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Checklists

Checklists can be used for so many things from daily routines to math problems to writing. 

Checklists are helpful because they can take the load off of our working memory, which does have a limited capacity. The more you use a checklist, the more likely you will be to develop an efficient routine and thus not need to utilize your working memory to accomplish a task- the process will feel automatic.

Checklists can help us to stay organized and to be more efficient because they remind us to do everything we need to do the first time, and we don't need to return for missed items or do something all over again because we didn't fully complete it.

Here are some examples of when you could use a checklist, and what it might include:

Writing

• Brainstorm
• Outline
• Draft
• Revise
• Edit

Within each of those steps in the writing process, you could develop a checklist to follow too. For example, an editing checklist could include the following:

• Each sentence ends with a punctuation mark.
• Each sentence begins with a capital letter.
• I have read each paragraph out loud, or had it read out loud to me, so I can hear if it makes sense and if I have any extra or missing words.
• Every proper noun is capitalized.
• Each new paragraph is indented.
• I have checked the spelling and for proper use of homophones (e.g. their/they're/there; bear/bare; break/brake)
• I have asked for another person to proofread my work, as a "second set of eyes."

Math

CNA routine:

• Correct last night's homework
• look at the Notes we took in class today
• Work on tonight's new Assignment

*This is a great routine for other subjects too- not just math!

Simplifying equations:

• Distribute if necessary
• Take care of operations with exponents
• Rearrange terms so like terms are next to one another.
• Combine like terms by adding coefficients
• Combine the constants
• Check your answer if possible!

Spanish

Basic writing

• Check for subject/ verb agreement.
• Check to make sure verbs are conjugated in the correct tense.
• Check for agreement between adjectives and what each is describing
• male/ female
• singular/ plural

Checklists are also helpful for non-academic tasks, like packing your backpack or completing your homework. Below is an example of a checklist you could hang in your locker or where you do your homework, to reference when re-packing your backpack. (Perhaps you won't need all of these each day; maybe you circle the ones you will need as you go through the day, then check off each of those as you pack them.) 

• Laptop
• Charger    

• Math binder
• Math notebook

• History textbook
• History binder

• English novel
• English binder
• free reading book

• Foreign language binder
• Foreign language textbook

• Science book  
• Science folder
• Science notebook

• Other:_______________________________
• Other:_______________________________

As you probably know, you can make checklists on your phone and computer too (with the Reminders app on a Mac, or by downloading another great, efficient app). There are lots of options for how and when you can use checklists, and I encourage you to try it out by thinking of a task you have trouble completing (or completing thoroughly); then, think about the steps you would need to take in order to complete the task thoroughly. Make that list, turn it into a "checklist," and use it for a few weeks to see how it goes! 

Please comment below about how and when you use a checklist, or to share any questions or ideas you have!

Test Anxiety

Do you get nervous or anxious before or during tests?

If so, read then try some of the following tips and suggestions! 

If not, do you ever get nervous or stressed out?
If so, read the following!
If not, how do you avoid it? Please share your own tips in the comments section below!

In general: 

• Get enough sleep, exercise, eat healthily, and drink enough water! 
• See your teachers for extra help, and spread out your active studying over a few days.
• Practicing the stress-relieving strategies listed below in lower-stress situations can help you to figure out which work best for you, and can make you better able to use them effectively when you are in higher-stress situations.

Before a test:

•       Ask your teacher about the test beforehand; how many questions, same format as usual, or different? If you know what to expect, you can visualize yourself doing well and practice for it!
•       Make a practice test for yourself (which is basically what an Active Practice is), then take it in a test-taking-like scenario; if you’re feeling anxious or nervous while taking that practice test, it’s a perfect time to use some of the other strategies listed below.
• ·     Think positive thoughts; “fake it ‘til you make it!”
•      Use positive self-talk: 
• “I’m working hard, and learning that best I can.” 
• “I’ve done well before, I can do it again.” 
• “I’ve been doing my homework, paying attention in class, and going for extra help, so I’m doing everything I can to help myself learn this!” 
• “I’m going to pass, but if I don’t do as well as I want, I still have plenty of opportunities to increase my grade and learn this material better.” 
• “My teacher isn’t trying to trick me; he/she wants me to do well!” 

• Replace perfectionist thoughts with more realistic ones. 
• Instead of “I have to answer every question correctly,” think “I will do my best on every question, and know I’ll get many right even if some I’m not totally sure of.”
• Avoid talking about the test with other people who are feeling nervous.
• Visualize yourself taking the test, feeling confident, and knowing how to solve the problems!

