractions. Keep reminding yourself that you are listening to someone else. Keep your brain focused and fill in what you think they mean.
Use thought speed. Your mind works much faster than the speaker can talk; some studies report that the rate of the brain is almost 4 times that of regular speech, which often explains why daydreaming during a lecture occurs so often. Anticipate and sum up what has been said. Anticipate where the instructor is going with the lecture.
Fight back against distractions. If necessary, sit apart from friends or other classmates that might distract you. Do not sit at the back of the room or near the door; hallway noises and noises from other classrooms are more common at these points.
The N is LISAN reminds you to take NOTES. In everyday conversation we mentally interpret, classify, and summarize what is said. In classroom learning, we do this more effectively by keeping written notes. Taking notes helps us to "hear" by providing organization to what we are hearing. It is quite difficult to listen to and remember unorganized and unrelated bits of information.
If you heard someone shout out "nd, tckl, grd, cntr, hlf bk, fl bk, qrtr bk" you would find it tricky to listen and remember it.
Staying organized is the key to effective listening and remembering. The above letters are the names of player positions on a football team with the vowels omitted.
Note taking is the way you find the orderliness. Good note taking means "getting" the underlying structure of what is heard, discovering the skeleton of ideas on which the professor has built his lesson.
Good note taking is 80% listening and 20% writing, so don't ever worry about your penmanship or writing getting in the way of listening.

 posted by Jane    0 comments

Does Your Teen Know About the USA?

Q: I read an editorial in The Orange County Register last Sunday about how local students are not learning even the basics about our culture. I thought the article was an exaggeration until I asked my daughter some of the questions in the article. She didn't have a clue what many of the answers were! Melissa is a senior in high school with almost a 4.0 grade point average. How is it possible for her to get such good grades and not know information that I just assumed even an average student would learn?

A: Judging from the number of emails I received in response to Professor Richard Nehrbass' commentary (“America as it aint,” The Orange County Register, December 19) you are not alone in your shock and concern. For those who missed the commentary, Professor Nehrbass gave his students at Cal State Dominguez Hills a general knowledge quiz.

Students demonstrated an alarming dearth of knowledge about American and world history, basic math, current events, and the humanities. Most of his students could not identify the United States' opponents in the “Korean” or “Vietnam” wars. Only two percent of the students knew what the Magna Charta was. Half of those quizzed thought that Gerald Ford was the inventor of the automobile. One student humbly admitted that she was “embarrassed” about her Black Hole of knowledge.

Professor Nehrbass is quick to point out that he does not place blame upon the students, many of whom he considers to be “quite brilliant.” Instead, he believes it is “past time for our nation's schoolteachers to take responsibility for what goes on in their classrooms.” It is the professor's contention that the embarrassment expressed by his student is more aptly felt by a failed system that allows teachers to dole out exceptional grades for mediocre performance.

Whether or not the professor is correct in his assignment of responsibility, it seems unmistakable that parents should be experiencing a similar twinge of embarrassment. Steve's question reveals that all too often, parents are lulled into contentment with our teens' good grades and solid SAT scores without inquiring about the quality and depth of their knowledge. An “A” in English does not guarantee that your son or daughter can write a coherent essay or for that matter a standard business letter. With college admission requirements increasingly stringent, it is a bit too easy to barter away our teens' knowledge for grades.

Certainly, many of our teens are exceptional, dedicated students who will accomplish great things. Their fertile minds deserve nurturing and their hard work should be praised. But, other teens have obtained only superficial success. This is every bit as much parental failure as student or system failure.
If you have failed to prepare your teen educationally, overcome the embarrassment and get to work. There still is time.
Dr. Paul Fick, South County Psychotherapy
 posted by Jane    0 comments

