Time Management

Ask students to record all of their fixed time commitments for the upcoming week in their weekly schedule section of the time manager. These should include:
- Classes
- Meetings
- Extra-curricular activities, such as sports, student organizations, etc.
- Appointments
Then have students exchange schedules and look for possible times to study; the students should consider these study times as fixed commitments and highlight them as a reminder.

Time Management

Ask students to go through their upcoming assignments and list all due dates for that week in the “Due Today” section of their AcademiKit time managers. Then have them add study times for these assignments to their weekly schedules and highlight them as a reminder.

Time Management

Have students brainstorm all of their tasks for the upcoming week and list them in the “Things To Do This Week” section of the time manager. Encourage them to include all of their tasks, both academic and non-academic, so that they can keep track of everything they need to do. (You can create a list along with the students, and model how you are including a wide variety of tasks, such as: reading a chapter, doing laundry, creating trigger words for notes, calling parents.)

Time Management

Using their list of “Things To Do This Week,” have students prioritize their tasks using the A-B-C Method. (You can create a sample list of to-dos, and model each step by giving the tasks an A, B, or C.)
− A: Highest priority. Needs immediate attention (for example, a paper that is due in the next day or two)
− B: Medium priority. Needs attention after A's are completed (for example, studying for a test that is scheduled for the following week)
− C: Lowest priority. Important but not urgent (for example, buy printer ink)

Time Management

Have students practice prioritizing tasks with a partner. Each student chooses a task from his/her list, and the partner guesses whether it is an A, B, or C. Then the partners go through their lists and decide if the prioritizations are effective.

Time Management

With your students, create a list of things the two of you need to accomplish together for your course or sessions (for example, setting up meeting times, turning in homework or other paperwork, reviewing the AcademiKit Individual Development Plan together). Ask your students to include these tasks on their “Things To Do This Week” lists.

Time Management

Have students create a list of all of their activities, including academic, personal, extra-curricular, employment, etc. Using the time management formula (see #10 above) and these lists of activities, help them estimate their own amount of weekly commitments and free time. (You can create your own list and model determining your own commitments and free time.) Ask students to record these commitments in their daily schedules.

Time Management

Brainstorm with your students how to use their free time efficiently, emphasizing how much time they have left after all of their commitments are met. Ideas for efficient use of free time could include: rewarding themselves with computer time after studying is completed, doing homework between classes and leaving evenings for extra-curriculars, etc.

Time Management

Ask students to share how they managed their time effectively during the previous week (for example, studying between classes, keeping a complete list of to-dos and then checking them off, including study sessions in days preceding a test). In pairs, have them compare effective time management strategies and choose a new one to try during the next week.

Time Management

Show students how to approach large assignments that have long-term due dates by describing the steps of breaking down large assignments. Ask your students to select an upcoming assignment and, on a sheet of the AcademiKit notebook paper, have them list all the tasks that the assignment will require in the larger right-hand column. For example, for an essay, they can list: brainstorm topics, create outline, write first draft, edit draft, write final draft. (You can select a sample assignment to model the process for the students.)

Time Management

Working backward from the due date of the students' long-term assignments, have them determine by what dates they will need to accomplish each task. Tell them to add these dates to their lists of tasks and then put the tasks in the “Things To Do This Week” sections of their AcademiKit Time Managers at each appropriate week, and then include these due dates in the "Due Today" section.

Time Management

With a partner, have students discuss and estimate how long each task of their long-term assignments will take to complete. (For example, brainstorming=1 day, creating outline=2 days, etc.) Have them write each time estimate in the left-hand column of their notebook paper next to the task.

Time Management

Working backward from the due date of the students' long-term assignments, have them determine by what dates they will need to accomplish each task. Tell them to add these dates to their lists of tasks and then put the tasks in the “Things To Do This Week” sections of their AcademiKit Time Managers at each appropriate week, and then include these due dates in the "Due Today" section.

