ORDER…I SAY ORDER SIR!: Planning your week as a super learner

ORDER…I SAY ORDER SIR!: PLANNING YOUR WEEK AS A SUPER LEARNER

One of the greatest Generals was of course Napoleon, and though little in stature he made up for it in the way that he could motivate people with his ideas and vision. He was of course a darn good planner, and being able to see ahead is one of the greatest traits a strategist can have. In regards dyslexics, then though we can seem very disorganised at times, there is method to our chaos, it’s a matter of us ordering that chaos to benefit rather than drain our energy as it sometimes does. We should also remember that for many of us dyslexics, seeing the bigger picture, as for good ole ‘Napoleon’ is a natural ability and a talent that can be put to use (just look at General Patton, Einstein, Richard Branson and Winston Churchill) and does have its merits for the techniques I use below. A sense of order, as well as foresight is needed, and as a tutor once said, that the way to get a good degree is to be ordered in everyday activities, no matter how small, knowledge comes second to organisation..  These words have rung true and are especially accurate for students who come from an non-traditional background – although it does of course generally apply to all of us; let’s face it, university for some is a like a sweet shop, with lots of things going on, with study just one of them. So being able to prioritise when, where and what you are doing is essential, and putting them into an order where the day into definable segments, even your meals is vital.  The first step is to break down the week. 

Most students get a week study plan in the first days of entering HE, on which they put their lessons and whilst this may order the lessons, what about the rest of the hours? It can seem like an empty limbo. What has proved very successful is filling in these other time slots, so you can get an overview of what the day holds, and prioritising key tasks etc.  First, determine what you are capable of achieving and allocate certain amounts of study and leisure time to your week.  As we can see below, we have a typical student’s weekly chart, and one that has just the class study hours in. As we can see the student has begun their day at 8am, and finished at 11pm, although naturally this can be adjusted to suit you.  A student of mine would get up at 6am and be in bed for 10pm, with no study occurring after 6pm. So do think about what kind of person you are, a morning or night person when designing this chart. You have follow your natural body clock otherwise you are swimming against the current and will always feel unable to cope.

When putting in your classes, then use a colour for each course. This technique will be used for all the various allocations for the week, and does help to order your mind to that particular hour or period of activity. It is also very good when coming to breaks or rest periods. As the moment you see the colour green at 1pm for rest, it seems natural to take a break without you feeling guilty or anxious. The reverse is true for work.  For some students, then they may have a practical or class every two weeks ,again put this in, and give it a colour so you know, and make clear to yourself that in other weeks, this slot can be used for something else. 

Possibly the first thing to do is to decide what day of the weekend you want to use as a rest day. Students always consider this a strange suggestion, as they believe that they have to work seven days a week or that they only need a five day calendar. So, we must first accept that we are timetabling a normal week, and that we should have at least one day off - where we can enjoy our own time and space and relax the mind from the pressures of study. It will also be important, particularly for those living on campus, to escape from the grounds, to do your shopping, visit your friends or go for a day trip. Also for the workaholics, then having time off and resting is part of the learning process, so that the little grey cells can recharge. Whatever day you choose, put the words DAY OFF bold through the session for that particular day.

Next, put in any other activities that you are engaged in, which might include any part time work, sports activities or other societies. Write in what they are and decide upon a colour code for each of these. Following this, decide to look at what you already have, what times you intend to eat. Now, this is very important, as eating can take in resting also, and particularly for the evening meal, having two hours is almost essential. So you may have a timetable where 1pm seems quite regular throughout the week, so designate this as your lunch. You may find that you usually eat between 5-7pm, so again make these two hours a rest period. It is all  down to imagination, flexibility and knowing what kind of person you are.        

  

Intensive study, which includes reading and writing, should of course be done – but not for more than two hours at a time. Why? Well common sense tells us that we get tired, but also, by being tired, we lose concentration and our memory starts winding down, and becomes less effective. Also our writing ability can waiver, and possibly we are not as sharp or on the ball as we want to be.  So putting in a number of two hour slot during the day and then resting is ideal.  We now also go back to our initial comment on deciding what kind of learner you are, a morning, afternoon or night person.  If you don’t get out of bed till 12 noon, then your day will start in the afternoon and go on to midnight. Fine, now work around that. If you are an early morning person, then your day may start at 7am and finish at 7pm. What you have to do now is look at your plan and see where you can put in the 2 hour slots. If you can get in 4 to 6 hours a day study, then you are on to a winner. 

