In years 7 & 8 it is wise for students to begin to learn how to prepare for study plus develop strong study habits and skills.
Preparation is simply what you do so you can get on with the task.
Effectively our habits are our fast unconscious thinking, what we have trained our brain to do. Habits are formed by repeated practice of an action. Habits are what we do automatically and as a consequence are what create our life as we experience it. We develop habits whether we consciously choose to do so or not. The advantage of making conscious choices on our daily actions, to form habits, is we are creating our destiny as we want it. See quote under 'What of Learning'.
Skills are practical actions we learn to enable us to achieve a goal.
Study preparation is done before each study session.
1) Ensure you have a 'Study Space'. It is important this is somewhere you are not going to be disrupted or distracted. That means turn the phone, social media and similar off. If necessary go to the local library.
2) Ensure you have your 'Study Tools'. That is pens, pencils, paper, text books, access to research sources, what ever you need to do your personal study. Read your assignments to see what you will need to complete it. This will mean you will be able to sit down and get into it.
Now for your Regular Study Sessions: to develop good Study Habits begin by putting aside half to one hour each evening for study. This is five nights a week. You pick the nights while Monday to Friday is perfect, read on to find out why.
What to do in this time!
1) The first habit to get into is to review what you covered each day. Do this every night of school. Just read over and check you understand what you covered. Jot down any aspects that you are unsure of to ask the teacher next time you see them. WRITE the questions down in your work book. If you do not do this you are likely to forget and as a consequence fail to gain the valuable clarification. This habit is very important for reinforcing your memory. It is natural for us to forget a portion of what we covered each day. Most of it is quite soon after we cover it. However research has shown that if we revise the knowledge soon after we reinforce it and thus retain more.
REVIEWING EVERY NIGHT is a easy and key skill to improve your results significantly.
2) If you have any work sheets or other home work get it started or done in this time. I do not recommend you spend much more than an hour a night at this stage on a routine bases. Learning to balance your life demands is also important and this is one of the Skills we will cover, for year 7 & 8, as well. Naturally if you have a 'project' or other large task you will need to allocate time for this as well. That is in addition to this nightly routine.
3) Study duration. It may at first be difficult to sit and study for a period of time like this. So some tips to develop and build your ability to sit and study are: Set yourself a specific time start with say 10 minutes. Set a timer and make yourself study until the alarm goes. Then have a 2 minute break, to stretch and tell yourself how well you have done. Do this three times and you have achieved your half hour! Well done. After a while make it 15 minute, then 20 and then 25. At this stage if you can do a solid 25 minutes with a short break and then at least sometimes a second 25 minutes (achieved a whole hour of study) each night you are doing very well. Congratulate yourself every night for your task well done. You are building an excellent study habit and it will set you up for great success not just for school but your whole life. No I aren't being melodramatic.
Note some people will get everything done in less time. If you are one of them consider more in-depth study. Others may need more time to get everything done. If you find you are regularly not achieving your set tasks, in this time frame, it may be time to chat with a teacher for extra assistance. Or you may be at a school that has a higher homework expectation, in which case it is good to have that clarified as well.
Study Skills to Develop in years 7 & 8. Well developed skills can become habits or can be used on the occasions they are required. All three of these skills are best developed into habits.
1) The skill of Energy Management.
2) The skill of Setting and Achieving a Study Goal. (Planning)
3) The skill of Self Assessment.
Via Inventory and criteria.
Copyright Dr Janelle Sheen 2014