Study Skills Seminar
What type of person are you?
• Type 1:
Hear a name and remember it? Remember a sermon
without an outline? Would rather give a 10 minute speech than write
a 10 page paper?
• Type 2:
Need to see someone’s name on a nametag to
remember their name? Can picture your notes on the page in your
notebook? Would you rather write a paper than give a speech? Do
you use “To Do” list and check off items as you go?
• Type 3:
Do you feel you learn more with school labs and
fieldtrips than in the classroom? Would you rather create a collage
or display board as opposed to a paper or speech?
Learning Styles
• Type 1: Auditory Learner
• Type 2: Visual Learner
• Type 3: Kinesthetic Learner
What does that mean???
Learning Styles - EARS
• Auditory learners receive information best by
hearing and give answers best verbally.
• Positives:
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Excellent in class discussions
Enjoy talking in general
Remember information from lectures and discussions
Think and talk simultaneously
Learning Styles - EARS
• Negatives:
– Speak without thinking first
– Easily interested by neighbors, noise
– Can be overwhelmed by large reading and
writing assignments.
– Tend to skip instructions on tests, miss details
in multiple choice questions
– Tend to “read aloud” (subvocalize) in order to
process information through ears
Learning Styles – EYES
• Visual learners take in information by seeing it,
reading it, and usually give answers best by
writing.
• Positive: school is made for you!!
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Read the words on the board
Write in your planner
Read the chapter
Write an essay
Fill in the circle, make no stray marks!!
Do not interrupt or talk to your neighbor in class.
Learning Styles - EYES
• Negatives:
– Miss verbal directions or assignments
– Lose track of classroom discussion
– Distracted by loud, noisy environments
– Become bored during lectures
– Score low on “listening skills” section of tests
– More difficulty learning a foreign language
Learning Styles - Kinesthetic
• Kinesthetic learners take in material best
when touch, texture, and movement is
presented. They give answers best when
a variety of modes are allowed such as
art, design, presentation, discussion, and
acting.
• Positives:
– Creative, global thinking, ‘out of the box’
solutions to problems.
Learning Styles - Kinesthetic
• Negatives:
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One-style, visual or auditory, can be missed
Too many details can cause “brain-freeze”
Tend to be moving, active, fidgety in class
Tend to have reading difficulties, dyslexia
Tend to feel “dumb” for missing details despite having
great creativity and often high intelligence.
– Require more teaching modalities for success
• http://www.brainstorming.co.uk/puzzles/nin
edotsnj.html
Organizational Skills
Organizational Skills
• Brain “dominant side” concept
– Left Brain – logical, orderly, step by step
– Right Brain – global, “gestalt”, intuitive
– Not “100%” either but tend toward one type
– Notice – each side is OK – not right or wrong
Organizational Skills
• Left Brain Type
– Tends to approach material step by step
– Seeks to place things in linear order
– Enjoys “to do” lists, checking off one after
another.
– Likes math, science, law, visual order
– Naturally “more organized” than others
– Less comfortable with interpretive art, poetic
reading, mood and symbolism
Organizational Skills
• Right Brain Type
– Approaches material more randomly
– Places things in spatial, 3D view
– Likes a flexible, changing “to do” format
– Enjoys, language, art, literature, history
– Tends to appear “disorganized”
– Less comfortable with linear to do lists, math,
“showing all the steps” in homework.
Organizational Skills
• Problem: A Mismatch of skills and tasks!
– School success requires the Left Brain student to
interpret and think abstractly in literature, history,
philosophy, and art despite feeling bored by “vague”
discussions.
– School success requires the Right Brain student to
arrange papers in an orderly, consistent way, to write
down “to do” items, to show all the steps in a math
problem, and to maintain focus on details every day.
Organizational Skills
• Solution:
• Recognize the Challenge
• Customize the organizational skills to the
type of student.
• Encourage the Left Brain type to “think
outside the box” – puzzles, art, practice
• Encourage the Right Brain type to learn
the skills needed to be detail-oriented.
Organizational Skills - What
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Three main ways to keep papers:
1. Traditional binder, with 3 hole punch, tabbed
dividers, lined paper, pockets for handouts.
2. Accordion File, with labeled tabs for
subjects, and spiral-bound notebooks for
taking notes in class.
3. Folders for each subject with paper for
notes, pockets for handouts, assignments.
Organizational Skills - What
• Traditional binder, with 3 hole punch,
tabbed dividers, lined paper, pockets for
handouts
– Positive: Holds all subjects, (can have
separate binders for classes also), one thing
to carry to each class
– Negative: Many students are in such a hurry
that they don’t take the time to put papers in
the proper places. Requires thinning, filing.
Organizational Skills - What
• The PLANNER – Assignment Book
• When
– Was it assigned?
– Is it due?
– Will I work on this?
– Will I get each step done?
