I recently received this study skills question from a concerned parent who wanted teaching strategies. My answer to her question may apply or help others, so I chose to include it here for you.
DEAR SUSAN! I loved your presentations at the Illinois Includes conference. You gave me lots of good strategies for classroom use and to use with my son who has ADD and struggles with executive functioning and organization. My son is finishing up seventh grade and needs to adopt strategies to help him organize assignments, organize information to study, and create strategies for retaining information. Can you recommend a program or book? – A Concerned Parent
DEAR CONCERNED PARENT: I sent my son to SuperCamp. It’s not cheap, with 2017 tuition starting at $2,495, but it is SO worth it. My son attended the Senior Forum, geared toward Grades 9-12. Their Junior Forum is geared toward your son’s grade level, Grades 6-8, and is a six-day program held at one of three locations: Stanford University, Villanova University, or California State University, San Marcos (There’s also a program for Grade 12 and incoming/current college students, the Quantum Forum, held at Cal State San Marcos). Working in teams of 16-20 fellow campers, students learn to define what’s important to them, why they learn the way that they do, and then learn how to apply the knowledge and strategies they gain in camp in order to improve their studying overall.
Also, the book, Umm Studying? What’s That?, co-written with my daughter Shivahn, is a great resource. It offers practical, research-based studying and test-taking strategies, written from the perspective of a teenager, and is aimed at middle school to college-aged students. The key is getting him to use the strategies. Of course, there’s lots of information on my blog as well.
There’s also this option for more teaching strategies: Landmark School: Skills+. I have no personal experience with Landmark, with the exception of attending one of their conferences and learning about Joan Sedita’s Notebook system, which I loved.
I hope this helps. Enjoy your summer!
For more information about study strategies for your student, see Susan Fitzell’s book, Ummm, Studying? What’s That?. Available in both print and electronic versions!