Return to School – Tip # 5

Tip # 5? Where is Tip # 4?  Tip # 4 is on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/#!/assistSME.  It was, quite simply, clean your room.  A cluttered working space = a cluttered mind.  You need a clean and organised study space.

Tip # 5

Create a word bank for yourself for each of your subjects.  For instance, if number stories are something you want to improve on in maths, create a word bank for number stories.

1. Draw vertical columns on a piece of A4 paper.

2. Give each column a heading.  For instance, if your word bank is for number stories you would have headings “addition”, “subtraction”, “division”, “multiplication”.

3.  In each column start writing words or phrases that a synonomous with the heading word.  For example, in your addition column you would have words/phrases, such as “plus”, “altogether”, “sum”, “total” and in your subtraction column you would have “how many more”, “how much more”, “how many left” and so on.

4. Stick this in your book for that subject.  You may even with to put a coloured sticker on it that matches your colour system from Tip # 1.

5. Use your word banks whenever you are doing work in that subject.  You could have word banks to build on your vocabulary for persuasive texts, narratives and essays, for improving your knowledge of scientific language, for maths, history and other subjects.

You may wish to add visual cues such as pictures or colour to your words to help you remember the words.

The year that you are in at school will determine the vocabulary you would use.  Eventually, you won’t need to rely on the word bank anymore.

Return to School – Tip # 3

Have you heard of the Pomodoro Technique?

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method created by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980s. It is one of the best methods for study that I have seen.

You can find out more by visiting http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/get-started/.

You will need a kitchen timer or Pomodoro Timer.  You can also buy the Pomodoro book, and I would recommend you read this over the school holidays to get yourself ready for the new school year.

On the Pomodoro website there is a video clip that explains the Pomodoro Technique in detail.

So, for this tip, I am not going to tell you anything, other than to visit http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/get-started/, get yourself a kitchen timer or Pomodoro Timer, read the book and start enjoying your Pomodoros.  Practice a few times in the holidays, set yourself times to do some reading, writing and maths practice.  If you are in Year 12, you can start using it straight away to get study time each day of your break and still have time for your friends, the beach/pool and relaxing.

It works perfectly with the chart you created in Tip # 2.  As the Pomodoro team says, make time your ally.

 

Return to School Tip # 2

January 3, 2013

Tip # 2

This tip is the be all and end all.  You can start this in primary school to get in the habit.  This method has successfully seen me complete my HSC whilst working full-time (yes I left school and completed my HSC at TAFE at night whilst I worked full-time to earn money) and 2 university degrees, whilst working and raising a family.  It really works.

Before you can start you need to find out from your teacher just how much study you should be doing at night and on the weekend.  Some schools give homework to help you structure your study.  If your school doesn’t set homework, you will need to find out just how much self-directed study you need to be doing.  By year 6 you should be doing 1 hour of extra work a night and build from there, working towards your HSC.  At school we learn, at home we practice what we learned so that we master it.

You will need:

1 large piece of cardboard

1 small piece of cardboard

1 pack of velcro dots (double-sided)

1 roll of double-sided tape, if dots do not have adhesive backing

Markers

Ruler

Scissors

1. Draw a table spreadsheet on your cardboard and label with days of the week and hours of the day.  Start with the time that you wake and end with the time you go to bed each day.  It will look something like this.

2. Put a velcro dot in each blank square – eg

3. Using your extra sheet of cardboard, rule it into squares that fit the size of the blank squares on your large sheet of cardboard.  Cut the squares out.  On each square, write all your activities that you do in the week, eg if you play team sport you will need a square for training and a square for the game.  Each square is worth 1 hour, so if you train for two hours, have two squares for training.  If your teacher says you need to do 1 hour of maths each week night, make sure you have 5 squares that say “maths”.  Do this for each subject, and each activity.  Make sure you have squares for leisure time, family time, sport, other activities you do, part-time job and social time.

4. Colour in subject squares to match your colour coded folders from Tip # 1.

4. Put the other half of each velcro dot on the squares.

5. Organise the squares on the large chart, and organise your week.

6. Stick your chart on your wall.

How it works

If you have been told you need to do, say, 4 hours of maths work at home each week, 4 hours of English, 1 hour of science, 2 hours of history (this is just an example), you need to make sure you have those 11 squares on your chart.

If you get a call from a friend asking you to go out Friday night but you have allocated a study square to that time, you can move the square, but it has to stay on the chart.  You can’t remove it entirely.  You need to find another spot in your week to complete that hour.

This system works better than a normal planner, as it helps you juggle the increasing demands of the week, making sure you get all your study done, but still achieve down-time.  It is important in your studies to have breaks and have leisure time with family and friends.

Have fun with making this one!

Return to School – Tip # 1

Over the coming weeks, I will post a series of organisational tips to help you get ready for the school year.

Tip # 1 – Colour coding

This tip will suit any high school student, and can also be used for students in late primary to prepare for their transition to high school.

You will need:

Folders – each a different colour, ring binders are good.

Stickers in matching colours to the folders

Pens, markers, colouring pencils.

Your study timetable.

1. Start off with a list of all the subjects that you will be studying at school this year (eg English, maths, science, HSIE, languages, music, drama, design, PDHPE, etc).

2. Label 1 folder for each subject. Stick to 1 colour per subject (eg English – yellow, Maths – blue, science – green, etc).

3. If you have a desk, label each drawer for each subject, using a coloured sticker that matches the colour of your folder.

4. If you don’t have a desk, or don’t have enough drawers, you could make a space on a shelf for each folder, with a coloured sticker on the shelf marking the spot for your folder. Each should be returned to the same space every night so you don’t lose it.