As you can see from the plan, this person works better in the late afternoon-evening, though they will put one hour of video work  between 12 to 1.  This person may also want a nice long lunch or Siesta, giving themselves two hours in the afternoon, and similar in the evening. Again this is a perfect day for this type of student. On other days, the student may just get in 4 hours, but, provided these are cemented in your mind, you can get into a regular routine. What you will also see is that every night after 9pm is students own time and one can go out if need be or watch TV. Now if this was reversed, say for myself, then I would have two hours between 10-12, and a hour video work, then lunch between 1-3 or 4. I don’t function till the afternoon, but work in the evening from 7-9. Again, remember, on both counts, if you have 4 hours per day, you are actually doing 24 solid hours of production time a week - and that is ample.  

TRAINING YOUR SNAKE: How to plan your essays and exams effectively and not get crushed by time running out!!

TRAINING YOUR SNAKE: How to plan your essays and exams effectively and not get crushed by time running out!!

For those of us who have organisational problems or may have even an official title to your chaos…organisational dyslexia, then being able to order your work, namely planning ahead so you are not left at the last moment to write your essay or report might be the saviour you need to get through the course. To see the bigger picture and see how all these little assignments and exams etc. fit together, is vital in both getting higher marks and of course feeling confident and less anxious. Now this includes all work, be it essays (and their drafts) exam times, presentations, group projects, the number one aim here is to find out as soon as you can - during the first few weeks of the first term preferably - when these due dates are, even if you are not fully aware of titles or exact details of the pieces due.  So if you are a first year (and for other years also), find out when most essays are due in – usually around week 10 (or last week) of the first term and/or week 1 (first week back) or so of the 2^nd term. The same probably applies for the second/third term. Then do the same for your exams - usually during the third term. Again this depends on your discipline; you may have a course that has exams at the beginning of the second term. All these should be in your handbook or on the course website. If you’re confused then ask your department. What does seem to occur in some departments is the lack of understanding of how organising your work is vital, and for those with dyslexia or similar this organisation is crucial. Do remember that you are an authority on how you operate and learn best, even if you are bringing in and developing new study routines. Do be polite, but forceful in asking for these deadlines, as the quicker you have them at the beginning of each term then the quicker you can concentrate upon formulating and writing your essay, and of course not being delayed by the other activities that may dissuade you from researching.

Syd the Snake – Time Line

As we can see with the Syd I’ve used, each term is broken into three ten week session. With roughly 4 weeks over the holiday section (or whatever it is for your own university). This is an unusual concept and over the years has taken the imagination of our students, and one we might as proved fruitful in completion rates. 

The first thing to do is put in when pieces of work are due, and also the exams, if you know these. Rather than writing it, use post-it note as indictors, using different colours for different subjects or types of work - if you can’t find post-it notes the colour you need then just use standard ones and colour one corner according to your designation for that course.  For example, if you have 3 pieces of work due in week ten, then put post-it on that week. Once you have done deadline weeks, the next phase is to start working out when you do drafts for these pieces - so possibly you may do the initial research from weeks 2-4, 1^st draft from 4-6, 2^nd draft 6-8, and then smarten up the piece for final submission for week 10. 

The same applies to exams. If you know the dates, and you have say 3 exams, and you get all your essay work done by week 9 let’s say of the 2^nd term, you may start revising during the Easter (which is roughly 4 weeks) and let’s say 2 or 3 weeks before sitting them in the 3^rd term. You can then put this information on Syd the Snake, which accumulates as having 2 weeks of revising for each exam. Of course if you orchestrate it just right, the last exam you revising will begin the follow week, hence it is fresh in your mind. You will also have all the various mind maps and things on the wall, so you can then go back to them and refresh your memory. 

A student Syd the Snake and Mind Maps for Exams

Syd the Snake is a very useful and flexible tool for all elements of academic study and you’ll be amazed at how versatile it can be. It could be used to plan your dissertation (which we will look at below) and also map out your Master’s degree or even your PhD - if you decide to do one. For the latter, one can see that Syd the Snake could be broken down into 1 year segments, with months rather than weeks being allocated.   In fact the longer the degree in some ways the easier it is, and you can then have a number of snakes which go from the large big picture of your degree down to the more localised week to week deadlines you have set yourself.  Within the large map you want to include a number of key sections that illustrate the lifespan of your post-graduate degree. 

Read or Watch: That is the question, so what is the answer if studying?

For many dyslexics, then reading can be an anathema  to one’s life, either having problems in putting the sentence together, trouble with words, forgetting what the sentence said, and yes falling asleep half way through. As a person with ME, as well as dyslexia, I usually nod off before I get past page two!!! So what is the solution if you are a dyslexic, English as your second language or anyone else for that matter (and there are many) who don’t like reading, and who are in education?