Time Management

With a partner, have your students exchange their upcoming week's time manager, and ask them to look for small blocks of time between classes or waiting for meetings or activities when they can review their “Things To Do This Week” and make progress toward completing their tasks. Have them highlight these blocks of time as a reminder.

Time Management

Using the previous week's time manager sheet, ask your students highlight all of the time management suggestions they incorporated:
- Recording all fixed time commitments (classes, meetings, etc.)
- Recording specific study times
- Recording all assignments in the “Due Today” section
- Including all tasks they need to accomplish in the “Things To Do This Week”
- Prioritizing all of their tasks and then checking them off when completed
- Planning ahead for long-term assignments by including tasks in their “Things To Do” lists and dates by which to have them done in their weekly calendars
Discuss how these strategies have improved their time management. (For example, they were able to study more often during the week, they could keep track of their tasks and complete them in a timely fashion, they were able to finish assignments by the due dates, etc.)

Time Management

Using the previous week's time manager sheet, ask your students to circle any areas of their time management that they can improve in the future:
- Recording all fixed time commitments (classes, meetings, etc.)
- Recording specific study times
- Recording all assignments in the “Due Today” section
- Including all tasks they need to accomplish in the “Things To Do This Week”
- Prioritizing all of their tasks and then checking them off when completed
- Planning ahead for long-term assignments by including tasks in their “Things To Do” lists and dates by which to have them done in their weekly calendars

Time Management

With a partner, have your students exchange their previous week's time manager sheet and look for five areas in which they are doing well (for example, including all fixed commitments, keeping a list of things to do this week), and five areas in which they can improve (for example, putting in fixed study times, prioritizing their “Things To Do” list).

Note Taking

Ask your students to turn to their time managers. Then suggest that they add reviewing their notes and creating trigger words for each set of class notes to their “Things To Do This Week” section. Suggest that they include this task for each class to the list on a weekly basis so that their notes are complete when they need to prepare for exams.

Note Taking

Ask your students to turn to their time managers. Then suggest that they look for times prior to an exam when they could plan to review their notes and quiz themselves on the trigger words. Small blocks of time are sufficient, such as between classes and before and after meetings. Have them add reviewing their notes to their schedule and then highlight the times as a reminder

Note Taking

Using their AcademiKit note paper, have your students take notes in the larger right-hand section as you present a mini lecture by reading aloud a section from a textbook. Make suggestions as they take notes that they should: include a date, topic, and page number on each page; indent to show subtopics and details; abbreviate common and frequently used words; leave blanks for missed information.

Note Taking

After having your students take notes from your mini lecture, ask them to create trigger words in the small, left-hand margin. Make suggestions as they create trigger words that these should be major topics, key terms, and questions that will jog their memory of the lecture information.

Note Taking

Ask your students to create trigger words for their most recent set of notes. Remind them that trigger words are major topics, key terms, and questions that identify the information from their lecture notes.

Note Taking

With a partner, have your students exchange a recent set of notes that they have not yet reviewed. Then ask each partner to create trigger words for that set of notes. Finally, let the students discuss each other's choices of trigger words, and brainstorm other possible trigger words.

Note Taking

Using a recent set of lecture notes, ask your students to cover up the lecture notes on the right-hand section of their page and then quiz themselves using the trigger words. As they practice this, remind them to:
- Review every trigger word
- Place a checkmark next to each trigger word after they have learned the information
- Continue reviewing their notes until they have checked every trigger word, which indicates that they have mastered all of the material

Note Taking

Ask your students to look over a set of their notes and highlight examples of abbreviations they are currently using in their notes:
- Endings are dropped from long words (e.g., indiv for individual)
- Internal vowels and/or consonants are dropped (E.g., dbl for double)
- Standard abbreviations are used (e.g., lb for pound)
- Scientific or other symbols are included (e.g., = for is)
- Creative spelling is used (e.g., pix for picture)
Discuss how these strategies have improved their note taking. (For example, they were able to write more quickly, they could take down more information, they focused more attention on the lecture itself, etc.)

