Reading, Writing & Math Help for Dyslexia, LD & ADHD » study skills

Struggling With Note-Taking, Reading Comprehension & Listening Comprehension?

bonnieterry — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:32:47 +0000

Bonnie,

I found you through Youtube and am intrigued by the 10 Minutes to Better Study Skills!

My home-schooled daughter is 16 and dual-enrolling in our local community college and currently in her first class.

She is struggling with note-taking! She also took the SAT in June and scored poorly in the reading portion, especially the “passage” reading. I’m beginning to make the connection with these two problems… there seems to be a struggle, for her, in pulling out keys points in a written document, or passage, and in an oral lecture.

She tends to want to write down too much from a lecture and gets overwhelmed when given a passage to read with questions to answer, especially when timed. For writing assignments, she is gifted in vocabulary usage, spelling and grammar, but the process of writing becomes a long, drawn-out process.

She wants to “hover” over a slew of ideas but struggles to land the plane. When she does land the plane, it will take hours.

Will your book and the forms therein help us?

Karen McGold

Karen,

There is a direct connection with the ability to pull out the main idea and important details and note-taking. You want to be sure the notes you take are meaningful and when you don’t know how to quickly pull out that information from either reading a passage or listening to a lecture, you are ‘sunk’.

That is one of the specific reasons I designed the graphic organizers in Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills in the manner that I did. These forms not only help you with note-taking, they also become a ‘study-guide’ for you when you are reviewing the material or answering the questions at the end of a section or chapter. They can also be used to learn how to take notes while listening to a lecture or presentation.

The graphic organizer fill-in-the-blank forms are designed specifically with your daughter in mind.

Another product that will also help her is our game the Comprehension Zone because it teaches you specifically how to pull out the main idea, details, and sequence what you read or listen to in a game format. It can be played for both reading or listening comprehension. Playing with the skill, practicing the skill through play, and then utilizing the Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills will go a long way in teaching her those missing skills.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET
http://bonnieterrylearning.com

SAT Prep with Grammar Game The Sentence Zone

bonnieterry — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:37:56 +0000

Many of you already know that I created The Sentence Zone a number of years ago to help my students with sentence writing as well as grammar. I play it with my younger students to help them write interesting sentences instead of the 3 to 4 word sentences they usually write. I play it with my middle school students to help them out with their English grammar lessons. So my focus has always been on sentence writing, language building, and grammar.

I have always told everyone that it was used at multiple ages, because it is, but I didn’t think of using the game for SAT prep until Patricia Lara stopped by my office a few weeks ago. She was telling me how useful the game was in her work with SAT prep with her juniors and seniors in high school.

In addition to helping them with the grammar portion of the exam, she told me how it really ‘broke up’ the prep sessions. Her students were able to get a break from the intensity of preparing for the exam but still learn at the same time. So, I asked her to show me how she was using the game. I think you’ll enjoy this additional use. Watch and see for yourself how easy it is to learn with The Sentence Zone. It is a great test prep tool for tutors, families, homeschoolers, and teachers.

Hope this has been helpful. Don’t forget to sign up for the FREE Teaching and Homework Tips! And, PLEASE, Pass this post along to others!

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

Improve Study Skills and Note Taking With Graphic Organizers

bonnieterry — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 03:14:25 +0000

Note Taking and learning study skills doesn’t have to be hard. I know you might be rolling your eyes at that statement, thinking: “Right – Bonnie has got to be kidding!” But, I’m not kidding. I do know almost every time I used to ask my kids to take notes they dreaded it. In fact, they often just stared at blank sheets of paper, totally frozen, not knowing where to start.

What would it be like if your kids started taking notes from their books confidently and independently, without complaining! That’s what happened after my kids started using the graphic organizers from Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills. They are specially designed with the end use in mind, so that even kids with dyslexia or a learning disability, or ADHD could use them with ease.

Watch this video of kids using the specially designed graphic organizers from Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills. They decide which form to use with their assignment. You’ll see how easy it can be as well as learn other uses of the graphic organizer forms!

Hope this has been helpful. Please leave a comment below or a question to the right.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET

Easy Ways to Improve Reading Comprehension & Actually Utilize What You Read

bonnieterry — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 02:22:13 +0000

Every time my students read, I ask them an important question. Is what you read informational (expository) or did it have a beginning, middle, and an end (narrative)? From their answer I give them a fill-in-the-blank graphic organizer form that they can use to take notes from the passage they read.(See Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills)

This step helps them to utilize and internalize what they have read. The next step is to have them write a summary paragraph of what they read. I have them use the notes they took. Finally, I have my students answer the questions that relate to the story or passage, checking their comprehension.