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Brain Activities

December 18th, 2015

Try these fun brain activities! Now that it’s winter break, it’s easy to just turn off your brain and become a blob for two weeks. While you definitely do deserve a bit of a break from school, now is not the time to shut down completely. While celebrating the holidays, you can get creative! Ditch the books, but do some mental exercises. Here are some things you can do to keep your brain active over break.

 

  1. Read a good book: Put Animal Farm and Macbeth away and grab a book to read for pleasure. Cuddle up with a blanket and a hot chocolate and dive into Oprah’s latest faves.
  2. Do Chemistry conversions through cooking: As you’re helping prepare Christmas dinner, practice converting things from grams to ounces. Don’t forget sig figs!
  3. Write an essay analyzing on your favorite Holiday movie: Jk this is excessive.
  4. Maintain healthy habits: While it’s tempting to stay up all night devouring Orange is the New Black, doing that every night is going to make January 4 tough. Maintain a somewhat normal sleep schedule, work out and stay active!
  5. Color Coordinate your gift list: This is good practice for making effective finals study guides.
  6. Do something new: Try paddle boarding, bake a new recipe, or complete a puzzle!
  7. Brush up on life skills: Learn how to do a load of laundry (an important skill before you go to college!)
  8. Study for finals: With finals coming up at the end of the month, putting in time now will get you in good shape. Start by reviewing old tests, making notecards, or organizing your notes into flow charts.
    Brain Activities

Make the Most of Your Tutoring Session

May 22nd, 2015

One of the most common problems students have when they come in for tutoring is being unprepared.  This eats up a good portion of a student’s session.  Luckily, it is easily remedied. This is how you can make the most of your tutoring session.

 

 

Bring Your Materials Make the Most of Your Tutoring Session

Having the proper materials is one of the most important factors to having a productive tutoring session.  Too often students assume that the textbook will be online or at the Hut, and then they waste valuable time looking for it.  Other times, students will get to their session and realize they cannot do their work because they left their materials at home.  Before coming to your session, jot down a list of what you need to do and what you will need to do that.  Then make sure you have everything you need.

 

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Know What Areas You Are Struggling In

It doesn’t help you if you hand your tutor a study guide saying you need to go over everything and then as they try to cover each topic you say you already know it.  Know specifically what areas of the content you are having trouble grasping, so you can focus on that with your tutor.  This way you will not waste time going over things you already know.

 

Have a Good Attitude ☺

This is the most important part.  Come to your session ready to focus and learn.  Being miffed you have to go to tutoring or being too tired will guarantee that you won’t soak up as much information as if you had gone in with a positive attitude.  We are here to help you and make school make sense!

 

The Students Tutors Love

September 29th, 2014

It’s no question that education is a two way street. Teachers, parents and tutors are united in their efforts to bestow kernels of wisdom on the younger generation. Likewise, students soak up information like a sponge. But when one is out of sync with the other, it’s a situation where full learning can be lost in the wind. However, being a tutor of many years now, I can honestly say there are a few key qualities I’ve seen in students that make the flow of learning right as rain. Not to let educators off the hook (two way street, right?), but students can certainly learn from the following ideas on how to be a student tutors will love. 

ORGANIZATION
It seems like a cliche, but Office Depot and The Container Store are the keys to 50% of learning. As human beings, we naturally codify, order and pattern information into compartments in our brain for easy retrieval. That’s why highlighters and binders and all the other trinkets sold at these stores will help students learn and retain information. Tutors love it when their students show up organized and ready to learn and review. When students are organized, they’ve done half the work!
PARTICIPATION
As mentioned above, learning is a two way street, which means interaction, asking questions and providing feedback are key to a good study session. Studies show that repeating ideas out loud will help students understand and retain new information better than simply listening. That’s why questions are great! Activities such as games and exercises will also maintain participation.
GOOD ATTITUDE
Who doesn’t want to be in good company? This goes for both the teacher and student. A good attitude can go a long way in building trust, keeping focus, and developing a strong report. Furthermore, having a good attitude might even surprise the most unsuspecting student because a positive mood opens our minds to learning something new. What tutor doesn’t love for their student to learn something new?