Ninth Grade Honors Boot Camp

Please refer to the Lemon Bay Study Skills Appendix in Media on our LBHS Website for Templates and Tips.

Scholars are responsible for their education.

Scholars are “metacognitions.”

Scholars follow the 4 P’s= Plan, Prepare, Practice, Produce

Monday: Course Awareness

I] Syllabus, Objectives, Expectations

1) Plan: Get to know your syllabus, procedures, and expectations immediately.

2) Prepare: Highlight or underline key concepts and ask questions for clarity

3) Practice: Situational White Board game in groups.

4) Produce: A) Manta Quiz tomorrow on situations practiced and highlighted today and on the TIPS below. No notes. B) Share your course syllabi and this Boot Camp Agenda, and ask parents to sign all forms. B) Write a response to my letter due Monday.

II] Organization and Time Management

1)Plan: Keep organized, manage time, complete goals

2)Prepare: Write all assignments and activities in an agenda book or on a calendar. Organize and maintain a notebook or binder with proper labels.

3)Practice: Write your HW for the week or your schedule for the day. Finish and cross off assignments tonight as completed.

4)Produce: Organize binder into 4 sections and label and organize summer assignment notes and papers received today into that binder. If no binder yet, paper clip your papers into correct sections until Monday when I check the binders.

TIPS on

1) Homework…

a) Purpose is to plan, prepare, practice, or produce.

b) You will have homework in college and in your career. It is a given. Honors can expect 2-3 hours a day at 10-15 hours per week. If you don’t have as much one day, read, or prep for future tests or projects during your allotted time.

c) Have a routine and a set space. No TV, cell phones, or social media for your allotted time. Take breaks every 30 minutes to an hour depending on your stamina.

2) Procrastination…

a) Admit procrastination is a choice and not your nature.

b) Make a schedule and stick to it. Cross off work on your agenda or calendar when you complete it.

c) Reward yourself after completion of tasks, not during.

GIVE A QUIZ

Tuesday: Study Skills #1

I] Note Taking:

Plan: Become familiar with popular patterns and styles of note taking used in university.

Prepare: The eight common patterns of organizations are as follows:

1) Descriptive

2) Chronological or Sequenced

3) Process/ Cause and Effect

4) Generalization, Main Idea, or Claim and Examples/ Support

5) Episodic (5 W’s)

6) Concept

7) Classification

8) Compare and/or Contrast OR Similarities and/or Differences

A) Linguistic methods- primarily uses words and phrases

a) i.e. formal and informal outlines, lists, charting such as Cornell Notes, annotations (marking up a text with words, symbols etc.)

B) Nonlinguistic: primarily uses visuals or graphic organizers

a) i.e. webs, boxes, pictures, time lines, Venn diagrams

Practice:

1) Identify the pattern of organization and whether or not it is linguistic or nonlinguistic. Best pattern to use for particular assignments?

Produce: Choose a linguistic or nonlinguistic methods of note taking to demonstrate 6 types of conflict (for example, parentvs. child) and their causes, effects, and resolutions.

Review the tips from yesterday and read the tips for today.

TIPS on Notes…

1)Purpose is to engage in your lessons, supplement your lessons, and to prepare for future projects, presentations and tests.

2)This is a given. You will have to take notes in college and in your career, both from text and from lecture and discussion. While no one may check them in college, you will feel the consequences of attempting to survive through memory alone.

3)Always label your notes with objective, topic, date and page numbers if multiple pages. Use short hand or abbreviations, but be neat about it. Hate it when I can’t even read or understand my own notes.

4)Notes are always works in progress. Leave spaces in the margin or between lines so you can write questions and add notes from class / additional readings.

5)Somehow note unfamiliar terms and care to find out what they mean either through context or dictionary. Care about how they are pronounced as well, please.

6)Learn your favorite styles now and research note taking templates, so you know what will help when you are typing your notes.

Wednesday: Study Skills #2

I] Test Preparation

Plan: Learn some strategies for successful test-taking.

Prepare: The following are a few helpful strategies for test preparation:

1)Flash cards: question/ answer. term/ definition, cause/ effect and any of the note taking patterns linguistically or nonlinguistically from yesterday’s notes may be flash-carded. Be creative.

2)Quizlet. Create your own lists, make virtual cards, and play games to study. FREE.

3)Mnemonic devices, i.e. songs, abbreviations, rhythms, pictures…

4)Highlight, annotate,or type your notes. Say the notes aloud as you do so. Five or more times…Five or more time… Five or more times… Five or more times… Five or more times…Five or more times…

5) Charts or columns can be folded or covered for review. The answer is right there.

6)Do practice questions. Read the annotated answers. Why are you right? Why not?

7)Better yet, create the questions you think will be asked in the style of your professor. (Could be a note card?)

8)For essay tests, write an outline with a) the claim or thesis b) the transitions you want to use c) the bulleted support. Just because it is an essay test doesn’t mean you don’t prepare.

Practice: We will practice or see a sample of the methods above.