During a test: 

If you feel yourself starting to experience anxiety in your body, acknowledge those physical sensations. Tell yourself, “This is just my body feeling anxious, but I know how to calm down.” Then, practice some of the following:

• Close your eyes and shift your focus to your breath. Take 5-7 long, deep inhales and slow, long exhales, really paying attention to the physical sensations in your body and breath.

• Focus your attention on a group of muscles in your body (shoulders, face, or hands are often pretty easy because we can identify when they’re tense). Acknowledge that they might be tense, and feel that tension for a few moments, before intentionally and gradually relaxing each muscle. Notice the difference between the feeling of tension and that of relaxation. Notice if your breathing or other physical sensations change while doing this.

• Take smiling breaths; set your mouth in a soft smile or grin, then slowly breathe in and out through your nose 5-7 times.

•  Use a beaded “breathing cord” and focus on the physical sensation of moving the bead slowly while you inhale slowly, and then a second bead when you exhale slowly. 

•  Take a break: slowly and mindfully walk to get a drink of water or to the bathroom to splash water on your hands or face. Just don’t take too long of a break!

• Stretch!

    If you have other ideas or strategies that work for you, please share below!

Top-of-page tips

Just a quick post about a simple strategy you can use when completing homework or practicing a new concept you're not totally familiar or comfortable with yet:

On the top of the sheet of paper on which you're working, write down the things you most need to remember for the procedure or the steps you need to take to complete whatever sort of problem you're working on.

For example, I was working with a student on her math homework today, and she's forgetting how to start the procedure of simplifying. After talking through what she noticed about the steps we were taking to simplify expressions, she wrote on the top of her homework page
1. Distribute
2. Combine like terms
3. Continue until you don't have any more like terms

She was also having some trouble remembering how to combine positive and negative integers, so I suggested she also write Same signs, keep and add; different signs, subtract and keep the sign of the larger number. (You may have memorized this to the tune of "Row Row Row your Boat," which is another great memory strategy!)

Writing these notes out in a place you can see them as you work can do at least two things for you:

• First, having a visual of the steps or important things to remember, can take some of the load off of your working memory (which has limited capacity), so it's freed-up for the computational aspects of the work. 

• Secondly, writing down these notes or steps on your paper can help you to, over time, become more automatic in applying them. If you're in the habit of doing this with classwork, homework, and other times when you practice the concepts, you'll hopefully also remember to do the same on assessments right after they're handed out!

This can work for a variety of subjects too, not just math. For example, maybe you write the -ar verb endings on the top of a Spanish practice page, so you can reference it when conjugating verbs in sentences. Or, sketch out the chart you can use to find direct objects, indirect objects, predicate adjectives, and predicate nominatives.

What are some steps or procedures you might write out as a visual for other classes? If you have ideas, please leave them in the comment box below!

Setting SMART Goals

It's that time of year when many of us like to set a goal or two for ourselves, related (or not) to our (school)work, personal health, or social relationships.

While goal setting is a great habit to get into, we shouldn't just set any old goal- we should be setting SMART goals!

SMART is an acronym that stands for

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Realistic

Time-bound


Below is an example, to clarify these elements of a SMART goal:

not-so-smart goal: I will do more Membean so I have 50 minutes done each week. 

SMART goal: I will complete 10 minutes of Membean at 7:30pm each day, Monday-Friday, so I have 50 minutes done by Sunday.

This goal is specific- the outcome is 50 minutes of Membean per week, and it also tells when and how you will work to meet the goal. If you know you'll need a reminder to do this, set one on your phone to pop up at a specific time, ask a parent or peer to remind you, or, better yet- write in in your planner!

This goal is also measurable. "More" can't necessarily be measured, but 10 minutes is 10 minutes, and you know it's 10 minutes because the program times it for you.

This goal is attainable, because it's something you're likely to be able to achieve. Completing 3 hours of Membean each week would probably be a less attainable goal because you have a lot of other things to do, but most of us can find 10 minutes per day, 5 days per week, to do something.

This goal is realistic, because it's something you could actually do. The only thing that may not be realistic for some people is scheduling the Membean training for the same time each night.

This goal is time-bound, because you'll be able to assess whether or not you met it each week, and even each day if you did the training or not. By Friday, you'll know if you succeeded and met your goal, and if so, great! If not, you still have a couple of days to make some changes to get to the ultimate goal of 50 minutes of training per week.

After the time period for which you set your goal is up, it's always a good idea to reflect on how it went. If the plan you laid out as part of your goal worked, and you were able to meet the goal, awesome! Keep doing that!
If that plan you had for meeting the goal wasn't so successful, perhaps you should look more closely to see if it really is a SMART goal; you may need to be more specific and realistic about the goal and your plan for meeting it.


