Study Skills Series, Grades 6 - 12

Program Description

Our study skills instruction takes place during the summer such that we can provide students with a "mock class."  By providing an actual class ourselves, we can be sensitive to individual learning differences. This sensitivity will allow us to make sure that your child has mastered important study skills and has contacted success in applying such skills in an actual class setting.

Our "Attack the Text" Approach is a highly effective study strategy designed to dramatically improve students' performances in content courses, such as history and science. Unfortunately, students typically lack the skills required to truly comprehend texts associated with such courses-often because we initially learn to read with fictional materials.

Fiction reading is more interesting and easier to comprehend than textbook reading. As such, the ability to read fiction does not automatically transfer to strong study skills. Taking a reading strategy designed for fiction writing and applying it to a textbook is ineffective and frustrating. Try reading a chapter from one of your child's textbooks as if it were a novel and you will know this experience first-hand.

"Attack the Text" was developed by our center after carefully monitoring the study habits of graduate students who are required to quickly read and comprehend large amounts of complex material. Through our observations, we were able to identify common strategies employed and compile these into a systematic approach for use by Junior High and High School students.

Our approach to text reading involves (1) abstracting global themes buried in textbooks and (2) synthesizing themes with important content. Students learn to rapidly decode text, mark important information and chunk this information into logical and learnable units. The process is less time consuming and produces greater comprehension than strategies typically used by students. In the end, your child will learn to attack his or her texts and get the most out of their content courses.

SAFMEDS is a researched method of studying for content courses that involves organizing material into learnable units and creating study cards
(Graf, 1994; & Graf & Lindsley, 2002). Students benefit from SAFMEDS through active and frequent studying, which allows the development
of fluency— or recall of facts at a rapid pace-over material before entering an exam. This method compliments "Attack the Text" as it reinforces
key concepts acquired through text reading.



What does SAFMEDS mean?

S — say — the learner should say the responses out loud. Not "think" the responses silently.
A — all — one works with the entire deck of cards as a unit.
F — fast — in the timed sessions, work through the cards as quickly as possible. Not slowly like flashcards.
M — minute — the brief, timed sessions are just that, brief! Either a minute, a half-minute, quarter minute, etc.
E — every — working with every card in a unit so the unit can become a whole.
D — day — do the brief, timed sessions every day, at least once a day.
S — shuffle — shuffle the cards before doing a timing.

The critical element of this method is that learning and studying are broken down into brief but intense
periods. Such activities not only produce greater learning and true mastery of concepts, but also prevent the
burnout associated with typical "cram" sessions.

To learn more about SAFMEDS...

Graf, S.A. (1994). How to Develop, Produce and Use SAFMEDS in Education and Training. Poland, Ohio: Stephen A.
Graf, Ph.D. publisher.

Graf, S. A. & Lindsley, O. (2002). Standard Celeration Charting. Poland, Ohio: Stephen A. Graf, Ph.D. publisher.

Lindsley, O. & Esheleman, J. (2000). Guidelines and Considerations for SAFMEDS.
URL:http://members.aol.com/standardcharter/safmeds1.html

Note-taking is a necessary skill for academic success that many students never master.
Unfortunately, the act of poor note-taking interferes with comprehension and test performance.

Guided Notes is a highly effective method of teaching note-taking skills that has been shown to dramatically improve
the academic performance of high school and college students. During Keys to Academic Success, we will use
Guided Notes to teach your child how to recognize and record important concepts while keeping up with a lecture. By
following along with our guided lectures and receiving continual feedback on performance, your child will learn how to
get the most out of his/her classroom time. We will also teach your child how to effectively use his/her notes for
creating SAFMEDS and preparing for tests.

To learn more about Guided Notes...

Austin, J. L., Gilbert, M., Thibeault, M., Carr, J. E., & Bailey, J. S. (in press). The effects of guided notes on student
responding and recall of information in a university classroom. Journal of Behavioral Education.

Heward, W. L. (1994). Three "low-tech" strategies for increasing the frequency of active student response during
group instruction. In R. Gardner, D. M. Sainato, J. O. Cooper, T. E. Heron, W. L. He ward, J. Eshleman, & T. A. Grossi
(Eds.), Behavior analysis in education: Focus on measurably superior instruction (pp. 283 - 320). Monterey, CA:
Brooks/Cole.

Overview of Course Structure

Keys to Academic Success is a semester-long course scheduled to begin on September 1st and continue through
December 16th. Each class will be divided into an Instructional Hour and a Study Hour.

The Instructional Hour is designed to introduce your child to specific strategies for improving his/her organizational
and study skills. Your child's learning of each study strategy will be facilitated through the use of Direct Instruction, a
highly effective teaching process that has been extensively tested and researched. In Direct Instruction, your child will
actively participate in class through choral responding and frequent personal interactions with the Lead Instructor.

The Study Hour is designed to provide your child with the opportunity to apply strategies introduced during the
Instructional Hour when completing his/her individual homework assignments. During the Study Hour, your child's
performance will be monitored by an Instructor to ensure that strategies are being implemented correctly. The
Instructor will also be available to answer questions or provide assistance with concepts specifically related to your
child's homework assignments.

To Learn More About Direct Instruction:

Carnine, D. & Silbert, J. (1979). Direct Instruction Reading. Columbus, Ohio: Merrill Publishing Company.

Silbert, J., Carnine, D., & Stein, M. (1981). Direct Instruction Mathematics. Columbus, Ohio: Merrill Publishing
Company.