Learning Disabilities and Early Intervention

According to Arlene Eisenberg, Heidi E. Murkoff and Sandee E. Hathaway, B.S.N., the authors of What to Expect the Toddler Years, the rate of language development can vary greatly from toddler to toddler. Some speak as early as eight months, some as late as two years. Studies have shown that earlier speech is not an indicator of higher intelligence. In fact, toddlers who begin talking later in life may have an easier time with larger words, phrases, and sentences, due to their greater physical development, since much of speech progression is due to control of the muscles in the mouth and throat.
Later language development isn't necessarily a cause for alarm. Some toddlers simply display a greater interest in another aspect of their development-such as their physical abilities-which doesn't leave them with much time or energy for other pursuits. However, if your toddler doesn't seem to understand or respond to your speech, you might want to talk to his or her pediatrician about your concerns. The pediatrician will probably suggest getting your child's hearing tested. Once that has been ruled out, your toddler may be sent to meet with a speech pathologist. If there's a problem, your child will begin speech therapy. The sooner a learning disability is identified, the better, since it can be dealt with effectively and have less of an impact on your toddler's self-esteem.
In the meantime, there are lots of things that you can do as a parent to facilitate your child's language development. Some simple things that you can easily incorporate into your everyday life include:
1. Talking to your child. This may sound obvious, but it's something that's rather easy to forget to do, especially if your child hasn't started speaking yet. It may take some time for you to not feel silly when you're doing this, but it will definitely be worth it in the long run. Talk to your toddler about everything-what you're doing, what he or she is doing, where the two of you are going, etc.-using simple language and clear pronunciation. Keep a running commentary going and your child is sure to pick up on the words you use most often and eventually, their meanings as well.
2. Reading to your child. Regularly reading out loud to your toddler is extremely valuable to helping develop his or her language skills. Even if your child doesn't sit down and listen, keep on reading. Using different voices for each character and sound effects to illustrate actions may help to maintain your toddler's interest. You might also want to try giving your child a toy to play with or book of their own to flip through while you read to them. Once they get used to being read to, they may develop favorites. While it may not exactly be exciting for you to read the same story again and again, the repetition will help your toddler to build their vocabulary over time.
3. Singing to your child. Once again, you may have to work on your level of embarrassment, but you really shouldn't worry too much. Children usually respond with great interest to music, and they're not too particular about whether the person singing to them has perfect pitch or not. Nursery rhyme songs with accompanying hand motions-such as "The Incy Wincy Spider" and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"-have the added plus of being interactive. These additional memory cues will help to encourage your toddler's language skills.
 posted by Jane    0 comments

Knowing Participles from Prepositions--The Case for Hiring a Grammar Tutor

The study of grammar has suffered an unfortunate decline in recent years. As schools become more focused on preparing students for standardized tests, traditional grammar studies have taken a back seat to other subjects such as mathematics, vocabulary, problem solving and reasoning skills, etc. While these are all very valuable things to know, there is still something to be said for studying the grammar of the English language. This has become particularly important in recent years as text messages, instant messaging, and email communication have resulted in a sub culture of American youths that seems to pride itself on its complete disregard for the grammatical subtleties of the language. The loss of grammatical knowledge is not typically noticed until the college years when the student, upon entering his or her first writing intensive English course, may be shocked and dismayed to learn that, at the college level, a fundamental understanding of grammar is assumed and even relatively minor grammatical errors are punished mercilessly. To help your child avoid falling into the trap of poor grammar it may be a good idea to consider hiring the services of a grammar tutor.

A grammar tutor can help your child overcome the holes in his education that may be left by the test focused public school system. Grammar is still fairly well covered in primary school so, typically, a grammar tutor will be most useful for students in high school where the English courses have typically left grammar long behind, particularly in honors or AP literature courses. A grammar tutor can help your child explore the more subtle aspects of English grammar while learning to apply the principles of grammar to reading, writing, and comprehension. A good grammar tutor can ensure that your child does not forget the grammar that he or she has already learned and will help to ingrain the principles so that they become second nature.

A good grammar tutor is typically either a retired English teacher or substitute, or a currently
working teacher who would like to supplant his or her income by working as a grammar tutor. Since grammar is not something that is used directly, rather it is something that is applied on a daily basis when writing and communicating, it is unlikely that you will be able to find many competent grammar tutors who are not current or recent grammar teachers. College students may occasionally be acceptable grammar tutors, but this is becoming less like as formalized grammar is rarely taught at the university level.
A grammar tutor can really help your child start college with a leg up. A good grammar tutor will make up for some of deficiencies that are present in the public educational system which does not stress grammar in the way that it once did.
 posted by Jane    0 comments

The Shape of Things--The Skills Required to be a Great Geometry Tutor

A geometry tutor has a particularly difficult job. While algebra is often said to be the first
truly abstract mathematical discipline that most students encounter, geometry (which is usually taught the year after algebra is taught) requires that the student begin learning to apply the
relatively abstract concepts learned in algebra to real life problems involving shapes and volumes. Geometry is a very applied mathematical science and, as such, any college or university program in the natural sciences or engineering will require students to be well versed in geometry as well as its more advanced cousin, trigonometry.

