BIC = Butt In Chair

Six months ago I promised myself, teachers, and students that I would start blogging again. And I really tried. I wrote the word “blog” at the top of every to-do-list. While lying in bed at night I promised myself that tomorrow wouldn’t be as busy and promised to blog right after the kids got on the bus. I even scheduled “blog due dates” on my calendar. Nothing seemed to get me motivated to start blogging again.

Today is New Year’s Eve, so of course I needed to take a nap so I could stay up until 12:00 A.M. to welcome in the New Year. Upon waking up from my nap I started to think of New Year’s resolutions and the verb, BLOG, hit me right in the chest. I continued to lie in bed and wrestle with the reasons why I had been avoiding blogging and weighing them with the benefits of starting again. Daily excuses included: “My life is too busy to blog, I’m not creative enough to write a blog, or I don’t know what to blog about.”

I was shocked to discover the words I heard were the same ones my students use when it comes to reading. Many of my students are alliterate, which means they are able to read yet choose not to. They say, “My life is too busy to read, I fall asleep when I read, or I am not smart enough to remember what I read so why bother.”

Kelly Gallagher, an author of adolecent literacy books for teachers, tells his high school students they actually love to read, they just haven't realized it yet. Each semester I challenge my students to “fake it till they make it.” I tell them to just BIC, put your “butt in the chair” and open the book. Read one paragraph and then go do something else. Come back and read the next paragraph. Keep doing this until the page is finished. Before they know it, they can read for 20 minutes without a break, then a whole chapter. I live for the day when they post comments on facebook about how reading isn’t so bad anymore or they actually look forward to reading and learning in a quiet environment.

This brings me back to my own avoidance of blogging. I am going to put my own advice to work for me. I am going to “fake it till I make it” and make sure I BIC, put my butt in the chair and type. And Kelly, I may end up loving blogging, I just haven’t realized it yet!

To 2012: May my blogs give you ideas, make you laugh and stretch your thinking. Thank you for taking the journey with me. I look forward to your questions and comments about your school adventures. Happy New Year!

Tayyiba Siddiqui

When I started college I thought everything will be fine. I was focused on my studies and excited about my first semester of College. I love to write but I don’t like to do reading. I want to become a doctor or want to do something in medical field. I know for the fact that I have to study and read a lot in my daily life. I have been through with so many difficulties in my life but if you believe on yourself, you can do anything. I learned so many good things in LLED class. Our professor Mrs. Wise taught so many interesting things that I start loving to read.

She taught us really beneficial ways of reading that it is so useful in our daily life. I learned how to FLIRT, DRIVE and RELAX with our texts which makes so easy to read. In this first semester of College it became so simple to read we just have to do very little work with our three techniques. When I first learn how to FLIRT it makes me laugh that how it is possible to do flirt with our study. But when I start using this it was actually so much fun. I never knew that I am a visual and kinesthetic learner. As soon I figure out I start working on myself. I saw so much improvement. It was a great experience in LLED class. It is such a great class for every student.

Time management and remove distractions were two big things that I also learned in this class which was so helpful. Whenever I study I always remove all the distractions so nothing can distract me. The other thing which was so great time management, I start managing my time for each subject and it was also helpful in my daily life.

I suffered a lot in this semester, I had two terrible accidents. When I had my first accident in October, I was so upset. But I am so thankful to Mrs. Wise who helped me a lot and gave me so much courage. Due to her I was able to focus again on my studies. It was so much stress because my finger got broken. I wasn’t able to do anything with my right hand. It almost 9 weeks but still my hand is not completely fine.

On November 30th I had another accident at same place, same day, and same thing. At this point I was like I have no idea what to do but I gathered myself again. So I can at least finish my semester. I always pray that never ever happen with anyone like that because it’s so hard to focus when you are so upset about your life, college and unable to write. But if I can do it then anyone can do it, we just have to believe that everything happen for a reason.

Erinn Getz

In the beginning of the semester I was going to study travel and tourism. As the weeks went by I had started to change my mind on my career choice. With that being said I think I want to study marine biology. If I study travel and tourism I know there will be heavy reading involved. I will have to read tons and tons of information about the places I plan on going to. If I do marine biology I think there will be a lot of note taking involved. My future college goals will to be on top of everything as in my classes, homework, projects etc. I need to be going to class every day, because even by missing one class I’m far behind. When I do my next assignments I want to put all effort and even some more, because halfway doesn’t get me very far.

In the beginning of the semester I was ready to begin the next four years of my life. I was fully focused and ready to learn. A few weeks passed and I started to slack off. My slacking off started to get out of control, I was missing assignments and failing quizzes. Finally one day I decided to study for the upcoming midterm. I studied enough just to get me by. I took the midterm and a week later saw I had received an A on the test. That is when I realized that when I put in effort to something I can actually achieve it. That is when I realized I was smarter than what I was portraying myself to be at the time.

The semester started to turn around for me when I started to apply effort and using the study habits I learned in class. I studied for a little bit each day and when it was time to take the next quiz I had remembered all of the information. I started to receive better grades, which then gave me more motivation to keep up my good study habits. In the beginning of the semester I thought the FLIRT phrase was not helpful to me at all and that I couldn’t use it. I had convinced myself I didn’t need to use it because the way I was learning and studying was helping. After we learned the DRIVE phrase I applied it to one of my projects in a different class, and after a few times of using the phrases I realized reading and studying was easier. My studying was going a lot faster, but I still was taking in tons more information.

Next semester when I have to read a large amount of text or do a huge project I know for sure I am going to use all the of techniques I learned in LLED. I’ve come to realize they do actually work and it shortens up my time spent on each project. I’m actually excited for my future projects because I now have confidence that I will do well on them. I now know a way to take in information and remember it! People may think that drawing pictures and talking back to the text is a weird thing, but if it helps me succeed in what I do, I’m using it.

Dillan Miller

Reading secret formula is: #1 Remove Distractions + #2 Take Notes + #6 Set Aside Time to Read = Success.

As soon as I started college I realized I needed a critical change. I felt like I had all the free time in the world to do my work. When I realized I had a few hours of class a week, I wasn’t worried about making time to study. I thought I could put it off until tomorrow. As the days went by, I started putting my work off more and more. I ended up having a few papers, a speech, and online quizzes to take all in one night. All the work had piled up onto one night and I had to get up for class at 7 a.m. the next day. I ended up being up until 4 a.m. that night and still got up for class but it wasn’t the best way to do my work. After this I realized I needed to change something in order to succeed in college.

