Learning Hack of the Day- Get a Head Start

Find out what textbooks you will be using next semester; get a copy. Preview as much of this textbook as you can. Also try to get a syllabus ahead of tine.

Learn something. Most students are now between semesters, but that does not mean we stop learning. Spend school holidays learning American Sign Language, French, or a new sport. The children of wealthy families are encouraged to learn between semesters. The rest of us can greatly add to our intellectual wealth at this time too.

Learning hack of the day: Keep A Journal

Keep a journal. Journals are writing practice, and writing is a skill needed for so many of today's courses and career paths. A diary is about what you did today. A journal can focus on today, a memory or on future hopes. It is more about feelings and reflections than about today's day. There are dozens of ways a journal can help us in our schooling and in our careers. I'll describe some of those in upcoming blogs. For now, let's get in the practice of writing every day. Think of it as being like piano practice or daily exercise. Build those writing muscles.

Scholarships

School is expensive. Finding scholarships is important. I used to have to spend an afternoon in a research library. Today's students can check out http://www.collegexpress.com/home. If you haven't found the right college yet this site has the information you need to find and apply at the right school

Learning Hack of the Day - Learn for You

Know that you are learning because you want to learn. You are NOT learning for a teacher, a boss, a test or a job. You are learning for you. If you are learning for any other reason, you will forget the learning as soon as you leave the class, if not before. There is only one reason to learn, and that is because we want to learn.

Learning Hack of the Day: Remember when Learning Felt Great.

Separate thoughts about learning from thoughts about school. Learning sometimes has nothing to do with school We learn when we want to learn and when we put in the effort. Leaning is about something that happens inside us. School is something that happens outside of us. Learning is a good thing; school should be a good thing. But it is often about wrong answers on tests, grades, and report cards. Those things have nothing to do with learning. Proms, sports, bullies and popularity have nothing to do with learning. Start feeling good about learning again like you did when you were too little to go to school. Remember a time when you won a blue ribbon, or knew the meaning of a word everyone else was unsure about, or rode a bicycle for the first time. Before you start to learn anything new, sit down for a few minutes and think about how good that felt.

Learning Hack of the Day- Have Fun

Have fun. If you are not having fun learning.,you are not doing it right. Whatever the learning chore, find a way to make it fun. When I took college algebra, I was terrified. I dreaded it, but then I started looking on the algebra “problems” as types of puzzles. I enjoy puzzles so that helped. Algebra was also a break from all the reading and writing I did in other classes. It became enjoyable.