5. Using your weekly school timetable, colour in each subject square the same colour of the folder you have selected for that subject. Eg if you have chosen yellow for English, then you should have a yellow folder, a yellow sticker on what will now be your English drawer, or a yellow sticker on your shelf, and each time English appears on your timetable, it should be coloured in yellow.

Your timetable may look like this (with matching coloured folders):

This is the start of your study organisation. If everything is returned to the proper drawer/shelf spot, and you colour code everything, all your notes, papers, etc will be easy to find and won’t get messed up. By using a ring binder you can hole-punch papers and put them into your folder.

For senior students, you may wish to consider a filing cabinet to help you organise your paperwork for years 11 and 12. If you do this, you can colour code the tabs in your filing cabinet so that you have an easy to find spot for each subject.

If you don’t want to carry ring binder folders with you at school, use notebooks for each subject, but use a different notebook per subject, and cover it in coloured contact or paper that matches the colour of the folder you have at home. A4 hole-punched notebooks are good because you can insert them into the ring binder once they are full.

Special Needs Education

I have an assignment due in a couple of weeks that is focusing on the learning support team in providing an inclusive education for students with disabilities or learning difficulties.

I understand the theory behind it all, what I am not sure of is how it is put into practice.  For me, I have two roles in the Learning Support Team.  I am the parent in one scenario, and the principal in the other.  I have to state what actions I will take (minimum of 3) in each role, and how I will evalute and monitor the success of those actions.

As the parent I know I can contact the school and request a meeting, voice my concerns and be involved in setting goals for my child.  I could even request that experts that have been involved in the medical care for my child be present.

But what about the principal?  What does the principal do?  What actions does the principal take?

So I am calling for teachers and principals to please give me some ideas.  I think one of the most daunting things as a pre-service teacher is we come fully loaded with theories but little idea on how to put it into action; what actually works in the classroom.  I fully agree with an inclusive learning environment.  I understand individual learning plans.  I think if I had the role of the classroom teacher in the case studies I would know what actions to take.  But the role of the principal and the role of the parent are something completely different.

How is it done at your school?

The Teacher’s Gift

I just read this blog – http://voices.yahoo.com/fifteen-perfect-gift-ideas-teachers-8152.html?cat=25

I’ve been pondering on what gifts to give to my kids’ teachers this year, when I stumbled upon the blog.

It made me laugh.  I don’t have experience in the primary school setting, but the high schools I have visited as a pre-service teacher have proven that coffee mugs are in short supply.  Perhaps it is because secondary school teachers are all but forgotten by parents and their students at the end of the year.  I must admit, once your child is in high school they have so many teachers that gifts for the teachers seems like a very expensive endeavour, even if you do only spend $5 on a teacher.  Not to mention your poor child having to cart all those presents around for a day or two, and then there is the pressure from peers.  I think when I was at high school it was very much uncool to buy a teacher a gift.

For me, this year, all our teachers are receiving hand made presents along with hand made cards from my boys.  My children are not in high school yet, but I think when the time comes there will be gifts still.  Even if it is a coffee mug or a bowl that will go in the microwave to heat up their leftovers lunch, or even just some tea and coffee for the staff room.

In the meantime, it is back to study and plodding my way to the inevitable end of trying to get a teaching position.  It is also time for some procrasti-baking; lets bake some goodies for the teachers (nut free of course).

The Essential Teacher Organiser – does it exist?

I used to be a time management dynamo.  I was on top of everything.  Admittedly, it was before I had kids and wasn’t try to cram even more into the day, yet I was still on top of it.  OK, I will grant you I lived at home and my mum washed and cooked for me and my dad got me out of bed each morning.  BUT STILL!!! I was on top of it.  I was on top of it at work too.  I juggled full-time work and uni studies plus a great social life.  I fitted in exercise and healthy diet.

This year I changed everything to electronic device.  I use google calendar and have it synced on my laptop, smart phone and WebOS tablet (yep, can’t afford an ipad or android tablet).  I use Evernote and Livebinders and other tools.  But I have fallen further and further behind, to a point that I am totally and utterly out of control and sinking.  More than sinking, drowning.  The technology is not working for me.  The technology provides too many distractions.  I was better off when I didn’t turn on the technology until everything on the to-do list was ticked off.  Now I turn on the technology first.  It doesn’t work for me.

I miss my filofax.  The good old must have of the 80s and 90s.  A suit wasn’t a suit without a filofax.  I miss the tabs, the zip lock bags that contained all those bits of papers that didn’t belong anywhere but were needed (prescriptions, dry-cleaning tickets, doc referrals, etc).  It was my project management system, my lists, my to-do, my contacts, my mind maps, my budgets, my notes, ideas and even my doodles and etches.  It was everything.  I know there are many that would argue that you can do this on tablets and smart phones.  Yes, you can.  But it is not a one-stop shop.  Some have argued with me that if you can do it all on one device then it is great.  But I’m putting it out there to app developers that people don’t want to do it on one device, they want to do it on one app, that is all linked.  Still, it doesn’t solve the problem of all the bits of paper that I have been continuously losing this year.

I miss my filofax.

It has got me thinking too.  What am I going to do next year?  How do teachers do it?  What systems do you use to record what page number one class got to, what tasks another class got to, who handed in an assessment task, what marks they got, quick notes on behaviour or issues that you need to put in the system when you next get off class, what activities to take to class, any special classroom you will be in that day, reminder to email or call a parent, etc.  How do you do it?  Whilst you are at it, how do you carry it all?  Bag? Basket?

It is all these practical things you don’t learn at uni.  But I do really need help.  How do you do it?