I began writing down my due dates in places that I would see often. I also wrote down a schedule of all the days I worked and had projects due, so I could know when I had free time. After making this schedule I saw my grades improving and my stress decreasing. I also was remembering things I read easier all because I actually put time aside to do the work.

This class prepared me for my college and career goals. I want to go into the business field and study business management and minor in finance. With both of these fields, a lot of reading will be done. A lot of company reports, policies, rules and regulations are going to need to be know when going into certain business fields. With finance, a lot of reading up on company stocks, and sales, along with laws will need to be read. My career goal is to own my own business and will take a lot of reading to make sure all the paperwork is correct.
This class helped me get the tools I needed to succeed in college and life. Even though it’s something I wasn’t used to, it was better to learn so I can succeed in college and in life.

MyKeira Alwine

I want to be a social worker. I want to help children who don't have the best support from family and friends. Therefore I will have to read the way people think, take psychology classes to learn the different ways the mind works. As a result I will need to learn to set aside time to read. I am always saying I will do something and wait until the last minute to do it. Sometimes I forget about what I need to do and don't realize it until I get to class. To guarantee future success I will make sure to work on my time management.

The event that caused me to change was when my mother got laid off. I relied on her to provide for me and she paid for my daughters daycare. At this time I was unable to support myself. I really had to step up and start taking life serious. At first it was frustrating I felt as though I couldn't handle it anymore but family supported me. My aunt helped me with the expenses that I needed. With all this I still struggle with time management.

In order to make changes to my life I had to start off by removing distractions. I had to set priorities and realize what was important. I have learned that asking for help doesn't make you less of a person. It helps build your intelligence and means that you’re willing to learn new things. The most important thing I have learned this semester is drawing pictures of each section you read helps you to find important information faster without re-reading what you already read.

The way I handled the situation this time was very mature many teenage parents would have given up a long time ago. This situation has taught me that life throws you things and sometimes we believe it’s too much to handle but with the love and support from our families we become strong and can face any obstacle. If this situation would happen again this semester I think I could have prioritized a little better and maybe found more time to organize my time. The Most important thing I would change is setting aside time for relaxing.

Thanx to you Mrs. Wise I am able to find studying so much easier ! :) I appreciate you taking the time to work with the class and sharing your READING SECRETS ! <3

Aminah Shareef

In high school, I never tried my hardest, but I always received good grades. I never had to actually study or do homework but when I came to college, everything was different. In high school, my teachers would tell me how different college would be, but I never listened. College allows you to be independent and make your own decisions; everything is up to you so when I came to college, I knew I wasn’t able to do what I did back in high school. I started to become more organized but I soon learned being organized wasn’t the only thing I had to do. I had to do things that would eventually help me pursue my career.

My career plan is to graduate from college in four years, have a degree in Early Childhood Education and become an elementary school teacher. Before I came to college, I knew the basic steps to achieve my goal but after my first semester, I started to understand exactly what I had to do. With organization, I also have to develop better studying skills, reading skills, math skills, and since I’m an auditory learner, note cards and highlighters will help me a lot more with each skill. My weakness is studying, but I learned I needed to set aside more time to actually study. When I do study, I remove all of my distractions, which helps me study a lot better. I make sure I make studying enjoyable, by making books, having colored notecards and studying with a study group. To finish achieving my goals, I will continue to find ways to help me understand my work in college.

When I first started college, I didn’t set my learning standards as high as I should have, but now that it’s the end of the first semester, I learned to set my standards high and to achieve my goals; I have to work hard for it instead of barely working hard. My success plans are to manage my time by setting aside time every day to study and go over my work. Before, I would fail my Biology tests in college because I didn’t apply myself enough. I didn’t study as much, or use what I had to help me. Now, I study every day and make sure before there’s a test, I understand all of the information. I knew I was capable of having good grades in that class, but at the beginning of the semester I didn’t have the right tools to do so but taking the LLED class has helped me a lot with that.

After the LLED class, it’s helped me figure out where I went wrong and Mrs. Wise knows every way to help me in each of my classes to help me have a better understanding. Studying use to be boring to me and I never wanted to do it and now, I have no problem studying because I make it fun for me. Success comes with a lot of work but if you know how to manage the work, the work becomes very easy. I’m excited to start the next semester, because I have so much knowledge now that will help me succeed, and accomplish all of my goals.

Joseph Caldwell

My reading secret formula is #1take notes, #2remove distractions, #3Set aside time to study and review notes.
As of right now my major is in business management and I hope that after I graduate from college I will have a job. Reading was always the subject that I liked, but when I came to college it changed, because in college reading is required. My advisor told me take LLED, because it would help make reading and studying easier. Honestly I’m glad I took this class, because I learned so many things I didn’t no before having this class.

And now reading, taking notes and studying is so much easier than it was before. After taking this class I have been more successful in all subjects and it this class made me see college really isn’t that hard you just have to manage your time, study and take good notes. I remember when I started to use my reading secrets and it was the day I failed my Biology exam and the reason I failed, because I didn’t manage my time, study and take good notes. After that day I took my classes more serious. Mrs.Wise is wonderful teacher and was my favorite teacher this semester. Mrs.Wise taught me so much and made college so much easier. I can say after learning these reading secrets school work has been easy and this semester was a breeze.

Antonio Martinez

I am currently studying kinesiology as my major. I want to be a physical education teacher and a personal trainer for my future goals. For this major I need to read a lot of body movement and anatomy books. Some of the reading secrets that I used for my reading were remove distractions, stop when I’m confused and set aside time to read. These reading secrets help me achieve goals in my college career. To guarantee future success I will make sure to flirt my way to keep up good grades. My college goals are to keep up the good work and earn my degree.

Before I started at classes at Penn State York, I never knew about LL ED class and I’m glad my advisor mentioned it to me because it played a big role in my college career. I usually never made time to read because I wasn’t a big fan of reading and always had problems with procrastinating. Knowing how not setting aside time to read and all of the procrastination gave me stress, I knew I had to try something new to improve these bad habits. All of the strategies I learned in class really helped me grow as a more mature reader.

