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What to Do When Kids Have Trouble Studying

Vinny thinks studying means getting facts to stick in your brain, so he straps his math book to his head and waits forty-five minutes. When he gets an F on his test, he blames his teacher, his mother, and his cat. It never occurs to him to blame his methods.

You can help Vinny develop a personal plan for studying that goes beyond the outmoded methods he devised during elementary school. If you draw on his daily routines, learning style, and organizational habits, he will develop the sophisticated and productive personal resources he needs for middle school.

According to the US Department of Education, most teachers agree that two to two-and-a-half hours of homework is appropriate for kids in seventh grade and above. This can bring on a book-induced headache in kids who have strong reading and writing skills, let alone those who are struggling. But just like Vinny can learn more efficient ways to read, he can learn more fruitful ways to study.

The Root of Study Skills
To succeed in these years of constant and increasing academic demands, Vinny needs to think about how he's thinking. Educators call this "metacognition," and it's his bird's eye view on how he's reflecting, appraising, strategizing, monitoring, and evaluating himself while he studies. It's that elemental self-probing most adults do spontaneously when facing new experiences or challenges. Have I ever seen this before? Do I know anything about it? How do I do it? Do I need help to get it done?

Research studies show that learning increases when kids are taught metacognition skills. It's even being taught to college freshmen. Michele Sabino, visiting assistant professor at the University of Houston Downtown, requires all her freshmen developmental-reading students to develop a plan for how they will learn the required material for her course. She notes, "The ones who were able to develop their own plan for learning were the ones who learned."

"Study skills can't be taught in isolation; they're a bore. Underneath all these isolated study skills is the 'metacognition.' That is what has to take place. Study skills need to be incorporated into good teaching and reinforced repeatedly," says educational diagnostician Carol Springer of Wake, Kendall, Springer, Isenman, Schweickert, Weintraub & Associates of Washington, DC. "Kids need to be responsible for their own progress in school," Springer adds.

Develop a Personal Plan for Studying
Allow 20-30 minutes daily over the period of a week to help Vinny develop a personal plan for studying, one he will eventually be able to use spontaneously for complicated assignments or long-term projects. The key is to listen to how Vinny thinks out loud and talks to himself when he's studying. The better the impression you have, the more consistently you can correct and reinforce how he thinks to make the work he does more effective and successful. Monitor this process for a month to six weeks. Don't hesitate to intervene when stress threatens to sabotage it. Enlist the aid of his favorite aunt or a homework tutor if you feel you and Vinny would benefit from the input of an objective voice in this important process.

Account For Daily Habits
Base Vinny's personal plan for learning, first and foremost, on his daily living needs. Ask him to describe a typical day in his life. Since you never know how the hormones are hammering and changing him today, don't assume you know the answers. Is he a morning person or a night owl? What perks him up? What foods satisfy his hunger best? Does he get tired during the day? What helps him fall asleep? Talk about ways to accommodate his needs for food and rest to his needs for studying. You might find that working on spelling in the morning with a bowl of bananas and milk is his round-trip ticket to an A.

Account For Learning Habits
A quick test of Vinny's learning style is to watch how he teaches someone else. Ask him if he knows how to use the new jar opener or a handheld computer. Does he point and draw an example, lecture, or pick it up in his hands and show you how to use it? Remind him to rely on this method whenever cantankerous concepts cause him to forget. Use it yourself whenever he asks for your help.

Getting Vinny's Mind around an Assignment
Now that you have a general idea of when and how Vinny will study most productively, analyze a specific assignment together. Sample pre-study questions, in italics in the following section, are based on the work of Wilma H. Miller, Professor Emeritus of Education at Illinois State University.

• Do I understand why I have to read this material? What do I already know about this subject? Can I make some predictions about this material even before I read it? These first questions help Vinny focus his attention and make a conscious appraisal of what he already knows about the project ahead. They link learning, concentrate his efforts, sidestep time-consuming and unnecessary repetition, and force him to make predictions. Don't accept short answers to any of these questions. If it's a report, how many pages? If there are math questions, how many? Specifics force him to reflect and project. How well he predicts also demonstrates how well he makes thinking links to visual clues.

• Do I know all that I need to know about this? Do I know where I can get some more information? Can Vinny do the work alone, or will he need another person? Sharing ideas helps kids verify, clarify, expand, or correct their thinking. Encourage him to enlist the support he needs by keeping handy the phone numbers or e-mail addresses of reliable classmates, tutors, or his grandfather in Florida who speaks Vinny's language when it comes to math. Ruminating about the kind of help he needs also teaches flexibility and resourcefulness.

• How much help am I allowed to have? Don't be hoodwinked into believing that middle school teachers give assignments to parents or let best friends study for Vinny's tests. What parts of the assignment must Vinny legitimately do by himself, and what specific parts are you or his study partner permitted to assist with? If he doesn't know or suddenly forgets, call or e-mail his teacher and get clarification.

