Carl Long's Tips part 2

Tip 6: Sometimes a quick prayer can give you strength to keep on working hard.
• This is not an endorsement of any particular religion and if you don't believe in God or a
higher being, then this one may not be for you.
• If you do believe in God or a higher being, drawing upon your faith may prove to give
you strength when you are feeling tired or down.

Tip 7: Get organized and plan ahead!
• Each person has their way of organizing information and reminding themselves of what
needs to be done and when.
• Find out which method is best for you and then put it in practice. Examples include:
Writing items on a calendar, using Post-it Notes, using a daily planner, etc.
• If you think about tomorrow today, then you will have a much better chance to have a
successful day tomorrow.

Other noteworthy items that may help you on your journeys in high school, college,
and beyond:
• It's never too late! A good work ethic arid strong study habits will help you in school and
in any job that you will ever have. It will very difficult for someone to hold you back if
you are willing to work harder than others are willing to work.
• Apply yourself now! If you work hard now and go on to get a college education, you will
have many more options later in life that will all still result in a decent financial situation.
if you do not have a college education, it will be very, very difficult for you to have a
middle class or upper class lifeslyle (i'l"Lhat these are the lifestyles you would like to
have).
• Economists have shown that those who have a college degree will earn 1 million dollars
more over the course of their lifetime than someone without a college degree. In other
words, the decision to go to collecie is worth 1 million dollars. If you want to have the
extra 1 million dollars, during your high school years you need to decide that you will go
to college and then work hard to ensure that it happens!
• Dream big and always do your best! Once you see what type of life you would like
and/or when you find out what type of activities bring you happiness and fulfillment, you
need to go after your dreams with all that you have! Others can help you, but the only
person that can make you successful is you.
• Don't let anyone rob you of your dreams! If you have friends that are not looking out for
your best interests or that do not suppoi'L- you as your strive for your dreams, you need
to let them go.
• Figure out how you learn best and then ~jse those methods! Examples include:
1. Flash cards
2. Discussions with others
3. Provide tutoring to someone els--
• Get help when you need it. Don't be too proud. If free tutoring is offered you should
really take advantage of it!
• Set high standards for yourself! Don't underestimate your abilities or sell yourself short.
Each person has their own set of talents and strengths. You just need to find yours and
develop them.

"The hardest workers usually have the best luck." Originator unknown
Do you want to have the best luck?

Notes by: Carl D. Long
March 10, 2006

Carl Long's Tips for Productivity

Carl spoke to Snowden Class of 2009 on March 10, 2006. I just came across his notes and thought it would be good to share them. More tomorrow.


Seven Tips for Improving:
A. Your Productivity
B. Your Time Management
C. Multitasking/ Balancing


Tip 1: Whenever possible, work on and complete your least favorite tasks first.
• Most people procrastinate because they really do not wish to work on certain tasks.
• If you work on your least favorite tasks first and when you are fresh, you will always find
the energy later on (when you are more tired) to work on things that interest you.

Tip 2: When faced with a large task, break it up into smaller goals. Then, proceed
to complete each one!
• Question: How would one eat an elephant? Answer: One bite at a time!
• Sometimes it is easy to look at a large amount of work and become paralyzed because
you don't even know where to begin. Break it up into smaller pieces and then start
working on the most important and/or urgent task!

Tip 3: Reward yourself when you reach a milestone or a goal.
Make agreements with yourself that once a certain amount of work is complete that you
will allow yourself time to do something fun and enjoyable (rewards could include:
watching some I-V, playing some video games, talking on the phone to a friend, etc.)

Tip 4: Focus for short periods of time. Then, as your ability to focus improves,
focus for longer and longer periods.
Instead of working in front of the TV', focus on your work without distractions and get
the work done.
You will likely get the work done much more quickly and will then have time to do
something fun (i.e. watching TV) later.

Tip 5: For inspiration and camaraderie, study in a library.
• When you look up from your work and take a "mini" break ' it is sometimes very
energizing to see others that are also hard at work and concentrating.
• Any library may be a good place to get focused on your work and to concentrate on
learning. Examples include the BPL, your school library, the library of a nearby college or
university.

Thanks!

Murph, thanks for posting the photos and the high level summary of the survey. Both are great. And Ayyana, thank you for the info about the question of the day.

I hope the vocabulary exercise from last meeting was eye-opening for everyone. It sure was for me. There was a pretty clear lesson: the vocab words on the SAT are NO JOKE! Actually studying and practicing are really important to make sure you get your best score possible.

Hope everyone is doing well and keeping warm.

Jeff

SAT Problem of the Day!

Did you guys know that the College Board publishes a new practice problem every day? Here's today's:

Choose the word or set of words that, when inserted in the sentence, best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.

In her review of a recent novel, the book reviewer insisted on discussing details of the author’s life, in open ------- the current trend in criticism, which eschews any consideration of biographical matters.

A. fixation on
B. defiance of
C. deference to
D. incitement of
E. collusion with

When you have your answer, you can go to the college board website and check to see how you did, and how you stack up against other college-bound folks!

Apparently, you can also create a free account which will track your Question of the Day statistics. Good luck!