The effective geometry tutor must be able to help the math student bridge the chasm between the abstract and the concrete. Geometry in many ways is a precursor of trigonometry and calculus in that it requires students to think both in the abstract as well as the concrete. The effective geometry tutor must also deal with the fact that students who are studying geometry must use formulae that they are not yet able to derive (most of the formulae used in geometry can only be derived using calculus). This means that geometry requires much more memorization than any other mathematical discipline, with the possible exception of trigonometry. A fundamental part of learning geometry is committing to memory the formulae for calculating the area of shapes (square, rectangles, triangles, rhombuses, etc.) as well as the volume of certain solids (spheres, cones, cubes, etc.). Whereas a calculus student could calculate these values on the fly by applying the principles of integration, the average geometry student has not yet been exposed to calculus and must commit to memory the formulae for all of the shapes and solids.

A good idea for the geometry tutor is to use flash cards and mnemonics to help the students retain the many formulae that they must memorize. Another helpful tip for the geometry tutor is to make sure that they are familiar with the many geometrical proofs that the student will have to learn. Geometrical proofs are a fundamental component of geography, and the geography teacher should make sure that his or her student has a firm grasp of this important part of the study of geometry.

Geometry is a notoriously difficult subject for some students to learn since it combines the
concrete and the abstract. It is also very difficult because there is more memorization involved in geometry than in perhaps any other mathematical subject. A good geometry tutor will help the student overcome both of these difficulties by focusing on both the concepts as well as the formulae of geometry. As far as the calculating goes, geometry is no more difficult than algebra. The hard part for the geometry tutor is teaching the student how to learn exactly what should be calculated.
 posted by Jane    0 comments

Aim High Tutoring--The Best Resource for Those Seeking South Orange County Tutors

Finding a tutor for your child can be a long and frustrating process. The process is particularly
difficult for parents whose child is in high school and attempting to improve his or her grades and test scores in order to obtain college scholarships. For these students, the clock is ticking and the checking of references, the verification of employment, and all of the other details that go with hiring South Orange County tutors can waste valuable time that could be much better spent. Fortunately, parents in the South Orange County area are in luck. One of the best tutoring services in the county, AimHigh Tutors (http://www.aimhightutors.com), is dedicated to finding the best possible tutors for its clients.
Perhaps the most time consuming and annoying part of finding South Orange County tutors is the act of verifying employment and checking references. This is an essential step and one that cannot be neglected, however, since the tutor you choose must be able to deliver all that they have promised. Aim High Tutors helps parents in this regard by verifying all references and employment history prior to assigning any tutors. Therefore, you can be certain that all South Orange County tutors working for Aim High Tutors has been thoroughly verified and background checked. This removes a huge burden from the parents and allows them to focus on finding the perfect tutor for their child without having to worry about whether or not he or she has the skills and experience that was listed on the resume. This is perhaps the most important reason why someone would choose to use South Orange County tutor service instead of hiring a tutor directly. The freedom and sheer times saving that comes from interviewing only pre-verified tutors can not be overstated.
Another great reason for choosing a tutoring service such as Aim High tutors when seeking South Orange County tutors for your child is the fact that such services do their best to match the needs of the student with the skills of the tutor. The sign up process for the student is almost as rigorous as the hiring process for the tutor. This is done so that the professionals at Aim High can have enough information on both the students and the tutors to do a thorough job of matching students and tutors in the beginning. When a match is found, then the parents, student, and tutor are introduced to one another. The parents can decide after this introduction whether or not the tutor will be able to meet their needs. By doing the pre-certification step, Aim High reduces the work and time that must be invested by the parents in seeking the best South Orange County tutors for their child.
 posted by Jane    0 comments