Beyond BookSmart: setting priorities
September 6th, 2016We came across a Priority Matrix Guide developed by Beyond BookSmart recently, and thought it would be so valuable to our students that we asked if we could share a link. Jackie Stachel’s enthusiastic response included an offer to be a guest blogger, and we’re delighted to feature her in our blog today.
Please note that when you click on the link to the Priority Matrix Guide on Beyond BookSmart’s website, you will be asked for your email address.
Guest blogger:
Jackie Stachel, MS CCC-SLP (based on text written by Laura Moy)
Senior Coach & Director of Communications, Beyond BookSmart
For many parents and kids, making the choice to cut certain activities from an overwhelmed student’s schedule can be challenging. It’s likely that you both have strong beliefs about what activities are most important and you simply cannot come to an agreement on priorities. The best way to win that battle is with empirical data, as opposed to opinions. Beyond BookSmart, an Executive Function coaching company, has created a tool to help students evaluate their activities. Their Priority Matrix Guide provides a step-by-step process to help students select meaningful priorities and achieve a better work-life balance.
Please let us know if you find the guide useful!
Tagged: Choices, Opportunity, Personal characteristics
Students, do not doubt that you are worthy!
August 29th, 2016We are in back to school mode here at Shrop Ed, and want to share yet another relevant article that touches on the feelings of many students as they enter new settings.
Freshman year of college, exciting as it is, can leave many feeling overwhelmed both academically and socially and therefore the fear of failure may begin to creep in. This lack of confidence occurs for many, many students, and can be especially deeply felt for those who come from a disadvantaged background.
Professor David L. Kirp, of the University of California-Berkeley, shared information about research that is helping students, especially underprivileged youth, succeed in school. The interventions Kirp describes are designed to assure students that they are worthy of admission and encourage a proactive approach to performance improvement.
We see important parallels for students just starting out at a new boarding school, and hope that all of our families will consider this article link relevant.
Many thanks to the Shrop Ed parent who brought this article to our attention.
Article below published by The New York Times, August 20, 2016
Written by: David L. Kirp
Although it’s been a long time, I vividly recall my reaction when I learned that I had been admitted to Amherst College: The admissions office must have made a terrible mistake.
I had graduated from a Long Island high school where most students didn’t go to college, so I was convinced that at Amherst I would be overmatched by my better-educated, more sophisticated classmates and sliced to ribbons by my brilliant professors. To my surprise, I fared well academically, but I never entirely got over the feeling of being an impostor. Only decades later, at a class reunion, did I discover that many of my peers had felt exactly the same way.
Read more at NY Times >>Tagged: Choices, Opportunity, Personal characteristics
Too Smart to Fail?
August 22nd, 2016Grades, or learning? Learning, or grades?
How to set priorities? In the Shrop Ed office, we often talk about learning for its own sake and the importance of not letting the tail wag the dog. While we don’t underestimate the importance of a strong transcript, we believe that engaged students become strong students and pursuit of grades (or activities, community service, or anything else, for that matter) for hollow reasons is not productive.
With the fall semester just beginning, students are getting into a routine and some may be setting goals for the outcome of their school year. While there is so much focus on receiving good grades throughout the year, we don’t want students to lose sight of the importance and true joy of learning.
Joseph Holtgrieve, a Northwestern professor, reminds us of just that. In this article, Holtgrieve touches on his own experiences with students and gives examples of why it is important to set your intention on learning first … and then good grades will come.
Published August 16, 2016
Written by: Joseph Holtgreive
One of my engineering students came to see me recently asking to drop a class late. That was not an unusual request, and since it was shortly after the deadline I was prepared to approve it. But before I did, we talked, and our conversation went right to the heart of an issue I suspect many bright college students are facing: fear of failing to be perfect, ideally an effortless perfection, versus the joy of learning.
The student explained that she had done poorly on the first midterm exam. When I asked her why she did poorly she responded, “I underestimated how much effort it would take; I thought I could get an A without studying.” Though she believed she could still put in effort and raise her grade before the end of the term, she wanted to drop the course so she could retake it and get an A.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed >>Tagged: Choices, Opportunity, Personal characteristics
Welcome freshmen – your college degree may soon change!
August 8th, 2016There is no doubt that earning a college degree is worth the investment. The question here isn’t whether the degree is valuable, but are you getting what you pay for?
Author Jeffrey J. Selingo, whose work we’ve linked to previously, outlines how vastly different universities, namely Georgetown and Arizona State, plan to engage students with more hands-on learning experiences so that students can see the worth of obtaining a degree from their schools. Competing universities are realizing that earning a four year degree doesn’t necessarily measure how much a student learns while in college.
Our thanks go to the astute parent who shared this link with us.
Article published July 23, 2016
Written by: Jeffrey Selingo
Across from Washington, D.C.,’s Georgetown University is a red clapboard house where this 226-year-old Jesuit university is trying to reinvent itself.
Georgetown has long enjoyed a top twenty-five spot in the U.S. News & World Report rankings and a stellar reputation among prospective students, who often choose between it and the top Ivy League universities. But Georgetown’s endowment of around $1.4 billion pales in comparison to that of the University of Pennsylvania ($10 billion), Princeton ($9 billion), or Stanford ($22 billion). Without that kind of financial cushion, Georgetown’s biggest boosters worry it may not continue to attract top students in the future, especially with an annual price tag of more than $60,000.
Read more at The Daily Beast >>Tagged: Career, College, Opportunity