I figured out radical routines for myself to establish a change in my college career. These included getting the proper amount of sleep, studying for two hours and not leaving everything for the last minute. Removing distractions also play a big role in my college career because I got my homework done on time, focused on my studying and noticed a large change in my grades. Working with groups of people in class motivated me to study hard and flirt my way to an A.

For my second semester at Penn State York, I will make sure that I absorbed everything I learned from this class and reuse it throughout my college career. I will make sure to always remain focused and keep improving my work and grades to become a better and more mature reader and student. To guarantee even better results on my grades and in my studying, I’ll make sure to highlight important information, draw pictures when needed, and use post it notes to mark important points.

Joselyne Vivar

As I progress through my educational career, I will hopefully become a successful doctor. I know that I will have a lot of reading, and studying to do. As I become a practicing doctor, there will be hands on activities. In a way that matches my style of learning, kinesthetic and visual.

In high school, I was a good student but I had to take a literacy class similar like LLED. I've had similar courses over the years, but it has never really helped much. When I came into this class I thought it was going to be like the other reading classes I've had. I was wrong. LLED has helped me a lot by understanding and gaining knowledge about literacy. I have assimilated and accommodate new information into my existing schema. The way this course was taught, it has helped me view reading in a different perspective. Since I'm a visual and kinesthetic learner, this class has been helpful because we've done a lot motions and tried different strategies. I came into this class not having a positive view on the way I read but that has changed. I am actually beginning to love reading. Now every time I read, I will apply the strategies we learned in class.

During this semester, I have done extremely well with my academics. First of all, I always try to create a quite environment because that's how I focus. I have become successful because I've read and studied by flirting, driving, and relaxing. I've also asked for help with subjects I don't understand. Another technique that I've used is trying to relate to the information to make it meaningful and applying it. In addition, I stop when I'm confused because if I proceed I will not understand the topic. These steps have helped me achieve my goals.

I won't forget this class because it has changed me in a positive way!

Nick Snellbaker

The career I would like to pursue for my future is sports management. Growing up and now I am very involved in sports, so I figured this was the right career for me. Some reading that will be required for this field is definitely e-mails, newspapers, sports articles, and interviews. The reading secret I will definitely need to use is removing distractions. I get distracted very easily so I need to work hard to remove them.

My college goal is to graduate with a sports management degree and to finish with a high grade point average. It is very important for me to get good grades because all that matter to me right now is my future and the money income I bring in. Money income matter a big time to me because I want to be able to call myself “successful”. Overall my college goal is to do well so I can be proud of myself for where I will be in the future.

I changed in many ways going from high school to college. I had to learn how to be more independent in college. In high school you get a lot more help and are something I like to call “babied”. College is a huge step up from high school.

Also I had to change my work ethic. My work ethic in high school was laid back and I didn’t have to try much because it was easy. I was in for a rude awakening for college. At first I struggled but I learned that the work load at college is a lot more so I knew I had to change it in order to succeed.

My motivation would probably the scare of failing. I hate failing in everything I do whether it’s basketball, school, or playing a video game. There is nothing in the whole world that makes me more upset than failing. I am all about succeeding and failing and succeeding are complete opposites. You can’t succeed if you fail. So I try to make failing not an option for me.

Shane Solomon

My biggest flaw to my school work was hands down reading. I had a very hard time while reading: I would be very distracted,and I couldn’t concentrate/ comprehend my reading. I never read any of my assignments, and I would always use spark
notes or something along those lines, which ended up backfiring on me. I struggled with my placement tests, and SAT’s, hence the reason
why I am in LLED.

I want to come out of college with a business degree with a sport minor, which will
allow me to be an athletic director. Therefore,
I will have to do vast amount of reading. I will be dealing with emails, letters, eligibility forms, and physical forms. As a result to this, I will need to remove distractions, set a purpose, and set aside time to read to have success. To guarantee future success, I will make sure to never procrastinate,
and make sure I am always using FLIRT, DRIVE, and RELAX.

There was a huge change with the way I was reading thanks to LLED. College hit me hard at first when I didn’t do well on my first paper. When I wrote it I was with friends,which obviously made me distracted. This hurt my grade so I started to really listen to all of the different tips I was learning. I needed to remove my distractions, and make a radical routine, this allowed me to have time for my assignments and have time with my friends. Ever since I made a radical routine,
I have had a lot of success, which allowed me to get really good grades in all
of my classes. I have been more motivated to do better work, which allows me to be much focused.

Overall,this class has helped me so much. Next semester I will start out the right way, by following what Mrs. Wise has taught me. She has made my reading experience so
much more useful. I have gained stamina while I read which really helps with big assignments. I have gained so much out of this class, and I will use these tips for the rest of my life.

Evan Ehrhart

After graduating high school, the career I want to reach in life, is to be an elementary school teacher. I am attending Penn state York the following fall semester. As an elementary teacher there are standards to reach. For example, keeping a GPA at a 3.0 average and it starts in the classroom. Therefore I will have to read and understand different techniques and learning them to teach students; also organizing my thoughts to help teach the students. As results, I will need to change the way I read, writing down my thoughts in an organized way, and studying.

Understanding me, it was hard for me to study, read, along with organizing my thoughts for me to study. I never had any reading secret formula other than just doing it all at the last minute. While reading, I had difficult habits to get rid of while working on school work such as, listening to music, Facebook, and even sitting in front of the TV. It was tough for me to keep my grades up while getting distracted with my bad habits. I took a class called Language and Literacy Education to help me get away from my habits. First, I was introduced the Reading Secret formula: Remove Distractions, Set a purpose, adjust Your Pace, Take Notes, Stop when You’re Confused, and Set Aside Time to Read. The top two that gave me problems were remove distractions, and set aside time to read. I was either watching TV, on Facebook, or listening to music, and then working late at night. Then I learn how to FLIRT while reading, DRIVE while reading, and RELAX while reading. At first this all sounded confusing to me, because it seemed there were a lot of steps to do just for studying, taking notes, or just reading. After either doing those strategies, there are six different ways to keep my notes organized. They are, Enumeration: to list or identify facts, parts, or categories in any order. Second, Description: to give information about a topic, person, or animal. Third, Compare and Contrast: to point out how two topics are the same or different. Fourth, Sequence: to tell about a specific order of events or steps in a process. Fifth, Cause and Effect: to explain why or how something happened. Last, Problem and Solution: to describe a problem and what was done to solve it. Also with them using different Graphics to organize your notes.

