Reading is good for you, start now!!!

Reading is one of the best hobbies you can have, but it's sad to know that the majority of us do not know the fabulous world of books. If you are one of the non-readers here are some reasons to start the habit....before you are left behind!

1. Reading is an active mental process: Unlike sitting in front of the idiot box (TV),
reading makes you use your brain. While reading you would be forced to reason out many things which are unfamiliar to you. In this process you would use the grey cells of your brain to think and become smarter.

2. Reading improves your vocabulary: While reading books, especially challenging ones, you will find yourself exposed to many new words you wouldn't have been otherwise.

3. Gives you a glimpse into other cultures and places of the world: How would you know about the life of people living in Mexico if you don't read about it? (unless you are very privileged to visit different countries regularly). Reading gives you insight into the diversity of ethnicity of people, their customs and their lifestyles. You become more aware of different places and their code of conduct.

4. Improves concentration and focus: It requires you to focus on what you are reading for long periods. unlike magazines or e-mails that might contain small chunks of information, books tell the whole story.

5. Builds self-esteem: The more you read, the knowledgeable you become. With more knowledge comes more confidence. More confidence builds self-esteem. So it's a chain reaction.

6. Improves memory: Reading requires remembering details, facts and figures and in literature, plot lines, themes and characters.

7. Improves you discipline: Making time to read is something we all know we should do, but who schedules book reading time every day? Very few... That's why adding book reading to your daily schedule and sticking to it, improves discipline.

8. Improves creativity: Reading about diversity of life and exposing yourself to new ideas and more information helps to develop the creative side of the brain as it instills innovation into your thinking process.

If you want to break the monotony of a lazy, uncreative and boring life, go and grab an interesting book. Turn the pages to explore a new world filled with information and creativity.

Making an effective timetable

A Daily timetable will help you plan every part of your day, from the moment you wake up to the moment you crawl into bed at night. You'll be able to take control of how you spend your time from one hour to the next.

Here's how to make one. You might want to make a separate timetable for each day of the week, or one for weekdays and one for weekends.

1. Take a sheet of paper and a ruler. Draw a chart of all your working hours, using
one square for each half hour. If you're awake for 16 hours each day, you'll
need 32 squares: 8 across, 4 down. Using graph paper can help.
2. Label each square with the starting time for that half-hour block of time.For example, if you wake up at 6:00 in the morning, label the first half-hour square 6:00 a.m, and the next one 6:30 a.m, and so on.....
3. Sit down and examine your day. Make a list of all the things you need to do, from taking a shower to doing homework and after school activities.
4. When you begin to write things into your timetable, start with the things that
have specific start times. For instance, if you know you have to be at the bus
stop 7:00 a.m, fill in that square with Bus Stop.
5. Give yourself a break or several! If doing all your homework in one chunk is too
much for you, then schedule a little bit of free time between subjects.
6. Consider using a different colored pen or marker to colour in different types of
responsibilities. You could use yellow for family chores, red for school events,
and blue for school activities, and so on. This way you'll get a good sense of how
your day is planned just by looking at your timetable. This will also help you
identify if you are overloaded with something eg: sports.
7. Remember that you cant predict what's going to happen every day, and time
management involves being flexible.

Back to school

It's that time of the year again! You've been on holiday enjoying your days off, playing and sleeping late but now you need to prepare for the year ahead.

To get a head start when school opens, make sure all your books are neatly covered and your uniform is washed and ready for when the day arrives. This is the time to use your excitement and extra energy to your advantage.

There are three very important things you can do to make the year a success.

Firstly, set goals for what you want to achieve in the next 12 months, so that you don't lose sight of what you need to do to achieve this. Make sure your goals are important to you and realistic, and that you are ready to work hard to reach them. For this to happen, you must write them down and re-look at them constantly during the year.

Secondly, make sure you know what is happening in your school and that you have your timetable ready for the year. Now you know what opportunities you can embrace to reach your goals.

Thirdly, inform your parents about your goals and get them involved in what you are doing at school. Make sure that you have their support in all you do.

The new year is here and you have to make it count.

GOODLUCK AND ENJOY!!!!!!!

Goal Setting- Why it matters.......and how to do it

Is goal setting a good idea? Properly learnt and managed, yes, absolutely! Knowing how to set and achieve goals is a life skill that many people never make the most of. Make sure you learn this well as, it is a valuable skill for managing time and life.

WHY?

-Goal setting students are more likely to focus on what they want and less on what they don't.
-You will learn how to plan, prioritize and produce to get the results you want.
-You will learn the importance of persistance, making it easy for you to have the ability to be persistant when reaching to achieve your goals.
-Whether you achieve the goal or not, you would have learnt to take 100% responsibility for every outcome of your actions.
-Goal setting and achievement creates confidence, raises self esteem and leads to a real sense of satisfaction.
-It will create challenges to overcome, and opportunities to learn and grow by tackling them.