Note Taking

With a partner, ask your students to review a chapter in one of their textbooks and make a list of commonly used terms in that discipline (for example, for American history, common terms might include democracy, republic, constitution, citizen, government, etc.). Then suggest that they brainstorm possible abbreviations for these terms, which they can incorporate when taking notes for this class.

Note Taking

With a partner, ask your students to review a current set of their lecture notes. Have the partners circle any words that would be useful to abbreviate. These include words that are commonly used, words that are too long and take too much time to write, and words that are used frequently in a given lecture. Then together, create a list of abbreviations for these words that they can use when taking notes in this class.

Note Taking

Using a recent set of lecture notes, ask your students to circle any areas of the notes that they can improve in the future:
- Writing notes in right-hand section
- Indenting to show subtopics and details
- Abbreviating common and frequently used words
- Including trigger words after they reviewed their notes, and checking off information they have mastered
Then brainstorm how they can incorporate these strategies more effectively.

Note Taking

With a partner, have your students exchange a set of recent lecture notes and look for five areas in which they are doing well (for example, writing their notes in the larger right-hand section of the AcademiKit note paper during lectures, creating trigger words during review), and five areas in which they can improve (for example, abbreviating in order to include more information, leaving space to show changes of topics).

Text Reading

Have your students turn to their time managers. Then ask them to add both creating text guiders and reviewing them to their “Things To Do This Week” sections for each assigned chapter. Suggest that they add this task to the list whenever they have assigned reading they need to review for an exam.

Text Reading

Ask your students to turn to their time managers. Then suggest that they look for times prior to an exam when they could plan to review text guiders. Small blocks of time are sufficient, such as between classes and before and after meetings. Have them add reviewing their text guiders to their schedule and highlighting them as a reminder.

Text Reading

Ask your students to create a text manager bookmark for one of the textbooks they are using by recording all of their assigned chapters and the due dates for the readings.

Text Reading

Using a completed text manager bookmark for one of their textbooks, ask your students to put the assigned readings and due dates in their time managers in the “Things To Do This Week” and “Due Today” sections.

Text Reading

With partners, have your students exchange text manager bookmarks and look for five areas in which they are doing well (for example, listing all assigned reading), and five areas in which they can improve (for example, checking off when they completed the reading and checking off when they created a text guider).

Text Reading

Using two pages copied from a textbook, read through them together with your students. Together, select headings and subheadings to turn into target questions using what, how, and why (for example, How was Nixon Defeated in 1960?). Compare your choices of target questions, and discuss how adding these questions to their text guiders would help your students better understand the material and prepare for exams.

Text Reading

With your students, read two or three pages of a textbook together. Then, using a blank text guider, ask your students to create target questions based on the reading. These are formed by turning headings and subheadings on the textbook page into questions by using what, how and why. (You can create a text guider along with the students, and model how you create target questions.)

Text Reading

With a partner, ask your students to practice creating target questions by giving them sample pages from a textbook. Together, have them write what, how, and why questions, which require deeper reading and demonstrate a better understanding of the information. (Explain that who, when, and where questions require only isolated facts such as dates, names, and other one-word or two-word answers that are not comprehensive.)

Text Reading

With a partner, have your students exchange completed text guiders for one of their textbook chapters, along with the textbook itself. Ask each student to read one or two pages of the chapter and then suggest additional target questions to add to the text guider.

Text Reading

With a partner, have your students exchange completed text guiders for one of their textbook chapters, along with the textbook itself. Ask each student to read one or two pages of the chapter and then suggest additional target questions to add to the text guider.

Text Reading

With a partner, ask your students to exchange completed text guiders. Then have them quiz each other by asking their partner the target questions and practice using the text guider as a test preparation tool, and then checking off the questions they have mastered.

Text Reading

Have your students review one of their completed text guiders along with the textbook chapter for which they created it. Then ask them to create key terms to add to the text guider that relate to and explain each target question.

Text Reading

Using one or two pages copied from a textbook, read through them together with your students and circle any key terms, which are words that describe significant concepts or ideas in the reading. Compare your choices of key terms, and discuss how adding these terms to their text guiders would help your students better understand the material and prepare for exams.

