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Copyright Enforcement & Reprint Check Tool: Article Reprints In Google Article Reprints In MSN Article Reprints In Yahoo! Article Reprints In WindSeek Article Reprints In AllTheWeb Article Reprints In AltaVista Article Reprints In Lycos Original Distribution Date: 2008-04-04 11:12:00 Word Count: 815 Times Viewed: 91 Article Rating: 0.00 Votes Cast: 0 Google PageRank: 0 PR Last Checked: 2008-04-04 Author Overall Stats: Times Viewed Overall: 10712 Author Overall Rating: 3.30 Votes Cast Overall: 55 More Articles By This Author: Articles On This Website Make Money Online FREE Getting Started Package Available Would You Like To Own Your Own Article Directory? We Recommend Article Friendly. Save Money on Auto Parts Sign up to sell more than a dozen top-selling products Download the Niche-Browser for FREE! Mobile Phone Review http://thephantomwriters.com/free_content/db/k/study-skills-are-boring.shtml Study Skills Are Boring! Or, Are They? Copyright © 2008 Susan Kruger, All Rights Reserved “Study skills are boring!” That is what most students tell me when I first meet them. Boring!? These are skills that can help them get better grades and spend less time on homework how can they be boring? Honestly, there is a good explanation for the bad rap that study skills have developed over the years because a lot of boring things are labeled as “study skills.” Learning how to use guide words in a dictionary...a necessary skill, but boring! SQ3R a reading strategy with many merits, but leaves me asking, “Who wants to take the time to do all five steps?” Boring! Identifying the main idea and supporting details on endless worksheets? Another important skill, but still boring. There is a broader and more important role study skills should be playing in the lives of our middle and high school students, especially in our current Information Age, when we must prepare students for many careers and jobs that do not even exist yet. Study skills are: The skills required to be an independent learner. Skills that build confidence. Skills that develop efficiency. Skills that improve performance to prepare our students for high-stakes tests and the globally competitive job market of the future. Skills that enable students to be proactive, make good decisions, and think critically. The LAST thing they should be is boring! We were all born with a natural desire to learn. Infants, toddlers, and pre-schoolers love to explore their world and take pride in learning new things. Just yesterday, my four-year-old was so excited about learning that he stood on top of his chair and raised both arms in triumph exclaiming in a ‘na-na-na-na-na-na’ tone, “I learned a new wo-rd! I learned a new wo-rd!” THAT was utter exhilaration over learning! But, sometime in the elementary years, most students lose that enthusiasm for learning, usually because they lose all of their choices. Learning becomes dictated by their teachers, school districts, and state-mandated curriculum. They are suddenly swallowed into a bureaucracy of texts, tests, and lectures that would bore any rational human being. Much of these mandates and “lack of choices” are and will remain out of students’ control, but there is a vital component we can offer students to bring some pizzazz back to learning. Teach them study skills principles and strategies to be organized and learn efficiently. Show them they have the power to beat the system. Well, maybe not beat the system, but at least work with the system strategically to be successful. When strategic learning enters the picture, students regain some control. They develop personal power. And they learn important life-long skills that will someday help them manage a home and career. These may sound like lofty concepts, but they have real, concrete implications. For example, as parents and educators: We can acknowledge that organizing papers and school-work is difficult because traditional systems actually complicate the process. We can then explore principles for organizing and strategies to simplify the process. We can acknowledge that text-books are boring. But, if students understand how to maximize their brain’s learning process, they can be strategic readers and exponentially increase their reading comprehension while only reading a fraction of the text. When we want to say, “Why can’t you plan ahead?!” we can pause and understand that they have never really learned how to plan ahead. Armed with that perspective, we can help them discover how to prioritize their time and think proactively. There is a commercial that depicts two professionals heading into their office building at the beginning of the day. They are both neatly groomed and dressed professionally. You can presume from their appearance and surroundings that they are well-educated people. They are both half-way up an escalator when the escalator suddenly stops. They look shocked and bewildered. “I don’t need this!” complains the woman. “Figures!” grumbles the man. They look around in panic and start feeling around for their cell phones, but both discover they have forgotten their phones at home. As the commercial continues, these two “smart professionals” remain stranded for what appears to be hours, yelling and screaming for help and wallowing in their unfortunate sorrow that they are stuck on an escalator. That’s right it’s an escalator, NOT an elevator. Are you wondering why they don’t just stand up and walk off? That’s the point of the commercial...some solutions are so blatantly obvious to some, but not to all. Students, in particular, are commonly stuck on their own escalators, running for help every time they get stuck and not employing any strategies or critical thinking to move forward. Arming students with study skills --skills for thinking strategically about organizing, managing time, and learning-- gives them the power to simply stand up and walk off their own escalator. Taking control over their learning? Learning how to ‘play in the system’ with strategy? There is nothing boring about that! About The Author: Susan Kruger is the author of SOAR Study Skills; A Simple and Efficient System for Earning Better Grades in Less Time. Get Susan's FREE Homework Rx Toolkit, featuring 25 Ways to Make Homework Easier...Tonight!, at her website: http://soarstudyskills.com/. BlinkBits Blinklist BlogMarks Co.mments Connotea Delicious Delirious Digg it Fark it Furl This Link A GoGo Magnolia Netvouz Raw Sugar Reddit Scuttle Seed This Shadows Simpy Smarking Spurl This TailRank Wists Feed Me Links Technorati Cosmos YahooMyWeb VOTE ON THIS ARTICLE Needs Work >> 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 << Excellent Article Tell our authors what you think about their article. Automatically Post This Article To Your Blog by inserting your Email-To-Blog Address, as can be set up in your Blogging software: "Link Back To This Article" Copy-And-Paste Are You Using This Article? We want to know about it. HTML Article Copy-And-Paste <font size=+2>Study Skills Are Boring! Or, Are They?