• What are some new strategies and tactics I can use to learn this? This makes Vinny think of new ways to utilize his talents to fulfill ever-growing academic demands. This is where creativity kicks in. If his social studies teacher is amenable, he might choose to erect a model of an ancient polis instead of reading chapters about Greece and writing out the questions at the end. Teachers know that the greater the choice and stake kids have in their own learning, the greater the motivation and final outcome. Allow ten minutes for strategizing and developing tactics. Repeat this as often as assignments change.
  Try some of these tactics: Instead of laborious note taking, have Vinny write only the most important point of each paragraph. As a hint, tell him to look for main ideas in the first or second line of each paragraph. Have him make up quiz questions for each chapter and then quiz his best friend. Make rhymes to link important names and dates. For example, "in 1903, Orville and Wilbur flew above a tree."

• When is the work due? This simple question forces Vinny to think about time management. How many thirty-minute homework sessions does he think he can fit into his schedule before the project is due? It might even inspire him to get advance notice about assignments, tests, and quizzes.

• How much time will I need to do or learn this? The time element doesn't occur to most kids until 3:30 a.m. Time limits provide critical milestones for kids with attention or behavior disorders to set a realistic pace. Set short-term goals at first so Vinny can experience success faster. Set the kitchen timer, or use a grandfather clock or his wristwatch alarm to sound at fifteen-minute intervals. How many math problems did he complete in that time? Setting concrete time limits even helps kids with strong discipline and skills to stay focused and on task. For long-term reports, teach him to use the "new task" and calendar features in the office program standard on most computers. Periodic reminders can be set to sound off whenever he boots up his computer. By the end of middle school, he should be able to work steadily through three thirty-minute sessions with only short get-a-drink breaks.

• How do I submit it? This encourages Vinny to think about presentation and organization. Must the finished piece be typed or handwritten? In what format and how should the pages be bound? Is the teacher a stickler for spelling? Then talk about how he prepares for school the next day. Does he have a routine place for stashing completed assignments that must be submitted in the morning? What is the best location for his backpack? His lunch money? Sports equipment? Does he have a trick for remembering to stop off at his locker on the way to science class or health class to get his textbook? Conduct a walk-through of assignment requirements and submission strategies to ensure against forgetting, careless omissions, and misplaced or lost work. The best way to get Vinny to plan ahead is to guide him to think ahead.

Bringing the Assignment to a Close
Asking questions will help Vinny monitor himself for mistakes and evaluate his work whether it is a composition for English class or preparation for a test in ancient history. Reviewing material immediately after reading, writing, or reporting makes the information stick to his brain.

After producing written materials, he should ask himself, "How can I spot an error if I make one?" Vinny's best bet is reading aloud. If he's confused after reading a paragraph, it's most likely because he misread something. Have him read a sample section aloud for you to see if he self-corrects. If not, point out errors. Make notes to share with his teacher or tutor about repeated phonetic, visual tracking, or comprehension mistakes. Also, there's no better way to proofread compositions and reports than by rereading them aloud, even to his cat.

After studying for a test, he should ask himself, "Will I be able to answer questions correctly in class? Will I be able to answer them on a test or quiz?" Simple oral questioning or answers jotted on a piece of paper will reveal whether his thinking, strategizing, and timing have been effective. Teach him to dissect errors by talking aloud to you or a friend about how he arrived at an answer. Thinking aloud about his methods is as powerful as reading aloud for detecting and correcting misinformation.

Debriefing Vinny's Study Plan
After a month or six weeks using his personal plan, debrief its efficacy. Debrief and revamp whenever stress blows holes in the process.

• How can I revise my plan if this one is not working? Conduct a three-step review, first by asking Vinny to think about the assignment he just completed. Did he complete the work in a reasonable amount of time? Was he able to participate in class? Get a good test grade? Ask his opinion about his most successful thinking strategy. Was it thinking out how to budget his time to get to his locker and back to science class in time to submit his paper? Was it a wasted effort to set the kitchen timer when his new bedroom wall clock works better? Debrief his personal learning plan, have him make notes, and transfer his best thinking strategies to his next assignment.

A Self-Reflection Checklist
The following checklist condenses the questioning process for developing a personal plan for study for middle school students. Make copies for yourself and Vinny. Add, delete, or change questions to accommodate his changing needs and academic demands. Have him use this before and after all major assignments until he can do it spontaneously.

Checklist For Thinking About Studying
Thinking before I study
Do I understand why I have to read this material?
What do I already know about this subject?
Can I make some predictions about this material before I read it?
Do I know all that I need to know about this?
Do I know where I can get more information?
What are some new strategies and tactics I can use to learn this?
When is the work due?
How much time will I need to do or learn this?
How do I submit it?

Thinking when I finish studying
How can I spot an error if I make one?
Will I be able to answer questions correctly in class?
Will I be able to answer them on a test or quiz?
How can I revise my plan if this one is not working?
A final and very powerful way to get Vinny to think about his thinking is to think aloud yourself. Strategize aloud as you shop in the supermarket, buy a new car, fix dinner, or figure out how to get him to the dentist after the soccer game and home in time to let the cat out. Metacognition prompts self-reflection, forces clarification, and paves the way for self-correction. Show Vinny, with a thinking checklist and by your own good example, that forty-five minutes of self-monitored ruminating is the best study method he can strap to his brain.