Highlighting Gone Wild!

Do you highlighters a little too much, Middle Schoolers? Do your class notes, teacher handouts, and textbook pages look as if they were attacked by an out-of control highlighter? Here's how to highlight the super important stuff--about 20-30 percent of what you read: 

Before you highlight:

• Skim all the material first to get a sense of it.

• Read all the boldface headings. (Headings give you a head's up to main ideas.)

• Read any summaries in your notes, handouts, or textbook. (Some phrases that clue you in:  “In summary,” “In the end,” “The most important.")

• Read end-of-chapter questions in textbooks. (Mizz C. knows this sounds backwards, but she wouldn't steer you wrong. End-of-chapter questions tell you what main ideas to look for when you do your closer reading with your highlighter.)

Now get out your bright and shiny highlighters:*

• Go back to the beginning of the material and start reading slowly. 

• Highlight only information that backs up the headings or answers end-of-chapter questions.

• Highlight need-to-know words that are not boldfaced. 

(*If you're not allowed to highlight in your textbooks, take chapter notes instead. Then highlight those.) 

You may pack up your highlighters and go fly a kite now.

Finders Keepers

Mizz C’s pop quiz for today:

Q: How many minutes do you think most people spend looking for lost things every day, Middle Schoolers?

A: If you said, 16 minutes, you get an A+. Sez who? Sez James Gleick in his book, Faster. Would you like your 16 minutes back? Here’s how:

• Get rid of stuff you don’t use anymore. Less stuff=less to lose.

• Put things you really, really need in the same place every time.

• Line up school clothes where you can hop into them without opening your eyes in the morning. 

• Ditto sports gear, musical instruments, and other equipment you need at school the next day.

• Always check under and around bus and car seats when you leave a vehicle.

• Label your stuff.

• Check your school planner to see if you've packed the stuff you need the next day.

Warning: You may now leave this blog posting before Mizz C blabs on about her true lost and found story:

Once upon a time, while she was hiking, Mizz C. bent down to look at moss patterns on a rock or tie her boot--it doesn't matter which. Because she didn't close the zipper on her hiking jacket, EVEN THOUGH SHE KNEW BETTER!!!! her house keys fell out, unbeknownst to her. 


So Mizz C. went home, happy and smiling after her day in the woods until she discovered she had no keys. She immediately went into one of her little panic modes, tried to retrace her many steps, searching way, way longer than 16 minutes, but still NO KEYS!!! With a heavy heart, she broke into her own house. "Boo hoo," cried Mizz C. because those lost keys were attached to a pretty piece of jewelry she liked. Now that was lost forever, too.

Fast forward to six months later. A fat little envelope arrived from a supermarket. Inside were her lost keys! Some nice hiker had found Mizz C's keys, saw the supermarket tag, went to the store, the store traced the bar code back to Mizz C, and mailed them to her. 


Thank you nice hiker whose name she doesn't know. Thank you Stop & Shop. Henceforth Mizz C. put her keys into the SAME right-hand zippered pocket EVERY TIME just like she's telling all you middle schoolers to do right now!  

Now if she could only find her old Leki hiking poles. She knows they're up there somewhere in the Hudson Highlands! If only she'd thought ahead and put a supermarket tag on them. Lesson learned.

Decisions, Decisions, the Sequel: Do Hard or Easy Homework First?

            Which comes first? The chicken or the hard homework?

 

The chicken!!!!!!

Which comes next: hard or easy homework first?

The envelope, please. Hard homework first wins! Here's why:

• Hard homework is worth more than easy homework. A book report is worth a gazillion more points than a page of vocabulary homework.

• Hard homework takes more brain power than the easier work. Take it from Mizz C. Tackle the tough stuff when you have the most energy.

• Doing hard homework first helps prevent a dreaded middle school disease: procrastination. Pushing off hard homework is like inviting a slacker friend to come into your homework space and whisper: “Do it later.”

Do hard homework later when you’re tired, cranky, and out of steam? Mizz C. thinks not.

If you read Mizz C's posting on decision making, she was all about putting many decisions on auto pilot. Figure out: “When do I have the most energy for hard homework?” and stick with that decision. 

But wait! Mizz C. has found a homework decision loophole. She hearby grants you permission to alternate hard and easy homework until you’re all done:

Big, monster homework first, mini-break, followed by easy homework. Then back to: hard homework-mini-break-easy homework.

Meanwhile, to help you plan out hard and easy homework, use the chicken and Mizz C’s A+ 20/10 Study Method.

   

Decisions, Decisions

It starts before you even open your eyes. “Do I get out of bed right now or sleep five more minutes? Wear a jacket or sweater, sneakers or shoes to school today? Eat oatmeal, toast, or a muffin for breakfast? Grab an apple or banana for lunch? Sit in front or back of the school bus? Raise my hand in class or hide behind the kid in front of me? Start on easy or hard test questions? Pick a fantasy or a mystery book for my book report? Write about snakes or cockroaches for science? Do harder or easier homework first? Do all my homework right after school or right after dinner?”

Experts call having too many choices "decision fatigue." Mizz C. calls it brain freeze.

Here’s how one stressed-out student describes "decision fatigue:"

After making many decisions they become hard for me too. They also . . . make me very tired and lazy to the point where I don’t want to do anything. If they start to make me tired I procrastinate or try to forget that I have a decision to make.

Mizz C. has loads of decision making tips that she'll be blabbing about in the future. Here are a few starters:

• Only make big decisions you're rested and fed. 

• Save your brain power for deciding the big stuff. Figuring out what activities to choose is way more important than deciding what to have for breakfast.  

• Put small decisions on autopilot. Go with the same food choices, if possible, for some meals or snack times. It's Oatmeal-for Breakfast-Week! Every Monday is Green Pants Day. Too many choices? Toss a coin! Heads up, it's a mystery for the next book report or snakes for the science project. Do harder homework first one week then easier homework first the next week. Decide which homework style works better for you. Stick with it for good. 

Now if only someone could help Mizz C. decide which shampoo to buy when the store runs out of her usual brand. Shampoo for curly, frizzy, dry, oily hair? Flower or lemon-scented? Economy or trial size? 

Never mind. Mizz C. needs a nap.