LOTS OF TEACHERS, LOTS OF BOOKS, OH YES!

Hey, Middle Schoolers. Was this you just a month ago?

Is this you today?

 

Mizz C. to the rescue with a study skill tip you can try out TONIGHT, yes TONIGHT-- and every night for the rest of the school year. This amazing study tip will do more than index cards, nagging voices, or class notes to help you prepare for tests, memorize information, stay focused in class, and get your work done. 

Can you guess what it is? 

Not!

                                                          
Mizz C. knows the energy you need for school doesn't come from a can. It comes from two things you can see in the picture below. You probably have both of them right in your room. 

pillow and alarm clock

Mizz C. has been accused of repeating herself. Now she's going to do just that. The best study skill you can master this year can be found in one of Mizz C's first blog postings, Sleep, the Super Study Skill. 

Now go catch some zzzs (unless you're in class right now or you haven't finished tomorrow's homework yet).  

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.

Tame Your Paper Monsters

Mizz C. found this mashed-up test on the ground while walking near a local school. "How sad," Mizz C. thought as she picked up the corrected test in a failed attempt to save its life. 

Perhaps the student who dropped it had never had a chance to read Mizz C’s A+ Guide to Great Grades. Or maybe the wet, muddy ground was this student's filing system instead of a beautiful accordion folder like this.

XO Beautiful accordion folder

MIZZ C. LOVES, LOVES, LOVES  accordion folders. She wants to marry one, but she’s already married. She wants to live in a stationery store but already lives in a house. She’s all about filing recipes, bills, letters, receipts, and clippings.

Why just last month Mizz C. needed to find the receipt for her food processor, which shouldn’t have broken in the middle of grating three kinds of cheeses. But she had the store receipt in her “Household Appliances” accordion folder, of course! So when she called the company and read the receipt information to them, guess what? They sent her a new food processor for free!

                                                    Here it is: 

(The heirloom tomato is a hand-painted birthday card from her dear cousin Elizabeth, who suggested that Mizz C. was once a hot tomato but is now an heirloom tomato. So true.) 

"So what's your point, Mizz C?" you middle schoolers are probably wondering? "Are you about to share a tomato recipe? We thought this was a study skills blog, not a food blog." Mizz C's roundabout point is this great study tip: save and file away your school work until the end of the school year. After that, on the last day of school, you have Mizz C's permission to create a fleet of paper airplanes from all your work, after which you'll put them in the closest recycling bin sorted by subject like the organized A+ students Mizz C. knows you are. 


Your old corrected homework, tests, and teacher handouts are like Mizz C’s receipts. Keep them in a file or accordion folder at home even if they have ketchup on them, jam prints,  or a grade you'd rather forget. They’re the best study tools ever for future tests. Handouts clue you in to what your teacher will probably put on a test. Corrected tests and homework show what you're strong in and what needs work. So give your handouts, old tests, and homework a good home:

Oh! Oh! One more thing before the blogger authorities shut down Mizz C. for blabbing too much. Write your name and the date on all your handouts, tests, and homework assignments in case they lose you. That way if Mizz C. finds one of your important class papers on her daily walks, she can track you down.