Well some years ago, I read a wonderful and inspiring book by the author Thomas West, entitled In The Mind’s Eye, which at its core, puts forward the argument, that with the emergence of the internet and computer technology, interpreting and down-loading data for those who traditionally would have succumbed to the exclusive nature of reading and writing such as those with learning differences (namely dyslexic) were now in a position of advantage, because of the way these minds worked – lateral and visual, possibly favouring the right side of the brain than to the  left. I think of my ADHD, and how this corresponds, because I do not have the attention span to spend long periods of time reading or for that matter doing long pieces of writing by hand. But if you give me a computer, and a chance to put graphics in and play with the presentation fonts, I can keep going much longer, and my multi-tasking abilities are being utilised. Also more importantly, if we are to relate back to Dales Cone of Learning, we are more likely to recall more if we use our other senses that just read, which only accounts for 10% of what remember, in comparison to say watching the telly which we may recall 50% of.

So how do we put all this into practice at university or school? Well, I actually discourage my students to physically read books unless they really have too, certainly for background knowledge that is. Instead, I encourage them to use their computers to watch documentaries and lectures on their subject, so they can pause anytime they want, and they have the possibility to recall 50% plus. What is the point of reading a book on let’s say the cold war (which you may know nothing about) when you can watch 24 1 hour episodes on youtube which gives you most of what you need to know before you go into the lecture or classroom. Then you can begin selecting targeted reading to give you that edge, and sharpen up on the key facts. With some of the top American universities providing lectures on a range of subjects through their own youtube sites such as Harvard, Yale and Berkeley, then you might be able to even watch a lecture by an author that will be covered in your own lecture. Why read the book when you can hear from the horse’s mouth itself? This is very useful on saving writing so many notes, as again it targets your efforts like your reading. If you have watched a documentary or lecture before going into a lecture on your own on the subject to be focused upon, you are already tooled up on that topic, so can put down any pointers that are extra. Also, if like me, you fall asleep in the lecture (or even giving a lecture) then its good practice.  This also applies to revision for exams, with updating your flagging memory with documentaries and lectures. Of course if you want to get up to the 90% mark on memory, then try saying and doing what you have seen, by talking to you classmate and work as a team to discuss over what you have watched or read, or if a billy-no-mates, speak to the mirror. Coming back to an empty room with no one else doesn’t mean you have to be at a disadvantage, even speaking to the computer screen while the documentary is on works.

 

 

 

Dancing Octopuses: recalling words and their spellings – Super-Memory

One of the greatest problems I find with many dyslexics and others for that matter coming from non-traditional student backgrounds is not having a wide vocabulary in dealing with the everyday tribulations of academic tasks. For some then their normal day to day vocabulary might be limited or confused, but it is the inability to excel in their course that disturbs them most of all, and this is reflected usually in their first essay coming back or feeling uncomfortable in speaking in class.

Some years ago, I considered on this, aware of my own narrow vocabulary and limited memory, and the anxiety and embarrassment it would cause me on many occasions, saying it wrong, the classic day to day words might be saying Quishy for Quiche – which would invariably leave me red faced as I was promptly corrected with hails of ridicule. Also in my mind at this time was a discussion I had with a parent who was concerned about their 12 year old dyslexic son who was having serious trouble spelling and confusion over their words and their confidence was as high about themselves as a monkey driving a bus against traffic.  I decided to experiment with Tony Buzan’s method of remembering data, the old using key words in story, i.e.: Cat, mat, budgie, Maurice, banana, policeman. So, I recall those words by laying out the story: the cat lay on the mat with a budgie called Maurice throwing banana skins at a policeman.  Words into lists become stories that can familiarise yourself with the meaning and context of the word in every day usage.  That’s great if you are learning to read and building your memory generally with everyday word. What if you are going into FE or HE and the word range goes up tenfold, and you don’t know how to even pronounce the word, or how to spell it, and don’t go there on what it might even mean. This is when we run away from the task, and do the ostrich in the sand routine, as we don’t know how to approach this hurdle.

What good for children is good for adults, and using the same theory of connection applies, but just a little more creative. So firstly I began to get students to bring their subject dictionary to the session, so be it a history, geography, medical or whatever, get the student to know their onion, and once you know your onions as the greengrocer says, you will know where your celery and other vegetables are. You are building up confidence in your subject, with an emphasis as we said above on building memory, vocabulary and greater understanding of topic.  But as most of us dyslexics hate text (horrible nasty smelly things!!) then we need to find a way to carry them visually, like a suitcase carrying your sandwiches, you know where they are, and you just have to open it to get at them. So with this idea in my mind, I drew an octopus (Ollie) and numbered the legs from one to eight (see upload of article above). I would then take a bag of scrabble letter tiles, and put them on the table, as I would wish the student to spell them out, so they are able to break down the word into syllables if necessary and again to visualise the word.