HOW?
Six tips to take that will really improve the quality of your goal setting

-START SMALL. Keep goal setting sweet and simple. Long term, conceptual goals can be tackled with time and experience of personal goal setting.
-OWN IT. Make sure your goals really are your own and no one else's.
-KNOWING WHY YOU WANT IT. Motivation starts goals, whereas persistance is usually what finishes them. Both can be built if you have a compelling reason for why you want something. To help you understand this, write a list of reasons for your goals.
-GET SMART. A short term goal is more likely to be achieved if it is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound.
-WRITE GOALS DOWN. Writing it down is the best and most effective way of remembering what exactly you are aiming for. Write, read and review each day, this will help you keep your goals in mind.
-GET SUPPORT. Have someone you trust there to encourage you when your goals seem to hard.

Starting your own Book Club

The first step to organizing a book club is to nail down the details. You don't want the club to be too small or too large, so limit the number of participants to about 12 or so. Once you have a twelve interested peers, you'll have to decide how often the group will meet and where. Monthly meetings are frequent enough to keep all the members involved, and it gives them plenty of time to read the book selected. The meetings could be bi-monthly, depending on the participants and their schedules. Selecting a meeting place for the book club may be a challenge. You probably don't want your home to be the exclusive meeting spot, so think about asking other parents if they're willing to host a meeting. Other meeting locations could be the local library, a local recreation center, a nearby church, or your school. The meetings themselves should be organized by the members, and you might want to recommend that the meetings last about an hour and a half. So the members have about 30 minutes to discuss the book, 30 minutes to eat and enjoy each other's company, and 30 minutes to go over any book club business, such as selecting next month's selection.

Listening in class

It is important for you to be a good listener in class. Much of what you will have to learn will be presented verbally by your teachers. Just hearing what your teachers say is not the same as listening to what they say. Listening is a cognitive act that requires you to pay attention and think about and mentally process what you hear. Here are some things you should do to be a good listener in class.

• Be Cognitively Ready to Listen When You Come to Class. Make sure you complete all assigned work and readings. Review your notes from previous class sessions. Think about what you know about the topic that will be covered in class that day.
• Be Emotionally Ready to Listen When You Come to Class. Your attitude is important. Make a conscious choice to find the topic useful and interesting. Be committed to learning all that you can.
• Listen with a Purpose. Identify what you expect and hope to learn from the class session. Listen for these things as your teacher talks.
• Listen with an Open Mind. Be receptive to what your teacher says. It is good to question what is said as long as you remain open to points of view other than your own.
• Be Attentive. Focus on what your teacher is saying. Try not to daydream and let your mind wander to other things. It helps to sit in the front and center of the class, and to maintain eye contact with your teacher.

• Be an Active Listener. You can think faster than your teacher can speak. Use this to your advantage by evaluating what is being said and trying to anticipate what will be said next. Take good written notes about what your teacher says. While you can think faster than your teacher can speak, you cannot write faster than your teacher can speak.Taking notes requires you to make decisions about what to write, and you have to be an active listener to do this.
• Meet the Challenge. Don't give up and stop listening when you find the information being presented difficult to understand. Listen even more carefully at these times and work hard to understand what is being said. Don't be reluctant to ask questions.
• Triumph Over the Environment. The classroom may too noisy, too hot, too cold, too bright, or too dark. Don't give in to these inconveniences. Stay focused on the big picture - LEARNING.

 For more tips
www.how-to-study.com

Don’t Let Anyone Tell You You Can’t Do Something

Everyday we go to school we are faced with challenges inside ant outside the bounds of the classroom that it often becomes overwhelming. We've discussed many things on this page but we've never discussed the potential each one of us possesses, this is because our potential is insurmountable. Often we forget that we are smarter, stronger and more capable than what we are allowing ourselves to believe.

 Below please find a piece posted in Personal development by Ilka Flood. this piece serves as that reminder of the strength you posses and your ability to acquire knowledge against all odds.

If you want something bad enough … go get it!

When I was in grade school in Germany I wanted to take an English language class that was offered as an extra curriculum class. (Back then English and French weren’t part of the curriculum like they are now.) The Beatles just started to get real popular and I wanted to understand what they were singing. Since I had to have the permission of my teacher to take that class I went to ask her if she would allow me to go. Here’s what she told me, “Ilka,” she said, “I’m sorry but I can’t give you permission to take that class. Your grades in German are so bad you will never make it. You’ll never learn English. You can’t even speak German properly.” (Well, who at the age of 10 really does?)

I was crushed. Twice a week my friends would take “Walter & Connie” classes and I couldn’t go with them. So I saved up the money for the audio lessons – they came in the old 45 records back then – and taught myself. After I had the basics down I started translating Beatles songs with the help of a dictionary. And after that, I bought every English language book I could find in the bookstores of my hometown. I looked up the words I didn’t know in my dictionary and just kept going.  With each and every book I got better. That teacher couldn’t stop me. I was bound and determined to learn English … and I did! What’s funny is, that years later when I met my husband (he was stationed in my hometown), he had me spell-check his letters to his mom before he mailed them home.