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).  

No More Teachers, No More Books? Oh, No!

Hey, Middle Schoolers! Would you rather lie on a hammock with a book you love or go to summer school? If you said "summer school," Mizz C. knows you thought today was April Fools' Day. Who wouldn't choose lying in the nice cool grass, on the beach, or in a hammock and reading a book you love?

Go for it! Here's why. An incredible report came out in 2011 showing that students who read twelve--12, 12, 12--books over three summers scored as well as students who went to summer school.


Here's the best part. The twelve books weren't assigned books or books that parents or teachers picked out for the kids. They were titles the kids picked themselves--everything from books on celebrities, gossip, to gerbils and a wizard pupil by the name of Harry. Nobody had to write reports or get tested on the books they picked. They just read twelve books that interested them.


Why is Mizz C. not surprised? Every time you read a new book, you pick up new vocab words, new ideas, new kinds of information, and new ways different authors present information. Those are the very reading skills that get a workout on standardized tests.  


To find the best summer books just right for you, grab your library card. Ask a friendly librarian for book suggestions based on subjects and books you already like. 


Or go to amazon.com. Type in the title of a book you really, really enjoyed. The brainiacs at Amazon will list titles of similar books you'll also like. Read the real-kid reviews for the books Amazon suggests. Then track down some of those books wherever you can find them. 


So get with your very own reading program, whether it's Dancing with the Starlings, The Real House Flies of Beverly Hills, or The Snack Games. 

Happy summer, Middle Graders! See you in the fall. 


XO 
Mizz C. 

The Mix-It-Up-Study Drill

Mizz C. learns something new every century. This century she learned that students can boost their test results by copying successful musicians and athletes. They mix it up before performances and games. Musicians run through scales, rhythms, and different exercises. Athletes do strength and speed drills. 

Mizz C’s bottom line:

Practice different skills at the same time when you prep for tests. For example, when you study for your next language arts test, memorize a few spelling words. Throw in some vocabulary examples, then mix in grammar rules. In math, smoosh together word problems, computation, and other skills when you work out problems before math tests. Mix it up so you won't be mixed up at test time.

You may be excused now, Middle Schoolers. 


If you want to stick around, here’s the long version of what brain scientists have learned about why this "mixed up" way of studying works:

In a study recently posted online by the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology, Doug Rohrer and Kelli Taylor of the University of South Florida taught a group of fourth graders four equations, each to calculate a different dimension of a prism. Half of the children learned by studying repeated examples of one equation, say, calculating the number of prism faces when given the number of sides at the base, then moving on to the next type of calculation, studying repeated examples of that. The other half studied mixed problem sets, which included examples of all four types of calculations grouped together. Both groups solved sample problems along the way, as they studied.

A day later, the researchers gave all of the students a test on the material, presenting new problems of the same type. The children who had studied mixed sets did twice as well as the others, outscoring them 77 percent to 38 percent. The researchers have found the same in experiments involving adults and younger children.

“When students see a list of problems, all of the same kind, they know the strategy to use before they even read the problem,” said Dr. Rohrer. “That’s like riding a bike with training wheels.” With mixed practice, he added, “each problem is different from the last one, which means kids must learn how to choose the appropriate procedure — just like they had to do on the test.”

Go to Your Room! Never Mind.

Pop quiz, Middle Schoolers. Is it better to do all your studying in a special study space:

Or mix it up?

Mix it up is the A+ answer! Some people--that would include Mizz C--used to think that disappearing into a tomb-like study space was the best way to memorize and prepare for tests. 


Not so according to this New York Times article which says:

. . . many study skills courses insist that students find a specific place, a study room or a quiet corner of the library, to take their work. The research finds just the opposite. In one classic 1978 experiment, psychologists found that college students who studied a list of 40 vocabulary words in two different rooms — one windowless and cluttered, the other modern, with a view on a courtyard — did far better on a test than students who studied the words twice, in the same room.

It turns out that when students need to memorize information—spelling or vocabulary words, math, science terms, and the number of body sections ants have—they do better changing up scenery.

Got a test? Go to your room! Or the kitchen counter. Or the backyard.

Please excuse Mizz C. She's bringing her laptop to a park bench. 

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.

   

Locker Shocker

Mizz C, poor old thing from the Jurassic Era, thought she had a hot study tip. In her A+ Guide to Great Grades she recommended that all you middle grade students keep a plain old shoe box of extra school supplies in your lockers in case you run out of pens or paper before class. 

An old shoe box, Mizz C??????????? Didn't she ever hear about locker decor? Well, now she has, and it almost made her faint face down into her beloved New York Times. She just discovered that 

some middle graders decorate their lockers with chandeliers!

The article made Mizz C. feel as if she should just give up writing about study skills. She was certainly too late to add locker chandeliers to the school supplies list in her book. 

Mizz C's book describes how students' lockers are like “a home away from home” and explains how to organize them. She just didn't know students were out there turning their lockers into real homes with chandeliers and shag rugs. Perhaps she needs to get with the program. Well, maybe next century.  

P.S. Mizz C. knows very well that lots of boys and girls are not out shopping for locker chandeliers and such. So she has a useful decorating idea for any student who wants to hang something nice and practical in a locker—a little flashlight in case things get dark and messy in there. (Of course. Mizz C's A+ followers won’t have messy lockers once they read the A+ Guide to Great Grades.)

Mizz C's idea of locker decor.