Sunday, January 27, 2019

self-regulation


As research continues to come out it seems more and more apparent that self-regulation is an important ingredient to academic success.  Now I think if you asked most students they would agree that self-control is an important ingredient however they might not know any strategies to improve in this important characteristic.  So here are some strategies that you might use to improve your own self-regulation (more strategies).

When I was a basketball coach one of my responsibilities was to make sure that our players were both academically and athletically successful.  On the academic side we made all our players sit in the front of the class and on the front half of the seat.  The fact that you are sitting in front of the class forces you to pay more attention and it is much harder to fall asleep or check your phone. Sitting on the front half of your seat helped students stay more alert in class.

Secondly, one of the things that I found from KIPP schools to help students focus better in class was tracking the speaker.  If you force yourself to look at everyone who speaks in class, it makes it a little easier to then engage in the conversation.

Thirdly, when at home doing school work, put your electronics in another room.  In a study they put cookies in a glass jar in which secretaries could see the cookies.  Another group of secretaries had a jar full of cookies that they could not see through the jar.  The secretaries who could see the cookies ate almost twice as many cookies as those who could not see them.  Do not tempt yourself put your electronics in another room powered off while you are working.  You will find that you save a lot of time and truly comprehend the material better.

Last but maybe most importantly get a good night’s sleep.  It is extremely hard to focus if you are tired and fighting to keep awake.  Figure out your time management so that you can go to bed approximately the same time each night and get 7-9 hours of sleep.

My challenge to you is to pick one of these strategies, work them for a month and see if you performance improves.


3 comments:

  1. Self-control is a major element of success when it comes to academics. Having the control to turn your phone off and focus all your energy on your homework is extremely hard nowadays for students. Even though it may be hard it is necessary to do in order to unlock the full learning potential. having help in KIPP school I have taken some of the strategies that the students use and applied them to my classroom learning experience. Without a doubt, these keeps have the right idea about focusing and posture when it comes to the classroom. The skill that I am going to work on in the coming months is getting a good 7-9 hours of sleep. This is something that I truly struggle with and need to improve on in order to progress in the classroom. Thank you for an amazing and insightful semester, Mr. Bressler. I will continue to enjoy reading these blogs each Sunday.

    - Stephen Ryan

    ReplyDelete
  2. Self-Control is key to any success inside and outside the class room and speaking from personal experience and what I have learned from my time in Lasalle, a class for those with learning disabilities, I have learned other tactics to self-regulation. One of the greatest things that Lasalle has taught me is to print and study off only printed material, and to always refrain from studying off my computer. With the influx of technology into our class rooms it has brought various ways to learn new material but none more than that of the combination of both typing and reading a commuter. Firstly, students who type have been shown to remember only three quarters of what those who hand write remember. Secondly those who read off electronic notes are will also only remember three quarters of what those who read off printed material remember. This strategy has been a corner stone to my success inside the class room and will stay with me for life when it is necessary to memorize new information.
    - Henry Jones

    ReplyDelete
  3. I see self-regulation as a major factor in academic success. There are many temptations throughout our daily lives, but we must do our best to eliminate those distractions when it comes time. Academic success will not only help us in the long-term but also with the short term. Being a more successful student provides for better and more relaxed living. With that being said, I am going to focus more on eliminating temptations. Being a teenager, I am always tempted by my phone and electronics, but putting them away will assist me with giving more focus to my school work.

    - Keegan Byrd

    ReplyDelete