With the student, I would take their dictionary from them, and would start at the letter A, reading it out aloud, slowly, and two or three times if necessary (having plenty of fun saying it in different accents or speeds) The student would have to then form the word on the table, and of course at times with coaxing they would eventually get it right.  Once they had spelt it, and written it down I would then ask what it meant, and the meaning they would also have to recall as well as the word, and put together a story, working from a sociology dictionary, we see it as thus: An altruistic, androgynous anarchist…etc… of course it could make complete nonsense, but it can still be rooted in its meaning. By building up each week from 5 to 10, to 15 and so on, the student became more confident in spelling, greatly more knowledgeable in their subject, and of course more able to pronounce at times tongue twisters that you would never attempt in a month of Sundays. 

The octopus would grow each week adding balloons above the octopus, or adding another one beside it. For most students, they couldn’t spell the words the first week, but the following week they were much better, if not perfect, and after a few weeks, they just preferred to use lists. Also, after a few months, student would take random words from the dictionary, so spreading the alphabet more and making naturally a little less easy.  Most students were able to recall 30 to 40 words plus, with one student up to 70 a week and this particular student I must say had the most trouble spelling first time off. In fact this student migrated from a 2.2 to a 1^st over two years by using this method (amongst others) to enhance memory and of course comprehension in her subject.  As we have constantly said, it is not just vocabulary, but these techniques sharpen the mind for all forms of academic purposes. Bless Ollie’s little cotton tentacles!!!

The Wonder of Giraffes

       The Wonder of Giraffes – How we can use play to increase our exam results.

The other evening saw a lively and interesting session at the study surgery that I run, with great beams of laughter and accurate recall emerging from a 1^st year management student. Some days before I had persuaded this anxious student who was convinced that he would not do well in his exam to let the inner child come out in him and draw out of the study armoury a weapon that would trigger his memory and send any awkward exam running for cover. Yes you guessed it…… it was a 8 inch soft toy giraffe. This is what was missing from his repertoire of revision tools. Of course he seemed rather bemused at my stories of unforgetful elephants, confidence building teddy bears, and versatile Pokémon’s, not to mention the dreaded versatility of the premier-league football team strips. Yes, I pronounced, if your memory is struggling, we need movement, colour and of course fun.

The students face was flabbergasted, but I explained how previous students had excelled in these dark arts, and that once fluent in transferring data to movement of the toy or object in question, he would with a wiggle here, or a twist there, be able to access the data. With only a few days before his fearful exam, he nodded his head and went out no doubt believing me to be totally bonkers, and obviously touched by hot summer sun.

He persevered and I met him the other evening, and he had his list of authors and studies, to recall. Of course we had gone over structure of the answers for these types of essay questions, but it was this mark making data that was the source of his high anxiety.  As we sat at the table, he brought out his bright yellow Giraffe and placed it on the table, and a bonny friendly thing it was too. And so we began that hour of extracting data from his mind, the first few minutes were difficult, as he struggled he needed more triggering. ‘Don’t just touch the bloody leg, wiggle and move it about man, I cried. And so he wiggled it more, and in doing so, out poured the first bits of his author and theory list.  As we learn very young through nursery rhymes, singing, movement and visual stimuli helps us to remember the lines, I can still sing Humpty Dumpty, with all the actions after all these years. And so the student, with me beside him waving my arms like a conductor, bringing song to his boring and rigid data, began to sparkle and got into a confident performance, reciting his allocation of each questions data to his Giraffe, so the toy having three or four questions attached. The more he waved the giraffes tail, so more data emerged.

After this session, I told him to go home, rest and then close his eyes, and imagine where the data was on his giraffe. Like a martial arts master directing his blind-folded student in the craft of sword wielding in darkness, so this method of visualisation and attachment could be transferred to his giraffe. And between each question he was to have five minutes to close his eyes for atunement, and see in his head where all this data of distributed.   And so we come to the conclusion of this story. I have come from a long day teaching to hear from this student that he did wonderfully, that the giraffe sat on his desk proved its worth and served it master well. The information flowed like water, and the names, dates and theories ran to the paper like loyal lap dogs. One can only imagine the scene in that exam room, where in the strict silence of exam conditions, the student was moving a colourful giraffe in his hands, with his eyes closed, whispering in song his mantra….. “on the left leg is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs…. “