Study Card Rings

There are a tremendous amount of great sites online for creating online study aids
(see - quizlet.com), but nothing beats creating and working through your own set of study cards.   Whether it is a full stack of 3 x 5 cards wrapped in a rubber band, or one inch strips cut from 3 x 5 cards and hole punched on a snap key ring.  The actual pocess of creating hand written study cards is a study staple for most students.


I demonstrate this process to my chemistry students when they need to learn the cations and anions that will be used in naming and creating inonic formulas.  To assist students in learning the ions, I create three sets of twenty ions that students are responsible for knowing.  On one side of card stock I have the names of the ions neatly organized in a four card by five card grid created on an excel spreadsheet.  On the opposite side I have the ion formulas with their ionic charge.  On this side I do not put grid lines.  When students cut them out, they only use the name grid lines and that way the lines do not need to match up (for some students this is a distraction if there are random lines on their cards).

I take part of a class period for the students to cut out and punch the cards and place them on a snap ring that I provide for them. It is worth the class time to have students complete the task.  This garauntees every student has the complete set and leaves the student with the idea that they are of some importance since you gave up class time to make the ring card sets.

I have divided the ion sets on three separate color cards and quiz the students on each set separately.  I find that ionic naming, writng balanced chemical equations and stoichiometry all go more quickly and smoother when the students know these ions from memory.


I then suggest that students can create their own study sets in any of their classes by cutting the
3 x 5 cards into one inch strips or they can by the pre-made blank sets at most bookstores or teacher supply stores.

Half the job, is having the correct tools.

Procrastinate! Who me? I'll do it tomorrow.

Getting started is half -done.

And yet, half the battle is sometimes simple recognition of the problem.

Most of us at one time or another have come across an activity, task, assignment or challenge that we are just not ready, willing or able to attack.

In those cases we find every possible means possible to delay the inevitable. 

PROCRASTINATION

What kind of procrastinator are you? 

• Focus on what’s realistic rather than what’s ideal; work toward excellence rather than perfection.

• Seek support from others before you’re under too much pressure.

• Deliberately make one mistake each day.

• Make daily to-do lists with small, broken-down tasks that you can complete on a given day.

• Commit to rewarding yourself for setting and achieving realistic goals.

• Admit that you choose what you do with your time; work on self-acceptance skills

• Learn to make realistic judgments about the time and effort required to complete a task. Ask a friend for help, if needed.

• Remind yourself that choosing not to make a decision about a task or action is itself a decision.

• Don’t allow "what if" thinking to take you out of action.

• Break down tasks into manageable parts to reduce anxiety.

• Every day, do at least part of one thing you’ve been putting off because you’re uncomfortable about it.

• Consider the aspects of a project that are exciting to you, rather than just the challenges.

• Strive for moderation: avoid speaking and thinking in dramatic, emotional language.

• Remind yourself: you may not be interested in a task until you start.

• Identify motivators for a task and use them rather than using stress as a motivator.

• Keep a record of your "crises": what triggered them, how you reacted.

• Create deadlines for yourself as a way to use your natural adrenaline rush to complete tasks earlier.

• Regularly engage in activities that will give you an adrenaline rush-- play competitive sports, go out with friends, or take up a new hobby.

 

• Recognize and respect your personal limitations. 

• Rank your priorities in life and post this list somewhere. Make choices about your time in accordance with this list.

• Incorporate time to relax into your schedule—and learn to enjoy it. Don’t feel guilty about taking time for yourself.

• Focus your thoughts on how to gain personal control, rather than how tasks control you.

• Learn to say "no" to tasks when appropriate. Try saying a pleasant "no" each day.

• Envision life as an adventure in making choices, not a struggle to do everything.

• Make daily to-do lists based on true priorities

• Rank your priorities in life, and devote your energies accordingly. Post this list somewhere.

• Reflect on the ways you could potentially respond to a task before acting.• Be aware when you’re choosing defiance. Ask yourself whether long-term regrets are worth short-term pleasure.

• Strive to act, rather than react.

• Learn self-calming strategies.

• Own up to your actions—especially if you did not complete a task you agreed to.

• Choose one task every week that you will complete in your own way in order to satisfy your need for individuality.



• Try to differentiate between dreams that are vague and goals that are specific and measurable.

• Make your dream into a goal: define what, when, where, who, why, and how you will complete it.

• Keep a to-do list and assign yourself a few tasks each day.

• Use an alarm or timer as a way to remind you when to get to work.

• Schedule time for creative daydreaming.

• Plan out projects and tasks in writing.

• To counteract mind-wandering, get active—explain things aloud, teach the material to someone, or tackle a small part of your project.

 This information was given to me during a presentation on building student study skills

at an AP Workshop a few years ago. 

30 MINUTE STUDY PLAN

"Failing to Prepare, is Preparing to Fail."

                                                               - John Wooden -

How many times have you, as a teacher, heard a student make the claim that they studied for over three hours the night before and still didn't do well on the test?

Now we all know that studying a little bit over a longer period is the best method to learn material for the long haul. But, we also know that our students are champion procrastinators.  They spread themselves to thin with school work, clubs, sports, social activities. And we also know that most teenagers know that the world might end anytime so why study at all until you absolutely have to.

Knowing all of this, I put together a suggested study routine to assist our procrastinators, overschedulers and soothsayers, in their methods of study.  This study plan works on 30 minute session to maximize time and memory.  For most people our brains can only retain about a half hour of material at a time.  If we study for two hours straight we will remember the first fifteen minutes and the last fifteen minues of what we study and very little from the middle hour and a half.  Thereby wasting a good hour and a half of functional time.  Unless the brain is given the opportunity to shift gears and restart, the brain functions best in half hour increments.  (Think about television shows. 30 minute sitcoms. Hour long dramas with commercial breaks about 13 minutes apart.)   

I go over this study plan with each of my classes to help students understand the ways our brain works and to assist them in improving their study habits and to maximize their abilities to learn.

Study Smarter

not Harder!!!