People of a certain age (ask your parents, they’ll confirm) will remember a time when, if students complained about “no calculators allowed” math tests, the teacher would say that “you won’t always have a calculator in your pocket, you need to be able to do without.” Well, the math teachers of yore were completely wrong […]
Now that you’re coming up on the close of the year in your science class, I’d encourage you to try to think about the big picture. Science is very much about the study of systems and how their different components interact — so why not try thinking about your science class in the same way? […]
Eighth-grade teachers love to say, “Your high school teachers aren’t going to do that for you next year!” High school is an important transition, and teachers are trying to help you establish your academic independence. One of the key ways we’ve seen this refrain ring through is in the day-to-day management of your assignments. Chasing […]
Have you ever looked at your notes from last year, last month, or last week and asked yourself, “What is this?!?” If you’ve wondered how you could have completely forgotten something you were sure you had learned, you’re not alone. While there are many reasons for that phenomenon, one explanation lies in the very nature […]
As we continue navigating our way through an evolving global pandemic, we welcome in the new school year. We hope that over the summer, you and your family had a chance to relax, refresh, and even change the scenery for a while. Perhaps you were able to take a step back from your Zoom calls […]
One of the most valuable lessons I learned from my 8th-grade science teacher had nothing at all to do with science. We were allowed a cheat sheet for a test: a single 3×5 index card with anything we wanted written on it. Thinking myself terribly clever, I found a very fine-point pen and proceeded to […]
When you’re writing an introduction, think of yourself as a prosecutor making opening arguments. You want to make a compelling case — one that you’ll spend the rest of the essay defending. There are typically three parts to an introduction: a “hook,” which draws the reader into your paper, a “setup,” which gives the reader […]
Congratulations on making it through the middle school testing season! You can finally file, recycle, or burn all of your study materials. Hopefully, the experience turned out to be more pleasant or productive than you originally expected. At the least, you can say that it’s behind you. As you return to your regularly scheduled school […]
Let’s not mess around: we’ve all had writer’s block and sometimes need help. It doesn’t mean that we’re special or broken or misunderstood geniuses or fools. Our muses are not at the bottom of a Netflix binge or a pot of coffee or a box of crackers. Working with our writer’s block is a learnable […]
We talk a lot about executive functions like creativity, time management, persistence, and planning. But that’s a lot to process. With school starting soon, you may need to be more independently engaged, organized, and motivated than you have been in the past. We thought we’d give you a quick cheat-sheet to help you stay effective […]