After learning all of these strategies, it took awhile for me to find myself and get the hang of them, and I established changes by practicing all the time. The times when I read just for fun, I practice first by removing distractions, and sitting in a room that is quite for me to focus. I wasn’t good at setting aside time, so I made up a radical routine for myself to follow. It included my schedule of courses, basketball practices, and putting my study time during the time I am free. During my studying and reading time I practice flirt the most. I thought it was easy to follow and organize my thought easier. As the semester is flying by and me changing my habits, school has been getting easier for me to understand and learning more than I did. My memory after studying reading has been increasing overtime periods. I started studying really hard for twenty minutes and then giving my brain time to relax, and then go back at it. My grades have been staying high or at least a B range, and staying even with my goal at 3.0 GPA.

Now after I have learned and change to work on new strategies, I have been more mature about my school work and taking things more seriously. I will keep myself and my work organized and have a routine down. The great deal about it, is I will have fun and enjoy it, knowing that now I have different strategies to make it easy on myself by absorbing information in a healthy way. Going into next semester I plan on still using these skills to succeed in the classroom and most importantly in life.

Paitten Yanover

My reading secret is # 1, remove distractions, #2, taking notes and #3, time
management.

Coming out of high school we didn’t really have to read our
textbooks, coming to college is totally different we have to read everything
ourselves. I hated reading to being with, I’m one of those people that can read
when I want to not when I have to. After taking this class it helped me figure
out ways to make reading more interesting and a lot easier. I am going to major
in Human Development and Family Studies, so I have to stay up to date with all
the information about new things that come out about how we develop and age. So
I will have to make sure that I don’t wait till the last minute to do my work,
and make sure that I remove all distractions when I study so my mind can stay
focused on what I’m reading.

I have a hard time with making sure I have enough time to do
all my assignments, so what I have to do to stay organized I write down all my
homework and projects that need to be done and I do them in the order that I
got them in. I found that this is the only way for me to get everything done.

When I would read I would just read to get the book, or
article done I would never really understand what I was reading till this
class. This class gave me different ways of becoming connected and get into my
readings. I personally like to use writing notes in the margins and using the
highlighters. The notes kept my thoughts in order so I can go back and make
connections to the things that I already know. The highlighters kept all my
information organized, so I knew each color was a different topic. I find that
taking the notes and putting them in the margins helps me the most.

I always thought that when they told me to turn off the TV
or my phone so that I could concentrate was just because they didn’t want me to
use it. But I found that when I did those things while I was studying that it
worked and I could focus on my work, I started doing better in school and
getting A’s.

Now that I do all these things I have become a more mature
reader. Now I know the techniques that I need to use in order to be successful
in school. Making sure I have enough time to get all my work just flows with
the other things that I have to worry about now. I have more time to spend with
my friends and son. Thanks to My reading Secrets I can work smarter not harder!

Ishanti Commander

I want to be a labor and delivery nurse. Therefore I will have to read human anatomy and biology literature or things like lab work. As a result, I will need to remove distractions, take notes, and set aside time to read. To guarantee future success, I will make sure to take many biology/anatomy classes, learn how to retain a lot of information at once, and study all the time.

I walked into college thinking it would be something like high school. I thought I would be able to get by without studying or the teachers will help you out with everything, thinking things would be so easy. I had a rude awakening when I got back my first exam in biology, and saw a forty-eight percent. I didn’t understand why the grade was so terrible. I thought I had it all planned out. The test wasn’t easy and I didn’t expect it. I thought I would have a higher chance of getting a good grade when I found out that it was multiple choice. I didn’t know what to do when I saw that grade. I felt like a failure. I couldn’t look at another grade of mine like that. At that moment I knew it was time for a change.

The next day, I did the first thing I could think of to help me out with that class. I went to the Nittney Success center for a tutor. I started to take the extra mile and take my weekly quizzes multiple times to get better grades on them, to put my grade higher from the low test. I started reading each chapter fully and answer the questions at the end of each chapter to help me understand what I read. I used the methods that I learned in LLED to help me study the information being learned. For example, the flash cards, highlighting, rewriting the information, were helpful for me. Eventually I realized that my weekly quizzes were getting better. I noticed that I knew the stuff that the professor was lecturing about, so it became a review. I felt very proud of myself. I felt relieved that there was actually hope of me passing and getting a grade that could help me get into the nursing program. My motivation became my degree that I would receive at the end of all this work.

I didn’t want to be a failure. I didn’t want to be frowned upon by my parents. I didn’t want to be a bad role model for my siblings, so I had to make that change. Now that I made that change, I feel better about myself. I learned how to remove distractions that prevented me from doing what was supposed to be done. I learned how to create better study environments and study techniques that I didn’t learn in high school. I became more mature and like an adult. I realized me priorities and what was important. I know now, how to start off the next semester. I have to stop procrastinating and start teaching myself from the beginning. I learned how to study better, so I can use those techniques in the future. Getting a horrible grade can’t and will never happen again!

Genesis A. Guzman

While I was in high school I use to find school very challenging because I didn’t understand the material teachers would teach. So I would do fine on my class assignments, homework, and any team work we would have to do. But once it got to the test portion I would always fail because I never really knew the material. So I would barely pass my classes. If I would have had the Reading Secret Formula back in those days’ things would have been so much easier for me.

Removing distractions is secret formula #1 you do this by surrounding yourself in a quiet environment. Secret formula #2 is Setting A Purpose to learn, to evaluate, for entertainment, and know the reason why you're reading before you begin. Adjusting Our Own Pace would be our Secret Formula #3 we must pace ourselves with the movement of the text. Secret Formula #4 to me is very important Taking Notes “The secret to remember what you read is writing down thoughts in your mind” (Flirt your way to an A+ {Pg.10}). Secret Formula #5 Stop When You’re Confused, looks at the surrounding words, images, asks someone, look in the internet. But always stop if you’re confused and try to figure it out, or ask someone for help. Last and final Secret Formula #6 Set Aside Time To Read without this one all of the other ones are pointless, there’s not much to explain. Always try to find time to read!