A few other tips for sticking to the goals once you've made some SMART ones:

Write down your goals, and hold yourself accountable by tracking your progress in a visible place. For example, use a monthly printout on the outside of your bedroom door, put a chart on the refrigerator, or even post your progress on social media! When you share your goals with others, you gain a community of supporters and they can help to hold you accountable too.

If you start to become overwhelmed by your goals, just pick one or two to focus on. You can't change everything at once.

Don't allow setbacks to throw you off course. If you mess up, fine. Just start again. If you miss your scheduled Monday Membean training, don't just not do it for the rest of the week! Instead, do 20 minutes on Tuesday to make up for it, or plan to make up the 10 minutes on Saturday!

Organization Check!

Happy New Year!

At the start of a new calendar year, people often make resolutions about changing and improving, so although it's not necessary to change anything, it is a great time to take a close look at your habits and systems, to see which are serving you well and which could use a little revamping.

You have a solid four months of school under your belt, and so you should have a lot figured out about how to be successful in your classes.

If, however, you've had some difficulty completing homework, remembering necessary materials for class, or even seem to be lacking free time, it may be wise to look at how you're organizing your materials and using your time.

Some things to consider:

1. What kind of system do you have for recording homework? 

Is it working well?
If not, what seems to be the problem? Is there a system that could work better?
If it is, and you're not missing or forgetting homework and you're successfully preparing for assessments, then keep on doing what you're doing.
Having an efficient, thorough way to record and track what you need to do is the first essential step to managing your time.

2. Are you able to find what you need, when you need it?

This includes your personal belongings and all of the materials you need for school (including what's on your laptop). Can you easily find what you have saved on your laptop or in Google Drive? Do you know exactly where to go in a binder or in your locker or backpack to find something specific? If you
can't find what you need, or if it's taking longer than you'd like, try to develop a system for what goes where. A friend, family member, or adult at school will likely have some suggestions about how you might do this, based on what works for them.

3. How much free time do you have?

Do you seem to have enough time to spend on the things you enjoy? Are you getting enough sleep? Do you feel rushed from one activity to another each day? If you feel you don't have enough time to do what you'd like, take a good look at how you're using the time you do have.

For example, during school, how are you using your free periods and study halls? Are you using them to chat with friends, or to get work done? Are you enjoying your electives, or do you think one period would be better spent in a study hall? Is your bus ride to school in the morning the best place to try to catch a few more minutes of sleep, or could that be used to do some Membean training? Where might you be able to find a few extra minutes here and there to devote to what you enjoy? Maybe your bus ride can be the time to check Instagram and go on Snapchat, but the time period between school sports and your hockey practice is when you should get some KBAR reading done...

Make a schedule of how to use your time, and stick to it. Then, assess how it went and what might need to be tweaked. Routines can save us time and energy, but they should be routines that are effective for our purposes.

Oftentimes, getting organized with materials and routines can save you time and effort, even if it takes small investment of time up front.

Easy Mindfulness Exercises!

Many of us, students and adults alike, rush through our days, getting things done while thinking about what is coming up next. While it's important to be productive, this can come at the expense of missing out on fully experiencing the present moment, and being fully present in our selves in those moments. 

Mindfulness practices are designed to help us do just that- set aside the myriad thoughts running through our heads, tune out distractions, and notice what's happening now. Below are a few mindfulness practices you can try right in the classroom or at any other time during your busy day.

Exercise 1: Close your eyes. Put your hands on your belly and/or on your chest over your heart. Notice the depth of your breath. Take a few deeper breaths, filling your throat, then lungs, then belly as you inhale. Exhale and notice the different sensations in your throat, chest, and belly. Repeat a few times before opening your eyes.

Exercise 2: Find a comfortable seat with your feet planted on the floor. Close your eyes. Notice your feet- the temperature, fabric touching your skin, the way the bottom of your feet feel, the way the top of your feet feel. Shift your focus to your ankles. Notice the sensations your ankles are experiencing. Move up your body this way, noticing the sensations in each part of your body. Once you've reached the top of your head, notice your whole body. Then notice your breath. Take a few more deep breaths before opening your eyes.

Exercise 3: Take off your shoes. Relax your eyelids so that you are looking at the floor. Begin to walk slowly, noticing the sensation of your heels, your arches, and your toes as they contact the floor. Notice what changes when you move slightly slightly slower. Take deep inhales and exhales, and slow your walking down so that one step takes as long as one inhale. Notice the shift in sensations in your feet and lower extremities. Continue for as long as you'd like, or as long as you're able.

Give one of these exercises a try today, and see how it affects you!