Text Reading

With your students, read two or three pages of a textbook together. Then, using a blank text guider, ask your students to create a list of key terms based on the reading. These are bolded or italicized terms and concepts that describe significant ideas in the reading. (You can create key terms along with the students, and model how you selected these terms.)

Text Reading

With a partner, ask your students to exchange a completed text guider. Then have them quiz each other by asking their partner to define the key terms and practice using the text guider as a test preparation tool, and then checking off the terms they have mastered.

Text Reading

With partner, have your students exchange a text guider and look for five areas in which they are doing well (for example, creating target questions and indicating the page number where they found the information), and five areas in which they can improve (for example, including key words as a list or by the target questions to which they apply).

Text Reading

Using one or two pages copied from a textbook, read through them together with your students. Together, circle terms you could include in a set of test prep cards. Compare your choices of terms, and discuss how creating test prep cards composed of these terms would help your students better understand the material and prepare for exams.

Text Reading

Have your students turn to their time managers. Then ask them to add both creating test prep cards and reviewing them to their “Things To Do This Week” section. Suggest that they add this task to the list whenever they have assigned reading or sets of notes they need to review for an exam.

Text Reading

Ask your students to turn to their time managers. Then suggest that they look for times prior to an exam when they could plan to review their test prep cards. Small blocks of time are sufficient, such as between classes and before and after meetings. Have them add reviewing their test prep cards to their schedule and highlighting them as a reminder.

Text Reading

Using two pages copied from a textbook, read through them together with your students. Together, locate explanations and examples for key terms, which you could include in a set of test prep cards. Compare your choices of explanations and examples, and discuss how including these on their test prep cards would help your students better understand the material and prepare for exams.

Text Reading

With your students, read two or three pages of a textbook together. Then, using several blank test prep cards, ask your students to create test prep cards based on the reading. They should include a term on the front and an explanation or example on the back. (You can create a sample test prep card along with the students, and model how you select the term and explanation or example.)

Test Preparation

With a partner, ask your students to practice creating test prep cards by giving them sample pages from a textbook. Together, have them write terms on the front and explanations or examples on the back. Then ask them to review the cards and determine if they need to include additional information.

Test Preparation

With a partner, ask your students to practice creating test prep cards by giving them sample pages from a textbook. Individually, have them write terms on the front and explanations or examples on the back of the cards. When they are finished, ask them to compare cards and discuss their choices in order to determine who selected the more effective terms and explanations.

Test Preparation

Ask your students to create a set of test prep cards using one of their own textbooks. For each card, have them write a term on the front, and an explanation or example on the back. (You can create a card or two yourself, to model the process.) Go through every card together by comparing them with the textbook itself to determine if it is complete or needs more information.

Test Preparation

Using two pages copied from a set of class notes, read through them with your students. Together, select key terms they could include in a set of test prep cards. Compare your choices of terms, and discuss how creating test prep cards composed of these terms would help your students better understand the material and prepare for exams.

Test Preparation

Using two pages copied from a set of class notes, read through them with your students. Together, locate explanations and examples for key terms, which they could include in a set of test prep cards. Compare your choices of explanations and examples, and discuss how including these on their test prep cards would help your students better understand the material and prepare for exams.

Test Preparation

With your students, read two or three pages of a set of class notes. Then, using several blank test prep cards, ask your students to create cards based on the notes. For each card, they should include a term on the front and an explanation or example on the back. (You can create a sample test prep card along with the students, and model how you select the term and explanation or example.)

Test Preparation

With a partner, ask your students to practice creating test prep cards by giving them a sample set of class notes. Together, have them write terms on the front and explanations or examples on the back. Then ask them to review the cards and determine if they need to include additional information.

Test Preparation

With a partner, ask your students to practice creating test prep cards by giving them a sample set of class notes. Individually, have them write terms on the front and explanations or examples on the back of the cards. When they are finished, ask them to compare cards and discuss their choices in order to determine who selected the more effective terms and explanations.