In a couple years my plan is to graduate college as a Lawyer. Therefore Reading and Writing will be every important for me, the more I work on my reading and different strategies the better. The Reading Secrets will come in very handy for me, definitely something I will keep handy always. I will need to work on removing distraction, one that I am having a lot of issues with. Also I must take notes because I can’t afford to go back to every document, essay, theses, or book I read. I must continue working on all of them but these I will have to say are my major ones. To guarantee my future success, I must make sure to stay focus, use all the helpful tips you have given us in every one of my classes. For example Flirt and Drive these will definitely be around doing my future student and professional days.

Flirt and the reading secrets began to be a big deal outside the LLED class when I started using it in my Psychology class. I had a huge assignment to do on a 10 page essay I had to read and summarize. That was the first time I used the reading secrets and I was so glad that was the first lesson, for me it came in perfect timing. Also I had a lot of issues in math. It has never been one of my favorite subjects, but once I began flirting with it and looking at the ways around it I started to understand the concepts. Now I even enjoy it, the more I flirt with my work the more I understand it and the more I did on my assignments. Now I am so positive about all I can do and how I can use my new strategies on my future.

After this semester I have began to read more and not only reading because I have to but also individually, willingly reading. While I read I am talking to the text, making images in my head, and connecting things together. Now I am more determine about removing my distractions so it’s actually working for me, I still need to work on it more doe. Using all these new tactics have helped me be more motivated and positive about everything I do. Also I have been getting better grades, and my memory has improved a lot.

I will be starting next semester more positive and ready about everything new that will be coming at me. I feel more prepare for bigger essays, future reading and writing assignments.

Jymlise DeArmas

I’m currently studying travel and tourism. You would think it doesn’t involve a lot of reading but it does. Before traveling to different countries I will have to get a lot of background information on them. I will have to read the country’s history. My future college goals are to graduate with good grades. In some of my classes I had slacked off a bit which has lowered a few of my grades. I hope to keep using all of the formulas to stay successful with reading. I want to make sure I keep up all of my good reading habits.

Ever since I have been in school I always hated to read books. I never got enjoyment out of them because I always thought they were very boring. Now since I have taken LLED I have learned how to make reading more enjoyable. I now know how to set a purpose. Being a kinesthetic learner I have to constantly move to concentrate. When I read now I’m never in the same spot, I am constantly moving around. I was always an unorganized student. I could never keep any of my assignments in order and I could never remember what was expected of me. Now I use the radical outine regularly, which has helped me keep all of my classes and assignments in order.

Halfway through the semester I started to be more organized with all of my classes and professors. I learned an easier way that doesn’t take up much of my time. The moment I started to actually enjoy reading was when I found a book I found interest in. Before I was always reading books that didn’t apply to me, which is why I found them so boring. Now I love to read because some of the books actually relate to me.

Next semester I know I will be so much more organized all because of the radical routine. Sticky notes have become my new best friend; they help me remember so much if it is either due dates or when I take notes while I’m reading. When I have a project and it involves a lot of reading I know I’m going to spread it out throughout the week so that not everything is crammed all together on the last night. My studying will also be spread. My radical routine will be put to use every day.

Kris Curry-Davis

In high school i tried my best to read, but i failed to do so almost every time. I would stay on one page trying to read a boring topic or story and would eventually read on without understanding. Reading would also make me drowsy, and every time i read i would fall asleep. Reading all together was just something i hated all together. I would rather study, do classwork, or take a test but never read. When i got in college i realized that i was going to need to read more than anything, because if you can read and fully comprehend something then it wont be that hard to get through college

Me not having a major, the only career goal i have is to graduate college. Graduating college will take a lot of reading such as reading novels, textbooks, and articles. Thanks too reading secrets, i now have tools to help me conquer reading each and every time. In order to do this i need to read as often as possible, regardless of what class it is; college will most likely teach this to anyone. The reading tools i use every time i read are removing distractions, and stopping when confused. The best way to pay attention is to remove distractions. You cant control what your mind pays attention too, but you can help by removing distractions and paying attention longer. Everyone has trouble reading, it's what you do when you're confused that matters. When having reading difficulties don't increase the speed of your reading and ignore the problem. Slow your reading pace and identify the problem. Mature readers are able to match the type of confusion with the appropriate strategy needed to repair comprehension.

My grades showed that my reading tools were really helping me; my grades were increasing. Most of my classes delt heavily with reading assignments, whether it was LL-ED, english, french history, or HD-FS. When i had free time, i would read textbooks in order to get ahead of the game, and have a better understanding of what my teachers were explaining. This was easy because reading becme easy, relaxing, and sometimes fun; i wouldnt just push it off, or just rush through it getting nothing out of it.

In high school i was lazy when it came to reading. Most of the time i would just ask one of my friends for the homework if it was a rassignment. Lucky for me, i learned those important tools of reading when i got to to college, to develop myself into a good student, stopping when im confused, removing distractions, and setting aside time to read. Since i dont have a major, or a serious career goal, i search for one every single day. Every career i look at deals heavily with reading, so reading is not only extremely important with school, but its extremely important with life.

Luke Stiffler

When I first started this semester I wanted to major in business, but now I am going to major in athletic training. There are different ways that athletics trainers encounter reading in their careers. They will often read emails, articles, and online research papers during their job. I became a mature reader because I started to flirt with the text and I will when I become an athletic trainer. My college goals are to keep a high B average and to become even better at reading and to point out the important information.

Next. after midterms I started seeing some of my grades fall and I didn't like seeing that happen. My grades were at an all-time low and it wasn't good enough for my major so I changed my ways. I started to focus more in class, read more carefully, and took more notes. I was mad that I let my grades get that low and from now on I won't let that happen again.

After that, I established change in several ways. Coming to class everyday was a big turnaround for me because I am not a morning person. Also, answering questions in the back of the books helped me review the text. Seeing that my grades started to get better I observed that if I kept a radical schedule that I can achieve my goals in college. My motivation is definitely my future and to become successful in my career.

Finally, I will probably encounter the same thing next semester because most likely I will not change that fast. If I start to slack off and see my grades slip, then I will have to get my act together sooner. I will study much harder and focus in class more often too. Hopefully this won't happen again and I'll learn my lesson from this experience.