</font><BR> Copyright © 2008 Susan Kruger, All Rights Reserved<BR><BR><BR> “Study skills are boring!” That is what most students tell me when I first meet them.<BR><BR> Boring!? These are skills that can help them get better grades and spend less time on homework how can they be boring?<BR><BR> Honestly, there is a good explanation for the bad rap that study skills have developed over the years because a lot of boring things are labeled as “study skills.” Learning how to use guide words in a dictionary...a necessary skill, but boring! SQ3R a reading strategy with many merits, but leaves me asking, “Who wants to take the time to do all five steps?” Boring! Identifying the main idea and supporting details on endless worksheets? Another important skill, but still boring.<BR><BR> There is a broader and more important role study skills should be playing in the lives of our middle and high school students, especially in our current Information Age, when we must prepare students for many careers and jobs that do not even exist yet. Study skills are:<BR><BR> <LI>The skills required to be an independent learner.<LI>Skills that build confidence.<LI>Skills that develop efficiency.<LI>Skills that improve performance to prepare our students for high-stakes tests and the globally competitive job market of the future.<LI>Skills that enable students to be proactive, make good decisions, and think critically.</LI><BR> The LAST thing they should be is boring!<BR><BR> We were all born with a natural desire to learn. Infants, toddlers, and pre-schoolers love to explore their world and take pride in learning new things. Just yesterday, my four-year-old was so excited about learning that he stood on top of his chair and raised both arms in triumph exclaiming in a ‘na-na-na-na-na-na’ tone, “I learned a new wo-rd! I learned a new wo-rd!” THAT was utter exhilaration over learning!<BR><BR> But, sometime in the elementary years, most students lose that enthusiasm for learning, usually because they lose all of their choices. Learning becomes dictated by their teachers, school districts, and state-mandated curriculum. They are suddenly swallowed into a bureaucracy of texts, tests, and lectures that would bore any rational human being.<BR><BR> Much of these mandates and “lack of choices” are and will remain out of students’ control, but there is a vital component we can offer students to bring some pizzazz back to learning. Teach them study skills principles and strategies to be organized and learn efficiently. Show them they have the power to beat the system. Well, maybe not beat the system, but at least work with the system strategically to be successful. When strategic learning enters the picture, students regain some control. They develop personal power. And they learn important life-long skills that will someday help them manage a home and career.<BR><BR> These may sound like lofty concepts, but they have real, concrete implications. For example, as parents and educators:<BR><BR> <LI>We can acknowledge that organizing papers and school-work is difficult because traditional systems actually complicate the process. We can then explore principles for organizing and strategies to simplify the process.<LI>We can acknowledge that text-books are boring. But, if students understand how to maximize their brain’s learning process, they can be strategic readers and exponentially increase their reading comprehension while only reading a fraction of the text.<LI>When we want to say, “Why can’t you plan ahead?!” we can pause and understand that they have never really learned how to plan ahead. Armed with that perspective, we can help them discover how to prioritize their time and think proactively. There is a commercial that depicts two professionals heading into their office building at the beginning of the day. They are both neatly groomed and dressed professionally. You can presume from their appearance and surroundings that they are well-educated people. They are both half-way up an escalator when the escalator suddenly stops.</LI><BR> They look shocked and bewildered. “I don’t need this!” complains the woman. “Figures!” grumbles the man. They look around in panic and start feeling around for their cell phones, but both discover they have forgotten their phones at home.<BR><BR> As the commercial continues, these two “smart professionals” remain stranded for what appears to be hours, yelling and screaming for help and wallowing in their unfortunate sorrow that they are stuck on an escalator. That’s right it’s an escalator, NOT an elevator.<BR><BR> Are you wondering why they don’t just stand up and walk off?<BR><BR> That’s the point of the commercial...some solutions are so blatantly obvious to some, but not to all. Students, in particular, are commonly stuck on their own escalators, running for help every time they get stuck and not employing any strategies or critical thinking to move forward.<BR><BR> Arming students with study skills --skills for thinking strategically about organizing, managing time, and learning-- gives them the power to simply stand up and walk off their own escalator.<BR><BR> Taking control over their learning? Learning how to ‘play in the system’ with strategy? There is nothing boring about that! <BR><BR> <B><I>About The Author:</I></B><BR> <table border=1 cellpadding=4><tr><td><font size=2 face=verdana> <B>Susan Kruger</B> is the author of <I>SOAR Study Skills; A Simple and Efficient System for Earning Better Grades in Less Time</I>. Get Susan's FREE Homework Rx Toolkit, featuring <B>25 Ways to Make Homework Easier...Tonight!