Smart Learning: A Study Skills Guide for Teens

by Thomas Murphy and William L. Christen

Suggests strategies for effective study, including note taking, writing, time management, goal setting, and organization in general. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0962855650
• ISBN13: 9780962855658
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: Grayson Bernard
• Length: 111 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 11 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 6 and higher

Customer Reviews

Despite shortcomings...still a good study skill book for teens!

For all intents & purposes, this book meets the requirements of a good study skill book for teens. The various topics covered are relevant & the eight chapters are organized, as follows: 1. Introduction 2. Active Learning 3. The Writing Process 4. Introducing PREPsteps 5. Taking & Making Notes 6. Time Management 7. Test Taking Strategy 8. Goal Setting However, I am intrigued by the authors' arrangement of the chapters, particularly Chapter 6 & Chapter 8 pertaining to time management & goal setting respectively. In any kind of endeavours, goals & priorities must always take precedence. In the case of learning & studying for the student, goal setting & priority (as opposed to time) management must come first. Goals set the purpose & direction in life, & priorities set everything (i.e. all the tasks toward goal achievement) in motion. Without setting goals & managing priorities, everything one does become random activities. For example, in the introductory Chapter 1, the authors write in the first paragraph, "All kids - & that includes you - can become smart learners. But you won't get there by wishing...." If `goals setting & priority management' has been set as the introductory chapters, the contents of this particular chapter would make more sense for the teen reader, because smart learners are always goal-oriented! Again in Chapter 2: Active Reading & Chapter 3: The Writing Process, one very important element is missing. Active readers/writers always set a purpose (or goal) for reading/writing. With a purpose or goal in mind, the brain can search for/produce important information relevant to the purpose or goal during the reading/writing process. In fact, goal setting is paramount in setting all the four communication skills in motion: reading the textbooks, listening in class, speaking during discussions, & writing essays or reports. With a focus on goals (or the end in mind) & priorities (or first things first), (to paraphrase Sean Covey's & his 'Seven Habits for Highly Effective Teens'), Chapter 4: PREPsteps would become much more meaningful for the teen reader. Therefore, it would have been more appropriate for the authors to set Chapter 8 (goals) and Chapter 6 (priorities) as lead chapters accordingly in the book. Nevertheless, the authors give good instructions as well as appropriate examples for the above chapters. In Chapter 5: Taking & Making Notes, the authors outline three note-taking/making methods. The first one, which the authors call it the `i' note method, using the symbolic alphabet `i' as a platform. Correspondingly, on a sheet of note-paper, the top half of the dot denotes an area for `topic' & the bottom half denotes an area for `main idea', & the stem denotes an area for `details'. `Summary' is located below the stem, with `vocabulary (new words or terms) as well as study questions are to be arranged on the left side of `i'. This is a refreshing approach to note-taking/maki