Produce:

1) Choose a strategy(ies) from above to prepare for a quiz tomorrow that will ask you to provide examples from your experiences, your readings or viewings, history or current events to answer the following questions: A) Are individuals and the community in conflict? B) What is “Common Ground” and the best way to achieve it? C) Will people go to any lengths to connect? I will ask to see your test preparation, so please being it (them) with you tomorrow.

Review the tips for the week and read the tips for today.

TIPS on Test Taking…

1)Purpose is to diagnose a strength or weakness or to assess whether or not you have mastered content.

2)This is a given. You will be tested for admission into university, throughout your courses university and perhaps even to exit university. Tests are high stakes, and must be taken seriously with preparation.

3)Start your review early. Cramming doesn’t reap lasting benefits and could actually back fire into blanking out.

4)Create study groups at school or on social media.

5)Timing is crucial. Learn the formats. Which questions are worth most? Do them first. Complete the easy questions and circle the items you skip to go back to them. For non-penalty multiple choice tests, always eliminate as many answers as possible and make the best choice.

6)When the test is finished, your relationship with the test isn’t. Remember metacognition. Pay attention to the results. Savor your strengths, but learn from the errors. Pay attention to post-test reviews. Find the correct answers or if you can’t find them, ask your professor. Write the correct answers on returned test, make notes in your notes where you need work, set up time to work with your professor, get some tutoring.

7)Relax. If you have done your best to prepare, you should be proud of your best. Visualize success.

Thursday: Discussions and Presentations

Plan: Become familiar with expectations for class discussions and for presentations.

Prepare:

I] Discussions: There are two main discussion formats for university: the professor-led question-and-answer and the student-led Socratic Seminar.

1) The teacher-led requires for you to come prepared with the background reading and notes and to be alert during lecture or readings. The professor will call on you at any time, and you must be ready. You will not be permitted to shrug your shoulders or simply answer, “I don’t know.” Think first, consult your notes then, as a last resort, you may let the class know that you will look into it. You will probably be asked to reflect on the answer later in the discussion.

2) Socratic Seminars will be lead by a student or a team who are responsible for keeping the discussion moving and for maintaining etiquette. You will come to seminar with research, notes, annotations, or questions prepared in advance. Participation in these discussions are scored based on these basic requirements: A) the questions you have generated on a topic, B) your response to a topic or question, C) defense or evidence for your contribution using notes or text, D) elaboration on or refutation of a classmate’s response.

II] Presentations: You will be required to present individually or with a group.

1)When you present individually, you will need to stand either at your desk or in front of the class.

2) Know your material. Notes are meant as an aide, not as a crutch. Note cards, visuals, Power Points should supplement your presentation and should not simple be read aloud to the audience. NEVER pass a single paper back and forth between group members during a presentation.

3)You must practice at home. Prepare in front of a mirror or your friends. Project your voice and look at your audience. Practice pronunciation of words in advance. Know when you want to emphasize a point, and where to draw attention to your visuals.

4)Visuals should always be taken seriously as an enhancement of the material. Chunks of copied and pasted text or images are never acceptable. Sloppy visuals expose poor planning and carelessness.

5)All outside sources and research MUST be attributed and cited using MLA format either on a separate Works Cited page or on the product itself. Without attribution, your work is plagiarized, or stolen. Your instructor will let you know which style to use for the assignment.

Practice: Using your test-taking notes from yesterday, we will practice a brief Socratic Seminar. I will assign a student leader to practice placing marks on a rubric.

Produce: Tomorrow you will have a chance to participate in a Socratic Seminar with some of our MAPS Team regarding the honors program and their experiences and tips for success. In order to prepare, please prepare at least five questions in Cornell-Notes style that you have about success in high school and preparing for honors classes.

Review the tips for the week and read the tips for today.

TIPS for Discussions and Presentations…

1)Purpose is to apply knowledge, to learn from peers, clear up confusion, and practice verbal articulation and defense of a claim.

2)This is a given. You will have to discuss and present material in university and in your career, most of which you will have to research and support on your own. While you may not be graded on discussions in college; you will garner more from your classes and will stand out as an attentive and serious student. You will be graded on presentations and sometimes by your classmates who are counting on you to supplement their learning.

3)Clear up confusion with questions at the beginning and during discussions and immediately after presentations.

4)Always create or add notes to your own during discussions and presentations. These notes will be handy for review.

5)Always look at the speaker(s) even if she/he is behind you. Never have side conversations. That is always rude. Acknowledge the speaker’s contribution with respect, even if you disagree.

6)We always clap at the end of presentations and contribute constructive criticism.

Friday: The Success in and Expectations of the Honors Program

Plan: To learn about the Honors program and to receive tips for success from current scholars in a Socratic format.

Prepare: Using your five questions, engage in a Socratic Seminar with the MAPS Team.

Practice: Practice expectations for discussions from yesterday’s class. You are expected to pose questions and to take notes on the answers and to add additional questions and any relevant point to your notes. I will document the scores on this first discussion.

Produce: You will turn in your notes.

Review the tips for the week .