Khan Academy

Check it out. Do it now - or immediately after you finish reading this post, anyway.

This really smart guy who lives on the west coast wanted to help his nieces and nephews on the east coast with their homework, so he started recording these really simple video sessions explaining math and science concepts. Here's the magic:  it's just his voice explaining while you see the formula or whatever being worked out.

These are incredibly helpful, and they are more and more useful as I progress through high school.

I read that some schools in California were switching the lesson plans around, assigning for homework the Khan Academy videos to introduce and explain new concepts, then using class time to work on what would have been the homework problems.

This is important. Go check it out here

Turn me in!

Ok, that's not actually what the label says, but that's the message my brain gets when I see it.

Ever do the homework and forget to turn it in? Who hasn't? But this is crazy after you've done the work, to get a zero or a late grade just because you couldn't get your act together to hand the thing in when you were supposed to.

But who can blame us, really. Our parents have no clue how rushed and crowded our days are, and how huge and loud the classes are, and how crazy it is to change classes every 45 minutes and race off the the next one across campus before the 5 minute tardy bell. (I read about how in Japan the teachers move, and the students stay in one place as a team. Cool.)

So this works for me:  at the front of my 3-ring binder I use for all my classes. there's a black plastic page with a pocket, and on the pocket is a label that says, "TURN IN TODAY" and I start every day with my assignments in that packet, in the order of my classes. At the end of the day I should see an empty black page if I've turned everything in.

Of course, this means I have to put all the pages in that one place every night.

Which means I have to do all the assignments.

BUT if I do them this way I at least get credit for doing them.

See? Better.

Mo' Mophie

One of the best things I ever got was a Mophie case for my iPhone. It's a really protective case but more important it has its own charge - you charge the iPhone, you charge the Mophie. You can choose for your phone to be lighter or have longer battery life, but for under $100 it can double your time.

Go here to see the Mophie

Chapter outlines

I've discovered that formatting really does matter. Sort of like grammar.

You know all those big headlines separating sections of the chapters in your textbooks? Probably best to include them, then indent stuff under all those other smaller headlines.

If you really want to do it up right, use some color and maybe some underlining. They're kind of like signposts that help you see what's related and what's not. It helps me study later, and has been great for open-notes tests where I have to find something quickly.

And if you do it right, you won't have to open the textbook again except maybe to read the chapter summary.

I'm OK with that.

Divide and conquer

Here's where my past posts intersect.

How do you know what needs doing when you discover that by some miracle you have no homework due tomorrow?

That big calendar on the wall where you have been adding all the due dates for assignments, projects and research papers, along with tests and every possible deadline or scheduled anything.

It's how you know that even with two weeks to work on a project, you only have this Sunday afternoon to work on it. You can see how jammed up you are just by looking.

If you're smart, you've been scheduling in the fun stuff too, just to make sure it doesn't get lost in all the work.

Then, if you're lucky, one day you will look at the calendar and see that you really do have nothing to do today but hang out.

It could happen.

Homework in the absence of homework

One of the hardest things for me is remembering that just because I don't have any homework due tomorrow, that doesn't mean I have no homework.

I know; it depresses me too sometimes. But that's part of growing up, right? I still remember the feeling of freedom when I got home and I had NO HOMEWORK! It was kind of like a snow day, only better in some ways because they happened in all kinds of weather, and we don't get that much snow here in Texas.

But the truth is that I pretty much always have homework these days. Something is due soon, even if it's not tomorrow, and chances are that it's going to require more work or time than just one pass at it. There's always a test lurking out there in the near future somewhere.

Reading textbooks, reviewing notes, outlining chapters.

It never ends. Best to get a jump on it, because it's not going away, and WILL bite you eventually.

Got to go. There must be something I need to be doing.

Assignments 101

If the assignments are posted in your classroom, take a photo.

But don't forget to plug in the due dates etc. to whatever app you're using to stay on top of them. I put mine on a big wall calendar that lets me plan ahead.

When you're in a hurry and/or doing something else in class, why waste your time writing the information?

Makes you wonder why more teachers don't get this. Also makes you appreciate the ones who post the information online.

Because if you've ever had a teacher who passed out a calendar while saying it was already out of date, you know what I'm talking about.