Ja'Viel Snellings

As a student in high school o had a very hard time with, removing my distractions and reading. When I would read books in class or at home I would forget what I would read. And I always hated to read out loud to the class; because I would always tend to mess up. Also never use to read the chapters that I was supposed to because I would always thought I could get away with it until I came to college I had to find out the hard way when I had to read chapter one for English and it was homework, and I didn’t do it and it came back to haunt me the next time I had that class. So I wish now that I would of taken care of my reading problem in high school when I had the chance.

My career goal after college is to become a forensic pathologist. As A forensic pathologist I would have to read a lot of law books and take a lot of notes while reading, to shorting words. In LLED I learn a lot of different techniques such as, taking notes, breaks while reading, remove distractions, and highlighters and these skills helped me out a lot while reading. Since I been in LLED class it helped me out a lot and gave me a better outcome on reading. Also I realize that when reading every day and breaking the book down can help me understand it more. When I remove distraction so that I can focus on my work it helps me understand the text better and also make better connections and I can get the job done right. I really don't have a great memory so when I take important notes of what I read I can just look back on what I took notes on and I understand the text in a different way. But in reading the easy thing to do is to highlight words that you don't understand because they could mean something that you know but it’s just a bigger word. So always use your techniques when reading because you will understand better.

When I started to use my strategies that I learn from LLED, I notice that my test grades had made a better change. My studying habits had become easier for myself and learning how to break the text down while reading became easier. Another thing when reading while studying words that I didn't understand and thought they would be on my test I would look them up. Now I understand how to study better and enjoy the text while reading it, and I like to read and don't forget what I read.

As A result of using the reading secret formulas, I can now understand everything about reading and how important it may be. Therefore I use my techniques that help me the most and get threw my reading and studying. And it seem less stressful when a teacher says “Don’t Forget to study for your quiz" because I use my techniques and I follow right threw them without a problem. So I now can say thanks to Reading Secrets I am now on a roll too succeed in Reading and it’s more understandable.

Josh Fry

Reading secret formula is: #1 Remove Distractions + #2 Take Notes + #6 Set Aside Time to Read = Success.

When I graduate I want to be a civil engineer and hope to have a job right after I graduate. I have never really like reading but did it because it was required and I would fail the class if I didn’t. Now that I’m in college there’s even more reading. I needed some help or I was in trouble. That’s why I took LLED because my advisor told me it would help me adjust to college workloads and all the required texts. Let me just say I’m glad I did because if I didn’t I wouldn’t have nearly the grades I have right now. My reading secrets I use would be remove distractions, take notes, and set aside time to read. I have found these bring the most success on a daily basis. As an engineer my classes are only going to get harder and harder as the year’s progress and if I want to continue success I will have to continue to use these reading secrets and get plenty of sleep. One event that caused me to change my school habits would be a paper I had to do for English 15. I waited till the last minute and when I got it back I got a 60%. I was shocked because I had always done well in English. I knew something had to change so I started to follow and try what I was learning in LLED. We could make revisions and turn the paper back in for another grade the next week. I started ahead of time and when I got the paper back I got a 92%. I was surprised how well the strategies I learned had worked. I knew I needed to use these strategies from now on to continue my success and I still use them today to great success. I learned that when I used these strategies my grades increased quiet dramatically. These strategies also have motivated me to try and get higher grades then before and do the best I possibly can. If I run in to a situation like this next semester I will make sure to stop and look at what I’m doing wrong. After learning these reading secrets I now know to take action swiftly when an event like the one I had occurred to prevent it from happening again. Thanks to reading secrets I now have more free time then I’ve ever had before.

Jordan Strine

The keys to my reading secret formula are definetly #1, remove distractions,
and #6, set aside tme to read. It seems so simple now after lled is over, but
before the semester started I had not developed any sort of study ruitine. I
remember being very worried about the amount of reading and studying neccesary
for success in college. If only I would have known then, that there is a system
for success written out for me to follow.

My advice to anyone taking lled or looking for a new way to study, is stay
open minded. My first day of class I was ready to drop the course and take
another boring english class. Without landing in this class i would have
probobly never changed my study habits and still would be up until early
morning cramming as much info into my brain as possible.

I knew for a fact ms. wise wasn't lying about this stuff after my first exam
grades started coming in. I was getting all A's!! Simply flirting with my
textbooks and remembering my secret formula helped me really grasp the material
enough to score high on my exams. Ms. Wise totally flips everything I have ever
learned about learning. Flirt, Drive, and Relax have become a normal part of my
rouitne and will continue to help me be succcesful over the next couple years
into my career.

Megan Sylvester

I want to be in the film and television industry. I know
that being in this industry I will have to read a lot of scripts and contracts,
therefore I know I will have to practice the Reading Secrets. I will need to use
Reading Secret #1 Remove Distractions, #5 Stop When You’re Confused and #6 Set
Aside Time To Read. My college goal is to graduate with a bachelor in Film/TV
from Penn State Main. In order for that to come true I will have to be more
responsible and set aside more time for school work.

I critical moment that caused me to change was when I was in
middle school and I found out I had a reading problem. I was in the lowest
academic class for every subject and my friends made it worse. They didn’t help
or support me and I put off all my school work. I decided a month later to
enroll in home schooling right away, so I could focus on my weaknesses. It
helped me a lot, because I wasn’t insecure to learn more.

I want to be in the film and television industry. I know
that being in this industry I will have to read a lot of scripts and contracts,
therefore I know I will have to practice the Reading Secrets. I will need to
use Reading Secret #1 Remove Distractions, #5 Stop When You’re Confused and #6
Set Aside Time To Read. My college goal is to graduate with a bachelor in
Film/TV from Penn State Main. In order for that to come true I will have to be
more responsible and set aside more time for school work.

I established small change in the beginning and used my
Reading Secrets to help myself work better on my assignments. I noticed that it
was easier for me to focus and to accomplish more. The only thing I haven’t
mastered is to remove distractions. It was really easy to memorize information
on my tests when I would draw pictures and use 3x5 cards, so now I use them to
help myself in all my classes.

