Reading!

This week we did an activity that involved 5 students. 1 student was reading a book out loud, 1 was listening to her read, 1 was yelling “time” every 5 seconds, and the other 2 were tossing a ball back and forth. Needless to say, it was hectic! This was a fun way of introducing our focus for the week, reading. I think just about every student has a difficult time staying focused while reading a college textbook. I personally don’t enjoy reading as a hobby so of course it’s especially hard for me to stay on task when it’s a book I have to read for a boring class!

       

What are the struggles you face when it comes to reading?

Is it staying engaged?

Not connecting to the material?

Comprehension?

Having no interest?

Do you have a short attention span?

How about the distractions?

Phone?

Roommates?

Music?

Sleep?

Are you hungry?

What we did in class was have our students choose the one most applicable to them and write it on an index card. We divided the class into two groups. Half the class were “coaches” and the other half were “clients”. Each “client” went to a “coach” and explained to them their struggle with reading. The “coaches” job was to find/give solutions to the issue. This was a great way to help students find other students who struggle with the same things they do. And.. in getting the entire class involved! It was fun.

Throughout this activity I heard so many awesome solutions to the problems we all face when it comes to textbook reading:

• Have an intention in mind before you start to reading.
• Take notes throughout.
• Stay positive.
• Skim read (beforehand).
• Find reasons to stay motivated.
• Do an internal review.
• Rephrase the big, difficult words into similar ones that you understand.
• Find a quiet place, whether it be outside, in a library, etc.
• And lastly, PUT YOUR PHONE IN ANOTHER ROOM OR CHANGE THE MODE TO SILENT/AIRPLANE MODE. 

The last thing we showed our students was the Pomodoro technique. This is a good way to stay focused but not get too overwhelmed.

1. Identify your tasks for the day.

2. Set a timer for 25 minutes.

3. Work for the duration of the timer.

4. Take a 5 minute break.

*After every 4th break, take a longer break of 15-30 minutes!

We are all procrastinators...

Procrastination. Don’t you just hate that word? It makes me cringe. Ugh! Do you procrastinate? We have all been victims of procrastination at one time or another.                      

Do any of these sound familiar? I am a cleaner, a list maker, a side tracker, a snacker, a watcher, and a perpetuator. I can almost always find a reason to not start my big homework assignment or to not study for that scary test. Just this weekend I fell into the trap. I needed to study for my big exam that was today but instead of studying for my immediate test I instead focused on all of my other classes. I still felt like I was being productive and accomplishing a lot because I was being proactive with my other assignments. BUT, I still put off the most important thing at that time.

How can we break these trends? I like the ted talk by Tim Urban on procrastination. He uses simple but accurate examples of what goes through a procrastinators mind.

What were your thoughts after watching this video? Does this makes sense to you? I love how he showed us the difference between the two types of procrastination. We need to have an end date in mind no matter how big or small the tasks are. Look at your planners regularly and see if there is anything you can adjust. I like the part of the planner that shows your days in time segments. Try planning out your day in increments of 30 minutes or an hour. See if you are able to stay on track.