by Donna | Aug 16, 2011
“The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.” Robert M Hutchins
Sitting down with your student and his textbooks (maybe one per evening) during the first week will go a long way towards his comprehension and ease of use of those books throughout the school year. Try these specific strategies for previewing textbooks with your student to help him or her get the most out of his or her texts this year:
1. Graphs and charts—Remind your student that charts and graphs usually restate (in another form) what is indicated in the text. He can use these for quick overviews, as well as for reviewing before tests.
2. Enumerations—If his text uses a lot of enumeration, it could be that this subject has a significant number of lists to be learned. Point him to these lists and show him that often what is listed in the margins or sidebars is also expounded upon within the text.
3. Section headings—The more headings a book contains, the easier it is to learn from. The student is constantly reminded, by the headings and subheadings, of what the section is about. Show him how helpful these headings can be as he uses the book during his reading and for test preparation.
4. Pictorial aids—Maps are always in included in history textbooks. If his textbook contains a large assortment of maps, show him how they can help him see the big picture. Maps usually show where something that is discussed in the text occurred.
5. Glossary—Books that contain glossaries give the student an easy way to find definitions that may be more obscure within the text. Teach him to use this for quick finds, but encourage him to use the text itself for most studying since students who learn vocabulary in context retain it better.
6. Tables of Contents—The Table of Contents can be used somewhat like an index to find where information is in a particular chapter. It is especially good for getting a big picture about a whole chapter.
7. Prefaces, introductions, and summaries—If a text has any of these three, some of the work is already done for the student. Show him how advantageous these are for quick previewing of a chapter.
8. Footnotes—If a student is in a class that requires research papers, footnotes can be a real plus. We teach our research paper students to use lengthy works’ footnotes to find other credible sources that they might use in their papers.
9. Appendixes—Appendixes are the “extra credit” of the book. I always like to thin of myself as a prized pupil, so I tend to gravitate to these right at first, since they’re usually for those who want additional information—and I always want to know more! Tell your students that sometimes the appendixes aren’t even used in the actual course, but they are good for learning more, for research-based reports, and for cementing what is found in the text.
10. Indexes—If a book doesn’t have an index, I say send it back and get a new one! Show your student how quickly he can find information with the index. The more specific the index, the better it is for the student.
11. Bibliography—The bibliography gives lists of books, articles, and documents relating to the subjects in the textbook. Like footnotes, we direct our research paper students to these.
12. Pronunciation guides—These guides give the phonetic markings to aid in reading unfamiliar words. Many texts do not have these guides, but they are helpful in a class where a student will be giving presentations so the can pronounce unknown words correctly.
Any signaling or sign posting that a book contains is that much more opportunity for the visual learner, especially, to learn and retain. If you have an auditory learner, you might have to record his vital info on cd or cassette! Smile…More study skills coming soon!!!
by Donna | Aug 15, 2011
“The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.” Robert M Hutchins
I’m going to go back to “teaching while we sit in our house,” but it’s back to school time, so I want to re-run a three part article about textbook previewing with your kids to help them start out well with this fall’s school success.
I want to touch on specific “how to’s” of study skills without getting so technical that I lose “non-teachers” out there! When I find a good idea or method in learning that seems to work, I have a tendency to get so excited about it. (You didn’t know that my “chores” and “prioritizing posts,” did you??) So I will alternate between practical suggestions (evening routines for studying) and techniques (teaching our kids to “read between the lines” in their books), etc. So bear with me!
Comprehension and study skills are not necessarily as much remembering all of the details that were read as much as knowing how to read for meaning, remembering the most important parts, and being able to locate information as needed. Students’ textbooks in the content areas (science, history, government, health, geography, etc.) lend themselves greatly to comprehending the information they contain.
I recommend that you have your kids bring their textbooks home, one at a time, and follow some of the tips below previewing their books with them. This will help them (and you) determine the signaling systems, layout, study tools, etc. that each book includes.
A student needs to now quickly how to find information in his book, whether there’s a glossary or index for quick vocabulary help, how each section is summarized, and many other tips that can be discovered right when he begins using that text (with some help from Mom or Dad). By previewing his whole text at first, he will know how user friendly it is, how to set up his notes, and even which study strategies will and will not work for that particular text.
Tomorrow I will give a lengthy list of specifics to look for in previewing your students’ textbooks with them. Invite your friends to join us!
by Donna | Aug 12, 2011
“You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” Deuteronomy 6:7
I have mentioned on here over and over the blessings we have received by not having television stations for at least twenty-eight of our thirty years of marriage. (We tried it a couple of times for a few months.) Now there is so much more to contend with than television programming!
That is why we advocate a techno-free zone for family talking times–a spot or two in which you sit with no technology drawing you away from the people you are supposed to be spending time with! For us, this means gathering in the living room (where we have no computers; we don’t have a television, so it’s mostly just one of the four computers vying for our attention–besides cell phones, of course!). We put away our cells and just sit and “be.” (We also like to gather around the dining room table for games in the evenings and our room (with the laptops closed!) late at night..and don’t forget around the fire or the porch!)