If I could do this class over I would write when all my
assignments are due, so everything would always be done on time. I defiantly
would push myself more to attend class and if I miss to email more, so that I
can keep up with the work. I know that I can’t succeed without applying
everything I learned from this course to all my other courses in the future, so
I will keep practicing.

Michael Pilsitz

In high school reading was one of the biggest struggles for me. I didn’t like to read not even a little bit, it felt like torture. I could never remember what I had just read, this frustrated me and made me dislike reading even more. A lot of times when trying to read I would fall asleep. Even if I would read something that drew attention and was a topic I enjoyed these things would still occur. Nothing I would do seem to work: I tried to taking notes but the notes I took were not good notes and did not help me, highlighting was not good either because I highlighted everything and couldn’t pick out the truly important information. Although I had these problems I still blew through high school without any problems. But in college my reading problems caught up with me. I tried to do the same things I did in high school thinking that I would get the same results but I was sadly mistaken. I knew that something had to change and fast before I dug a hole to deep to climb out of.

My career goal after college Is to be a physical therapist and be a sports therapist. As a physical therapist I will have to read books on the anatomy of the body, massages therapy, and the newest studies found by other professionals in the field. Out of the six reading secrets the ones that I uses and help the most would be remove distractions, set aside time to read, and take notes. By doing these step it gave me a controlled environment and something to reference afterwards.

At First I did not take all of the stratigies I learned In class and applied them in my studies, but when I finally did I saw my grades rise in every class I was taking. It taught me how to study, when to study , what type of environment to study in, and what to study. It also gave me more confidence to read, now instead of just blowing off reading I actually try in engage with the text and do my best to complete the task at hand.

After learning all I learn about reading and studying I try to give advice to all of my friend and family. I feel as though if this can help a student like me it can help just about anyone. Finding the best study habits to fit what kind of learner you are is the most beneficial way to learn, and I sugest you find yours. My reading secrets hekp me change the way I look at class work and it will help me for the rest of my life.

Jacquline Salley

I use to be just like every other normal teenager when it came to reading. Always trying to take the easy way out, making up excuses to why my work wasn’t done, and always putting reading off to the side. In high school I only gave enough effort to get a passing grade; however, that did not work for my college classes. I decided that it was in my best interest to apply the: Reading Secrets Formula, Reading tools, and The Reading Process learned from my FLIRT Your Way to an A+ book to my classes. When I graduate from college I will be a licensed psychologist for children; therefore, I’m required to do a lot of outside reading, and cognitive thinking. In my reading journey I had to learn how to make myself love reading, as Mrs. Wise would say, “ Fake it to you make it.” So that I can become the person that I want to be, and do the things that I want to do with my life. If it wasn’t for FLIRT Your Way to an A+ book, I don’t think I would be able to accomplish anything, because I would still have my old ways.

In high school it was okay for me to not do my best, as long as at the end of the year I was passing on to the next grade. I put anything that required outside reading to the side, because I just couldn’t get myself interested with the text. I turned everything in on time; however, doing major projects and essay’s the day before its due is not necessarily a good thing. Everything was rushed so I made stupid mistakes and was deducted major points. When I started college, I started to apply the same amount of effort that I did in high school. After my first couple of tests, I quickly realized that my ways wasn’t going to work. Getting the grades that I did, I honestly felt like I failed life itself. I had to make a choice about just giving up and dropping out of school, or forcing myself to read the required text. And in the beginning I struggled a lot because there was just so much information to grasps that, my mind wasn’t retaining anything.

I purchased the FLIRT Your Way to an A+ book and decided to give it a chance. Learning the information in class also help with my reading journey. I learned that I was an auditory/visual learner, and some examples of how I could study like: highlighting, talking back to the text, and using post it notes. I also learned how to make reading fun, how to connect old and new information, and how to fit reading it with my schedule. Once I learned how to apply the six reading secrets, remove distractions, seta a purpose, adjust your pace, take notes, stop when confused and setting aside time to read; reading started to get easier for me. The Reading Process is what really set everything off in a good mood. Flirt, Drive, Relax made it so easy for me to read, to the point where I have to read every day. If I don’t read I feel like there something missing from my day. The change in my reading behavior didn’t drastically happen overnight, there was a lot of practicing and using the methods and tools learned.

One class that I wasn’t doing so well in was my Psychology class, which is my major. It was very important for me to do well in this class because being a psychologist is what I wanted to do in my life. Helping people succeed in life is a major deal for me. As a psychologist I have to do a lot of outside reading and cognitive thinking so that I will be able to diagnose my patients correctly. I have to read a lot of mental health journals, and a lot of medicine journals. So I absolutely cannot put off reading once I start my career. Since I started applying the information I learned too my psychology class my grades have gone above and beyond 100%, and now since I know how to connect with the text, I know that I will give above and beyond 100% in my career. Even if one day I come across a book that I have to read and I do not really like the book, I know how to fake it until I make it.

Overall I would like to give thanks to Mrs. Wise for writing the FLIRT Your Way to an A+ book and then teaching her class how to use the book. Reading has become fun and easy for me to do. I honestly see a change in my personality and know that I will do great in my career. I have become very confident with reading, and then I am able to explain what I read. My reading journey is nowhere near over, but I will always remember where my start was. One day when I’m a millionaire I’m going to reflect back on life and highly recommend what I learned in from Mrs. Wise to the world.

Casey Morris

This semester has been full of new changes. College is a lot different than high school as anyone would say. It is also more complicated than the little phrase “being responsible” lets on. When I started college it soon became apparent how time management can make or break a person, that the readings are about half if not more of what gets tested, and that I would have to make my own game plans as to how to study best. To be a good student in college truly is a way of life. College I now like to view as the process of teaching students how to be experts of learning. I gained this new prospective from a combination of some very smart professors and some unfortunate occurrences.

When I started college I really did not understand what I needed to do, to do well. I was very excited, eager to learn, and trying to find my way. I was so happy with my classes and for the first time I was truly happy to be in a classroom. However, then I became oblivious of what I was struggling with and when it came time for my first group of exams I became extremely lost and found myself breaking down under the confusion. Even before taking my exams I knew I needed to change what I was doing. It finally hit me that time management, organization, and seeking out help are ways of life that cannot be avoided.

