Academic Coaching is for students who want to meet their academic potential, leverage their strengths, and increase academic success. When students struggle with the skills and routines they need to meet their learning goals, there is often a need for academic coaching. Sessions provide an opportunity for students to learn a range of organizational, study, and time management tools that support their unique learning process. Academic coaching is especially useful for students who need additional skills to meet the challenges of increased academic demands, as well as students with executive function, ADHD, and learning differences.
Based on the unique goals and needs of the student, sessions may focus on:
Building student awareness:
Students learn how the brain works to maximize its learning potential
Habits and grades are tracked to make patterns visible to the student
Students are guided through tools to manage time and realistically plan their work
Anti-procrastination strategies and tools are introduced
Short-term and long-term goals are identified and discussed weekly
Problem-solving skills are developed with coaching through obstacles or challenges
Learning a variety of study skills including:
The Study Cycle process to improve test performance and confidence
Individualized study routines and plans
A toolbox of study techniques that can be applied to a variety of subject matter
annotation and note taking skills
making notes and study tools quizzable along the way for great efficiency in finals season
understanding how to get information into long-term memory
How to vary learning and study strategies for greater interest and success
The Study Senses: The four ways our brain learns best
How to create an exam/finals study plan to optimize testing success
Developing organizational skills:
Understand what working memory is, and how planning/reminder tools prevent working memory overload
Introduce and solidify the consistent use of a paper or on-line planner
Learn a variety of tech and non-tech reminder systems, and adopt a reminder routine
Backward planning: Break large projects into small, doable chunks with calendared tasks
Create a study schedule, identify needed tools, and optimize the study space
Use a “set-up” routine to combat procrastination
Ongoing support to solidify organizational routines that work for the student
Coaching toward learning independence:
Giving students a place to make commitments with an accountability partner for follow through
Using the Pomodoro technique to increase productivity and decrease procrastination
Identifying and implementing solutions to challenges
Trying and evaluating various skills and routines, with the goal of finding approaches that work for the individual
Creating do-able roadmaps for learning and studying to decrease overwhelm
Coaching students through why and how to self-advocate with teachers
