1. TRCS Parent Presentation
STUDY SKILLS AND ORGANIZATION
April 4, 2012

2. How to be a student Get and stay organized Manage your space
Manage your materials
Manage your time
Use reading strategies
Ask questions and take notes
Ask for help when needed
Do what works for you

3. How to be a parent organizer
Be prepared to be hands-on. Sometimes we as parents feel like when our kids get to a certain age they should be able to take care of things by themselves, but older students may still need to see that behavior modeled for them—what does it look like to create files, to clean out a backpack properly, to write down a homework assignment?

4. Q: When will my child do this by him/herself?A:
It depends!
Philosopher Quentin Smith looking for his desk in his faculty office

5. How to be a parent organizer
Ask for help! This is what we tell our children when they are having trouble, and it applies to us as well. Talk to your child’s teacher or to school support staff to get ideas and a sense of what is and isn’t working for your child. Use the resources available at school and online.

6. How to be a parent organizer
Try to stay focused on the positive, and work as a team. Avoid blame and judgment.
Maintain high expectations, and give your child the chance to explain his or her perspective on why he or she is struggling.
Let your child tell you what he or she needs to achieve success in school.

7. “Standing on the shoulders of giants”
Bernard of Chartes (12th century AD) said that scholars are like “dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants”

8. “Whatever works for you, works.”
Study with music or without?
Use a paper or electronic planner?
Highlight or underline?
One binder or several?
Do homework earlier or later?
Get help from peers or teachers?
Use post-its or take notes in a notebook?
Use a graphic organizer, or just write?
Flexibility is Key!

9. GETTING ORGANIZED What space do I have?
Space at school: How are students expected to use their storage space at school--if they have a desk, does the teacher require a particular storage method? If they have a locker, how often can they access it?
Space at home: Not every student will need a completely quiet workplace, but a table or desk space away from TV/conversation is vital for most students. There also needs to be a place near the working space where papers can be neatly filed or stacked. Even if your student is a “piler” and not a “filer,” a space can be kept neat with document boxes or stacking drawers and/or trays.
Allow students to give some input about how their belongings should be sorted, at home and at school. Perennially disorganized students may not be able to find things because their locker/bookbag/notebooks don’t make sense to them.

10. GETTING ORGANIZED What time do I have?
Schedule at school--make lots of copies! One small one for inside the planner, one for inside the locker, one on the desk at home, one for the parent.
Establish a routine that goes with the schedule for each day: what books/notebooks do I need in the morning? What do I need in the afternoon? What do I have to take home with me? Write these questions down on each copy of the schedule.
Schedule at home—block out homework/study time in the planner. Give the student input: is relaxation time required first, or will that just help him/her procrastinate? Try to keep the homework time as consistent as possible.
Backwards planning: for classes where teachers give assignments well in advance, break up larger assignments into smaller pieces—X pages will be finished by this time this week, Y will be finished next week, and so on…

11. GETTING ORGANIZED Where’s my stuff?
At bare minimum, a student needs a folder for handouts and a folder for homework. For very young students, this will probably just be one or two folders. For students in middle school and up, there may need to be a folder for each class—HOWEVER, some students may have difficulty with this, and might need a larger, accordion-style folder where all handouts and assignments are kept.
Some students keep one of those binder-sized three-hole punches and punch holes in everything, so that they can put it right in the binder.
Consider color-coding! Blue for English, green for social studies, red for math (or whatever works for you!). All binders, notebooks, book covers for that subject should be in the same color, and you can put that color on the student’s schedule, so that they know to grab those books from the locker.
Clean backpacks weekly. Use a keep/toss/file methodology.

12. Study? What’s that? Many students don’t know how to study.
Studying: not just for tests!
If I can’t write in the book, how do I take notes?
Flash cards work
Study buddies
Asking for help

13. Reading strategies Read and re-read Webs (categorizing) Context clues
Finding a topic sentence or the main idea
Headings, font style, captions, capitalization (skimming)
“This reminds me of...” (making connections)

14. Taking (and using) notes
For books that can't be written in, small sticky notes are helpful.
You're not writing EVERYTHING down.
If the teacher writes something on the board, write it down!
Use one side of the page in notebooks.
Use at least 5 minutes of HW time reviewing notes.
Ten minutes of HW per grade

15. Using Index Cards
Write down questions on one side, answers on the other (or vocabulary on one side, definition on the other).
Working with a partner can be helpful.
Drawing a diagram can help you remember.
Sorting cards by topic can help form connections.

16. Asking for help
Work with your child and his/her teacher to create a plan for strategies to employ when he or she lacks understanding or feels overwhelmed.
For students who are nervous to ask questions, role-play can be helpful.
Taking responsibility for one's own learning is powerful. Praise your child for being proactive.

17. Resources
Internet:
Books:
The Organized Student: Teaching Children the Skills for Success in School and Beyond by Donna Goldberg and Jennifer Zweibel
Learning to Learn: Strengthening Study Skills and Brainpower by Gloria Frender

18. This presentation can be found at: Lizteach.wikispaces.com/
(click on) Organization and Study Skills for Parents