Organizational Skills - Where
• A Place to Study
– Quiet
– Consistent – not the kitchen table
– Blah surroundings – not visually distracting
– Supplies available – dictionary, tools, paper,
water bottle, timer, calendar
– File box or drawer with labeled folders
Time Management
• Analyze current daily schedule & activities
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Wake up, get ready for school, leave house
End of school, getting home
Activities, meetings, chores
Sleep time
Time Management
– How much time is LEFT OVER for
homework?
– What is your best time of day to study?
– Make a schedule
– Use a timer
– Take short breaks (time them also!)
– Reward yourself for finishing tasks
Time Management
• To Do Lists
– Linear Left Brain type
• Traditional “to do” list, check off in order
• Prioritize the tasks – easy, medium, difficult or
favorite, OK, least favorite.
• Start off with a medium, take a break, get going on
the harder tasks, finish, then do easy tasks.
Time Management
• Global, Right-Brain Type
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Write assignments or subjects on sticky notes
Arrange sticky notes on a clipboard
Estimate time required for each task
Re-arrange placement of sticky notes by preference,
ease, or time required
– Remove the sticky note when task completed
– Take brief, timed breaks, using timer
Time Management
• Getting Homework DONE
– Be REALISTIC about how long things take
– DIVIDE large tasks into smaller ones with
shorter time frames, “personal” due dates
– START a task, write down your ideas, begin
the reading = ANYTHING to get started.
– Now that you have started, plan out how to
finish on time.
Time Management
• Drinking from the Fire Hydrant
– When there isn’t enough time to do it all
– Learn to Get the Big Picture
– Do the most important, costly work first
– Skim and review the main ideas
– Do something for each subject daily, even if
there is no assignment that day.
Study Skills - Reading
• The word “Reading” represents several
types of skills
– Recognizing letters and words
– Processing the symbols for meaning
– Connecting new information to old
– Creating a mental picture of what is written
– Processing ideas and concepts as one reads
– Reading ACTIVELY - “critically” for meaning
Study Skills - Reading
• What is ACTIVE reading?
– NOT like reading the cereal box
– MORE like hunting for a certain phone
number in the phone book
– EVEN MORE like re-reading a romantic note
from a friend
– ACTIVE reading calls for purpose, an alert
mind, a sense of searching, and a belief that
there is something to be gained by reading.
Study Skills - Reading
• Purpose
– Go after each text with a purpose
• Alert Mind
– Awake, sitting up, leaning forward
• Sense of searching
– Search hard for information and meaning
• Belief that you will find something
– Expect to learn something new and find it
Study Skills – Read the Chapter
• When the teacher says, “Read chapter 5
for tomorrow”, you should hear:
– Review all the chapter headings
– Review the sub-headings
– Look at the pictures, read the captions
– Study the diagrams, maps, tables
– Write down the new vocabulary
– Then, read the text!
Study Skills – Read the Chapter
• Why go to so much trouble?
– You will get the overview and have places to
file the details when you come to them.
– You will have reviewed the main ideas at least
four times
– You will be more ready for a quiz than if you
started the first page, got sleepy on the
second page, and never finished the chapter.
Study Skills - Math
• Mathematics, algebra, geometry – these
subjects build step by step on previous
concepts.
• If the current math material is very difficult, it
may be that previous concepts or memorized
facts are missing
• Success in math depends on attention to details,
showing all work, and keeping up with daily
assignments.
Study Skills - Math
• Help for the “Right-Brain” math student
– Tell your instructor you may need extra help
– Find or ask for ways to learn math concepts
with hands-on tools.
– Use enough space on your papers to show all
your work easily, without having to cramp your
handwriting.
– Show every step of a problem, even if it
seems “silly” to do so.
Study Skills – Vocabulary
• Vocabulary is easier with words in context
– The text puts words into sentences already
– Memorize the whole sentence if necessary
– Make up odd associations with new words
• Sounds like, reminds you of, looks like
Study Skills- Test Preparation
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DON’T ONLY STUDY THE NIGHT BEFORE*
Review as you go
Save quizzes and homework
Don’t study what you already know well
Make up study cards for difficult areas
***Of course, review some details, but it is really
too late to learn new material. Relax, sleep
enough, eat a healthy breakfast.
Study Skills – Test Taking
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Eat enough protein for breakfast
Keep up with water – ½ ounce per pound per day
Get enough sleep
Learn how to calm yourself with prayer, slow, deep
breaths, memorized Bible verses.
• Bring extra pens and pencils
• Expect to think clearly – you have prepared well
• Keep track of time as you work through the test.
Study Skills Seminar Goals
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Identify main learning styles
Review organizational skills
Highlight Time Management basics
Target specific study skills for
– Reading,
– Chapter review in any subject area,
– math,
– Tests: preparing and taking with success
Study Skills Resources
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Your teachers
Guidance counselor
Your parents
Books – see bibliography
Websites – see list
Your rights – U.S. Gov Americans with
Disabilities Act, section 504