STRATEGIES
FOR LEARNING*
There
are things you can learn that are guaranteed to improve your grades in every subject…
guaranteed. Interested to know more?... Read on!
-
Some of these tips may already be a part of your routine. If not, using them will
improve your learning and understanding… and the results you obtain on
assignments and tests. These are the basic, daily skills you must learn to be
more successful in school… Remember
-
The capacity to learn is a gift, the ability to learn is a skill and the willingness
to learn is a choice!
Get
organized
Being
neat and organized will pay off in the long run. If you can’t find what
you need or are constantly losing your homework and assignments, you’ll
aggravate your teachers, (which certainly don’t help the situation) and
also lose credit on the work because it’s late or missing (an avoidable
disaster)!
Being
messy and disorganized is curable, and the cure begins when you accept the need
to not put off for later what you should do now. By the time you are in your teens
you are ready to act in this way if you choose to do so.
-
The first part of getting organized is to put all of the notes from each subject
into its own, clearly marked folder. (Keep some spares so you can transfer the
overflow when they get full… or at the end of each term (Don’t throw
out the things you will need for mid–year and final exam review).
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Keep your notes in order from the most recent to the past, Face them all upright
in the folder and don’t fold them so you can see what they contain.
- Never mix notes or homework from one class into the folder for another class...
this is how you lose credit for things even after you have done the work!
- Also keep your locker neat. The only school things you should see when you open
the door is your folders and books. Loose papers should be filed, or thrown out
so you can find what you need without hunting through junk.
All
homework should be attempted.
-
Notice the word 'attempt'. Trying to do a homework assignment better than not
trying it at all because you learn, even from your mistakes! No one ever succeeded
at anything by giving up the first time out!
- Most learning happens when
you attempt to answer questions, not while you are listening to the teacher. Practice
is necessary to learn things ... and there is never enough class time…
that’s why there is homework.
- Doing most of the homework, or doing
it most of the time, is not good enough.
- If you want your grades to improve,
you must attempt it all, every day!
Write
or print neatly
Messy
writing forces your teachers to read slowly and carefully so they can figure out
what you are trying to say…
-
this helps them to find every single spelling and grammar mistake you made!
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By being more careful, you will make fewer mistakes and your teachers will be
more generous in grading. Teachers always prefer an assignment that looks good
and doesn’t force them to work so hard to figure it out!
Learn
to spell
In
high school, spelling counts in all classes in all classes, not just English.
Poor Spelling is a way to lose credit even if you understand what you are writing
down!
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There is no such thing as a poor speller ... only a lazy person who could spell
better!
- Go to 'How to Become a Better Speller' for more information about
how to fix this problem.
Taking
good notes
A
complete set of notes, along with a set of corrected quizzes and assignments,
will make it much easier for you to be ready for tests. By using them You know
all the things that could be on the test and you will have actual questions and
correct answers to read and review. For special instructions on the general art
of note taking click here.
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Use the back of your notebooks to write diown what you have learned, and what
you've had problems with. This is especially helpful for subjects like Math or
Science, but it applies as well to other areas.
- All your homework questions,
after they've been taken up in class or marked and returned, should be corrected.
Make notes beside the ones you got wrong! These are the questions you will need
to look at, and try again, when studying for a test.
- In the back of each
of notebook keep a record of topics, or specific problems you've had difficulty
with. This will give you some things to concentrate on when studying, and will
be useful when you talk with your teacher.
Talking
to your teacher
You
should talk with you teacher often. Not only does it show that you are interested
(which is sure to make your teacher happy), but it also lets you to clear up the
things you don’t understand right away.
-
Don't wait until the end of the term to ask for help, by then it will be too late
to catch up.
- What you don't know may affect your progress in others areas
later, especially in Math and languages, where what you're learning today requires
you to understand perfectly something you did last month!
Have
a regular place and time to study
-
Do your homework at a certain time and at the same place every day… this
habit is important.
- Make sure the place is quiet and has good light.
- Don't listen to music ... playing music while studying will make it harder for
you to learn things and remember them (classical music is an exception, it seems
to help!)
- Keep all the materials in your study space so you find them when
needed.
- Make a regular homework schedule, and stick to it. Do the same when
studying for tests or exams.
Do
homework even when you don't have anything assigned.
-
When you have no homework in a subject, you should still go over the notes and
examples you did in class that day.
- Rewrite any notes that aren't completely
organized and neat.
Write out question to ask your teacher the next day.
Don't
confuse 'cool' with 'lazy'
Quite
often, the people in high school with the reputation of being 'cool' may not be
getting very good grades. This may be because they are always doing 'cool' things
in the evening, or on weekends, and don't do much homework.
-
In order to be better liked, and considered 'cool' yourself, you may want to be
around them more. This is why teenagers sometimes get into trouble. It's also
why high-school students who could get better grades, don't.
- Try to remember
this: the person you thought was 'cool' will still be spinning his tires on Main
Street 15 years from now. If you want a shot at becoming the person of your dreams
or just want to attend college, you have to do homework and study! There are no
short-cuts!
- The main reason people do poorly in high school is that they
don't do much homework, or don't study effectively for exams. For the month preceding
exam week, you should have little or no social life because you're too busy studying!
Like it or not, this is the difference between success and failure.
- Some
students never learn this, until they flunk out of college in their first year,
after wasting thousands of dollars!!
Study
with others
-
The best way to learn something is to explain it to someone else. Teaching someone
else requires you to put things in your own words and understand the idea in a
way that is clear.
- By studying with a friend, you can make up questions
for each other and explain them to each other. The more you talk and write about
something, the better you'll understand it. Your teachers know this ... it's one
of the reasons why they ask you so many questions in class!
Don't
use a calculator for basic computations
-
Do as much as you can in your head.
- By grade 9, you should be able to:
multiply numbers up to 12 x 12, add, subtract, multiply, and divide whole numbers,
do simple powers like 26 , and do simple square roots all in your head.
Don't
miss class
In
math and science classes, this is especially important! Obviously, if you are
absent your grades will suffer, because nothing can fully replace the class time
where you could ask questions, and practice problems with your teachers help.
*
Adapted from the Learning Strategies of the Worsley School, Alberta, Canada
http://www.worsleyschool.net/students/learnstrat/learnstrat.html
The capacity to learn is a gift
The ability to learn
is a skill
The willingness to learn is a choice
Choose Wisely