November 29 Meeting

Fifteen Snowden students filled out yesterday's "Where will you be in two years?" card. All 15 saw themselves in college, and four stated they will also be working part time. Also 13 out of 15 saw themselves living at school and/or on their own, while one would live at home once s/he had a car, and another would start out at home until s/he had enough money to move out

On question two, "What will you need to do between now and then to get there?" Graduating high school was on all the cards. Many said a "getting a scholarship" and "getting a job". Six mentioned raising their grades.



The two most popular responses to question three regarding help was "someone to keep me on track" and "someone to give me information about college" in that order.

Reminder

Our next meeting is Thursday Nov 29-first period in the cafeteria.

A Word to the Wise

If you're a high school junior or senior, you're probably working hard to get into college — researching schools online, preparing applications, taking grueling SATs and ACTs and writing the perfect essay. Maybe you have an air-tight application.
But you could still blow it, with something you thought was harmless fun: Your online profile.
But earlier this fall, a University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth study of 453 college admissions departments found that 26 percent of them are actively researching students through search engines such as Google and 21 percent are checking out social networking profiles when reviewing applicants.


How to fix your profile
Have an air-tight online profile for getting into college:
Safety first: Never post personal information such as your address, daily schedule, phone number, etc.
Make your profile private so that strangers can't look at your information, and be cautious about adding new friends who you do not personally know.
Pictures and references of you on your friends' pages can be damaging too. Ask them to take down photos on their profiles in which they've "tagged" you, along with comments.
SOURCE: National Association of College Admissions Counseling

Dayton News

Time Management

Research shows that many people think they spend more or less time doing some activity than they actually do. For example some people think they don't watch much TV but when they actually write down how much time they spend each day watching TV it's much more than they had imagined.

My guess is that our Snowden students think they spend more time outside of school studying, and doing school related activities than they actually do.

I propose you keep track for a full week of the following ten activities and how much time you spend on them:(Let us know if you think other activities should be listed)


1. Chilling with friends in person
2. Studying, doing homework or reading
3. Talking on the phone with friends
4. Talking on the phone for school, family, or work.
5. Watching TV
6. Using the computer for fun ; and or playing video games
7. Traveling on MBTA, car or walking
8. Church or youth group activity
9. School
10. Work
Click Chart to enlarge

public vs private

Hi Guys,
Thanks for setting up this blog!
That is great that both mentors and students were able to visit Stan yesterday. In terms of digs, the private schools are so much nicer than public ones. I was just at Noble & Greenbough for a friends art opening in the art gallery. The beauty of the facilities really blew me away. Everything seemed totally new.

So Elizabeth asked me if there were any plans to visit Art schools. I would like to organize a trip to RISD before too long. My Art prof thinks it is the best in the area. I think that the visits help the kids visualize what college will be like and may help motivate them in their last few years of HS.

-- Dan

Visit to Stan

Hi folks,
This is my first blog post ever. It's very exciting! Jeff, Yusuef, Jermaine and I went to visit Stan at NMH yesterday. It was fun to see him. It sounds like he's doing well, but is still working hard on adjusting academically and socially. I think he would really appreciate a care package or two, possibly including some posters or other wall decorations and snacks. Maybe a box of tacks for hanging up his hats as well. We got to eat in the dining hall (an experience that I think really blew Jermaine's and Yusuef's minds -- all the unlimited food options!) , check out the academic buildings, read a little in the library, play basketball (and by that I mean toss basketballs around with no sense of aim or distance) and cheer on the girls' volleyball team which was stomping all over New Hampton. Let's try to schedule another road trip to see him soon!

Onward and Upward

Hi Gang:
This is the first posting of our new blog. Hopefully we will be able to communicate regularly through the blog and keep track of everyone for grades 11 & 12 and beyond. We can list our meetings, special events and general events that might be of interest to members of our group. Everyone on the grade 11 team, mentors and students, can post on this blog.
I, Murph, am planning to expand on the list regarding college admissions that Mary distributed last meeting and you can raise questions or comment on them.
The important thing is to check the blog regularly. You will receive an invitation to be an author, but you first have to have a google account. It's easy to set up and there's no charge and they won't send you spam. Get started as soon as you can and start posting.

Here's Wikipedia info on the SAT and ACT. Click on the blue.
The SAT Reasoning Test is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is administered by the College Board corporation, a non-profit organization in the United States,[1] and is developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service (ETS).

The current SAT Reasoning Test is administered in about 3 hours and 45 minutes and costs $43 ($68 International),[2] excluding late fees. After SAT's introduction in 1901, its name and scoring has changed several times. In 2005, the test was renamed as "SAT Reasoning Test" with possible scores from 600 to 2400 combining test results from three 800-point sections (math, critical reading, and writing), along with other subsections scored separately (see details below).

The ACT is a standardized achievement examination for college admissions in the United States produced by ACT, Inc.[1] It was first administered in Fall 1959 by Everett Franklin Lindquist as a competitor to the College Board's Scholastic Aptitude Test, now the SAT Reasoning Test.[2] Some students who perform poorly on the SAT find that they perform better on the ACT and vice versa.[3] In February 2005, an optional writing test was added to the ACT, mirroring changes to the SAT later that year. All four-year colleges and universities in the U.S. accept the ACT[4] but different institutions place different emphasis on standardized tests such as the ACT, compared to other factors of evaluation such as class rank, G.P.A., and extracurricular activities.