Test Preparation

Ask your students to create a set of test prep cards using one of their own sets of class notes. For each card, have them write a term on the front, and an explanation or example on the back. (You can create a card or two yourself, to model the process.) Go through every card together by comparing it with the class notes themselves to determine if it is complete or needs more information.

Test Preparation

With a partner, have your students exchange a completed set of test prep cards for one of their sets of class notes, along with the notes themselves. Ask each student to read through the notes and then suggest additional terms or explanations and examples to add to the test prep cards.

Test Preparation

Have your students review a completed set of test prep cards along with the textbook chapter or class notes for which they created it. Then ask them to create an identifier card for the set and explain that they need to check it off when they have mastered the information.

Test Preparation

With a partner, have your students exchange a completed set of test prep cards for one of their textbook chapters, along with the textbook itself. Ask each student to read one or two pages of the chapter and then suggest additional test prep cards their partner could create.

Test Preparation

With a partner, have your students exchange a completed set of test prep cards for a set of class notes, along with the textbook itself. Ask each student to read one or two pages of the chapter and then suggest additional test prep cards their partner could create.

Test Preparation

With a partner, ask your students to exchange a completed set of test prep cards. Then have them quiz each other by asking their partner the terms and practice using the test prep cards as a test preparation tool.

Test Preparation

Ask your students to quiz themselves using a completed set of test prep cards by following this process:
- Study each card in the set
- Test their recollection of each card by looking at the term and providing the explanation or example
- Separate the cards into two piles: a pile of cards that they have mastered and a pile of cards they must study further
- Review the pile of cards with unknown terms
- Continue testing themselves until they have mastered every term

Test Preparation

Have your students review a completed set of test prep cards. Then ask them to mix up the cards and reorganize them by related concepts. Go through each set of concepts and have your students explain how they relate.

Test Preparation

With a partner, have your students exchange a set of test prep cards and look for five areas in which they are doing well (for example, writing a key term on the front of each card, labeling each set of test prep cards with an identifier card), and five areas in which they can improve (for example, including explanations or definitions on the back of the test prep cards, checking off identifier cards to indicate when they have mastered the information).

Course Organization

Ask your students to fill in their course organization dividers of their AcademiKits and complete the following areas using their class syllabi:
- Fill in the course and instructor information sections
- Record all test and assignment dates
- Record all test and assignment grades

Course Organization

With a partner, have your students exchange their AcademiKits and look for five course organization areas in which they are doing well (for example, creating a course organization divider for each class, recording tests and assignment dates, and including text guiders with class notes), and five areas in which they can improve (for example, recording contact information of classmates, three-hole punching class handouts and including them with lecture notes, and recording all test and assignment dates on the course dividers).

Course Organization

With your students, review a copy of the AcademiKit Independent Development Plan and determine which areas they need to improve. Then together personalize their AcademiKit Individual Development Plan by writing in specific goals and strategies that they want to work toward (for example, meet with biology professor weekly, take French practice on-line quizzes before exams, etc.).

Course Organization

Ask your students to use a copy of an AcademiKit Individual Development Plan to review their AcademiKits. They can do this individually or exchange them with a partner. Have them go through each section and check off the strategies they are currently using. Then ask them to highlight every strategy that they need to incorporate, and brainstorm ideas about how they will attempt to use them. They can write these suggestions in the comments section of the AcademiKit Individual Development Plan. (You can review an AcademiKit Individual Development Plan a list along with the students, and model how you are highlighting areas you could improve and how you could improve them, for example, recording time commitments for each day, and taking five minutes on Sunday night to review commitments and add any new ones.)

Time management

Ask students to record all of their fixed time commitments for the upcoming week in their weekly schedule section of the time manager. These should include:
- Classes
- Meetings
- Extra-curricular activities, such as sports, student organizations, etc.
- Appointments
Then have students exchange schedules and look for possible times to study; the students should consider these study times as fixed commitments and highlight them as a reminder.