If there is one thing I love to do with our kids–it is “being.” Today Ray called from work to double check our schedule for the ten days that Kara is home–and he said it once again, “We have to have three or four evenings to just ‘be.’ We can’t book every moment she is home.”
Just being…being together…being family…being there for each other…being a sounding board…being whatever our kids need–preferably in a techno-free zone sometimes!
by Donna | Aug 2, 2011
I have a lot to say about teaching our kids God’s Word and ways as we “sit in our house”! I just haven’t gotten my notes all together due to computer issues (just got the last computer back from the shop AGAIN,..). So, August has come upon us quickly…and so has “back to school time.” I want to re-run some posts from last August about helping our kids with study skills, back to school routines, etc. for those who may have missed them or those who were not with us on PP last August.
So…here is the first one….a link to many links about developing strong study habits for younger students. Now is really the time to get serious about implementing some of these schedules and ideas (before the day before-back-to-school!)….so, get your iced water with lemon and click and read! 🙂 Thanks for joining us!
https://positiveparenting3-6-5.blogspot.com/2010/09/day-240-strong-study-skills-begin-with.html
by Donna | Jul 22, 2011
“You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” Deuteronomy 6:7
Out of all of the times/places that we are told to teach our children diligently, “when you sit in your house” has got to be the most challenging. Over twenty years ago, Gregg Harris gave us the greatest advice in his parenting seminar (that we have used weekly and teach others to do the same): Whatever is important to you to do with your children should be attached to something that is already in the schedule. Thus, we attach reading together to rising/going to bed; we attach family prayer to meals; etc. However, finding time to “sit in your house” is another matter—and one that I would like to address over the next couple of weeks.
How many of us “sit in our houses”? That is, we sit—not to watch television, pay bills, surf the web; play computer games; read the paper, etc., but just SIT. With my AOADD (Adult-Onset ADD—self diagnosed!!!), sitting is not one of my favorite things to do—unless I am doing something else at the same time (i.e. working!). However, this is an often-overlooked period of time that we truly need to tap into in the training of our children.
We have to force ourselves to “sit” with our children. We need to make it a habit to just take a seat next to one or more of them each day—no electronics, no work on our laps—and just “be.” These moments are when this diligent teaching during “sitting in your house” will occur.
Not necessarily formal teaching, though there are definite times and places for that. But just “being.” Just saying, “Tell me about your day.” And truly listening. Times to listen to their hearts sing the “talking song” that our family adopted as a parenting cue many years ago: “Talk to me; show me that you care. Talk to me; listen to the words I say. Talk to me; there’s so much we can share. I know you love me when you talk to me.”
Recent statistics indicate that teenagers spend an average of less than thirty minutes a week in a “meaningful relationship” with their mothers and fifteen minutes per week with their fathers. Fifteen to thirty minutes a week with Mom or Dad during some of the most critical years of a person’s life! (We have said for years that ages sixteen to twenty or the highest need years for our kids in terms of parental time and support.)
Another recent study of parents and children by an insurance company said that children WANT their parents to spend time with them. Eight out of ten said they resented being put in front of a television (instead of spending time with Mom or Dad); sixty percent said they wished their parents spent more time with them and worked less.
Parents who bring work home (instead of being available for their kids); put their own hobbies and interests before the kids; and are consumed with their home and possessions more than their kids are being coined as “Maybe later” parents. As a mom of five grown kids (ages nineteen through twenty-eight) and two youngers (twelve and sixteen), I can tell you for sure that “later” never comes.
So…the first piece of advice we have for “teaching them diligently when you sit in your home” is to “sit in your home”! Set aside other things and make the time. Fire pits; bonfires; electronic-free rooms; porch swing moments; Mom & Dad’s bedroom for midnight meetings; family meals—all of these give opportunities to sit with our kids. Let’s make it happen!
by Donna | Jul 13, 2011
“You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” Deuteronomy 6:7
It is time. It really is. We have our mornings organized (!); we have the most important things first; we are “teaching ‘them’ (the things God gave to us already) to our children when we rise up”—and we need to move on and continue this throughout our day—in the other locations and times referred to in our Deuteronomy verse.
I love the next section! I love it because my husband is so good at it. I love it because we have found ways to really make it a reality in our home. I love it because it is so natural when you spend time together as a family. I just love it!
So to whet your appetite a little (and get you to invite your friends to join us!), I give you a partial list of things we will be discussing in this section of character training—ways that we have discovered to teach God’s Word, God’s Ways, and our family ways to our children when we “sit in our house.” Join us for more details!
-Story time
-Organization/upkeep
-Discussion
-Questions
-Listening together
-Parenthetical Parenting
-Expectation Explanation
-Teaching like Jesus
-Reading together
-Games
-Prioritizing it—making the time to “sit in your house”
-“Good report” time
-Songs/sayings to build relationships
-Family worship
-Treating Our Children Like Jesus Would
-AIM—Answer It More
–Notes
-Techno-Free Zone
-And much more!