</B>, at her website: <a href=http://soarstudyskills.com/ target=_blank>http://soarstudyskills.com/</a>. </font></td></tr></table> <BR><BR><font size=1 face=verdana>Article Source: <a href=http://thePhantomWriters.com/ target=_blank>thePhantomWriters Article Submission Service</a></font><BR><BR> TEXT Article Copy-And-Paste Study Skills Are Boring! Or, Are They? Copyright © 2008 Susan Kruger, All Rights Reserved “Study skills are boring!” That is what most students tell me when I first meet them. Boring!? These are skills that can help them get better grades and spend less time on homework how can they be boring? Honestly, there is a good explanation for the bad rap that study skills have developed over the years because a lot of boring things are labeled as “study skills.” Learning how to use guide words in a dictionary...a necessary skill, but boring! SQ3R a reading strategy with many merits, but leaves me asking, “Who wants to take the time to do all five steps?” Boring! Identifying the main idea and supporting details on endless worksheets? Another important skill, but still boring. There is a broader and more important role study skills should be playing in the lives of our middle and high school students, especially in our current Information Age, when we must prepare students for many careers and jobs that do not even exist yet. Study skills are: * The skills required to be an independent learner. * Skills that build confidence. * Skills that develop efficiency. * Skills that improve performance to prepare our students for high-stakes tests and the globally competitive job market of the future. * Skills that enable students to be proactive, make good decisions, and think critically. The LAST thing they should be is boring! We were all born with a natural desire to learn. Infants, toddlers, and pre-schoolers love to explore their world and take pride in learning new things. Just yesterday, my four-year-old was so excited about learning that he stood on top of his chair and raised both arms in triumph exclaiming in a ‘na-na-na-na-na-na’ tone, “I learned a new wo-rd! I learned a new wo-rd!” THAT was utter exhilaration over learning! But, sometime in the elementary years, most students lose that enthusiasm for learning, usually because they lose all of their choices. Learning becomes dictated by their teachers, school districts, and state-mandated curriculum. They are suddenly swallowed into a bureaucracy of texts, tests, and lectures that would bore any rational human being. Much of these mandates and “lack of choices” are and will remain out of students’ control, but there is a vital component we can offer students to bring some pizzazz back to learning. Teach them study skills principles and strategies to be organized and learn efficiently. Show them they have the power to beat the system. Well, maybe not beat the system, but at least work with the system strategically to be successful. When strategic learning enters the picture, students regain some control. They develop personal power. And they learn important life-long skills that will someday help them manage a home and career. These may sound like lofty concepts, but they have real, concrete implications. For example, as parents and educators: * We can acknowledge that organizing papers and school-work is difficult because traditional systems actually complicate the process. We can then explore principles for organizing and strategies to simplify the process. * We can acknowledge that text-books are boring. But, if students understand how to maximize their brain’s learning process, they can be strategic readers and exponentially increase their reading comprehension while only reading a fraction of the text. * When we want to say, “Why can’t you plan ahead?!” we can pause and understand that they have never really learned how to plan ahead. Armed with that perspective, we can help them discover how to prioritize their time and think proactively. There is a commercial that depicts two professionals heading into their office building at the beginning of the day. They are both neatly groomed and dressed professionally. You can presume from their appearance and surroundings that they are well-educated people. They are both half-way up an escalator when the escalator suddenly stops. They look shocked and bewildered. “I don’t need this!” complains the woman. “Figures!” grumbles the man. They look around in panic and start feeling around for their cell phones, but both discover they have forgotten their phones at home. As the commercial continues, these two “smart professionals” remain stranded for what appears to be hours, yelling and screaming for help and wallowing in their unfortunate sorrow that they are stuck on an escalator. That’s right it’s an escalator, NOT an elevator. Are you wondering why they don’t just stand up and walk off? That’s the point of the commercial...some solutions are so blatantly obvious to some, but not to all. Students, in particular, are commonly stuck on their own escalators, running for help every time they get stuck and not employing any strategies or critical thinking to move forward. Arming students with study skills --skills for thinking strategically about organizing, managing time, and learning-- gives them the power to simply stand up and walk off their own escalator. Taking control over their learning? Learning how to ‘play in the system’ with strategy? There is nothing boring about that! ============================================================ Susan Kruger is the author of "SOAR Study Skills; A Simple and Efficient System for Earning Better Grades in Less Time". Get Susan's FREE Homework Rx Toolkit, featuring "25 Ways to Make Homework Easier...Tonight!", at her website: http://soarstudyskills.com/ ============================================================ Read More Articles From Susan Kruger: http://thePhantomWriters.com/free_content/d/index.shtml#Susan_Kruger Article Description Copy-And-Paste In our current 'Information Age,' study skills have an important role to play in our middle schools and high schools. Explore what they are --and are not-- and how they can empower our next generation. 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