After taking my exams I realized I needed help and a lot of it. So, I started acquiring some by getting tutors, getting help from my parents, and trying different ways to study. Some of these changes happened right away, however, others are still a work in progress. Even though I am still figuring out what studying habits and routines work best for me I have learn some that work. Examples of what studying habits work for me would be going to tutors, studying with friends, planning out when I need to do assignments and utilizing study guides to the maximum. I also now remove distraction when I have to read or do work and stop when I become confused so I do not get overwhelmed.

In conclusion now when I start my nest semester of college I know I have to start it by helping myself. I will make sure I get in the front of my classes, take notes, get tutors, study with my peers, and ask questions and for help every time I need to. Now I know what everyone meant when they told me college is about “being responsible.” More importantly now I know how to help myself and seek out help when I don’t know how to help myself.

Austin Keller

For my future career i want to be a farmer or something in agriculture. The types of reading that would be involved with this career might include the newspaper, emails, and directions for numerous things. As a result, I will need to highlight the important steps in the directions and definately draw pictures on most of everything I read because im a visual learner. My future college goals are to graduate with a degree in agriculture and do it with good grades. This will mean using everything I know to study. An event that has made me realize i needed to change in college was the first test that i took. I winged it just like I did in high school and failed it! Failing the test definately stressed me out and made me realize college is not a joke like high school was. Since then i have created a good study habit for tests and read the assigned homework. I have not gotten an A on every test, but i have only failed one test. I like to review my notes and anything to help me study everyday instead of two days before the test. Next semester i will be studying from day one. I have a good idea on how college is, and im ready to succeed in my college future.

Dashawn Duncan

Since I was young I wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to give back in the same way that people helped me. When I was 15 no one could tell me anything and I didn’t want to hear it. Until one teacher got to me. She told me I have a good head, never quit, and I can do anything if I put my time and heart into it.
High School was easy to me, but the transition into college was a lot bigger then I was ready for. At times during the year I thought about just not coming anymore. I had stopped doing assignments for classes, I started not showing up to class, and waiting till the last minute to finish papers. Then I received my progress report, and my jaw almost hit the floor. I had a D or lower in all of my classes.

That’s when I remember what we were learning in Mrs. Wise’s classes. So first thing I did was try to organize everything from my classes, but that didn’t turn out the best either. Once everything was organized I created a radical schedule. On my radical schedule I had times written down for work, homework, training, studying, and even dinner. With this all accomplished I believed that good grades would simply just come to me, but that didn’t.

That’s when I realized that my problem wasn’t just organization and time management, but that I had a trouble understanding what I read and studying for my test and quizzes. I needed to remove my distractions when I read. At times I was more worried about my phone then I was my book or my assignment. Also I would wait till the night before my test to actually take time to study.

Once I decided to take what I learned in class and apply it all things started working out better. If I would have known it would’ve been this easy from the beginning, I would’ve done it at the beginning of the year. Now that I have the keys to success there is no way I’m going back to struggling.
Thank you Mrs. Wise for helping me make my future better.

Zimou Xu

My reading secret formula is: #1 Remove Distractions + #4 Take Notes + #6 Set Time To Read = Success

I am different from local students in US, I am an International student that I need to pay more effort into study, especially reading. When I was a High School student, I don't like reading English books, newspapers and magazines. I spent a lot of time reading one simple and short English article, I feel bored during reading. My career goal is to be a manager, a business man, in China. I should read the topics based on leadership, management, career success and National News. The reason why I study abroad and read National News is to help me to be successful by connecting with global. Wherever I live in or study, I think reading is the most important thing for every one. I should absorb new knowledge and compare with old one by using efficient strategies: remove distractions, take notes and set time to read. Now I use these 3 main steps to do in my college study, and I really do better in college texts and quizzes. In the future, I am sure I must be a successful college student if I persist to use the strategies.

Removing distractions is the first and important step for me to read and study. I need a quiet environment to read and study by focusing on my texts. This time I leave away from my phones, mp3, TV and facebook. Sometimes I study in the library and cafe, so I can enjoy myself in reading. Because I can concentrate on articles, I can remember more and for a longer time.

Taking notes is also a huge part for me to get a high grade. In the class, I take notes during teaching and reading. After class, I can review the core information what I have taken notes, and it's more easier for me to know what teachers want me to possess and learn. For class quizzes and tests, I just read my notes instead of reading the whole chapter in the book. It saves time and is more efficient and useful for sustainable study.

The last one is setting time to read, it's preparation and time management. I prefer to study in the early morning, because scientists sign out that people can learn more in the morning than any other time of one day. Morning is quiet, morning is peace, and morning is comfortable. Morning is my best choice to study and read with lots of important texts.

As a result, I get all high grades on subjects. From the beginning of the semester, I always failed in quizzes and spent much wasting time on doing homework. Now I read books by highlighting, using flirt, drive, and relax phrases and summarizing. Next semester, I think I can do well as this semester, and even more is I can have more free time to have fun. The more I practice, the better I can achieve. When I am used to way I read through strategies, I can get to the summit.

Jessica Baldwin

My Reading Secret Formula is: 1. Remove Distractions + 4. Take notes + 5. Stop When You’re Confused + 6. Set Aside Time to Read= Success

Throughout high school, I never liked reading. I didn’t like doing anything that involved reading, like studying. I was one of many people who hate to open a textbook because you don’t feel like doing anything or because it was intimidating. Once I started taking this course, I realized that, “Hey! Reading isn’t so bad!” I now have new resources to use when I read. Throughout the next four years of college, I am studying to become an elementary teacher. I will need to read student work, teacher manuals, lesson plans and keep updated on the curriculum and how it’s changing. I know that I will need to manage my time better and take time to do my work. AS a result, I will need to remove distractions, take notes, set aside special time for work and to stop when I don’t know what I am doing.

I was always struggling with time management. I would wait until the last minute to study for a test and end up failing it. Or when writing a paper, I would end up finishing a 10 page paper in the last week and a half I had left to do it. I knew it was a problem, but I would just never try to change it because I would still get bye. I found myself doing this even in college. I would tell myself I need more studying time, but I could just never follow through.

During this class, I started to set aside time. It helped open my schedule so I could study more. I also learned that highlighting in different colors will help sort out the information I found, so I could make my study time short and sweet, but get all the information I needed. Because of this, I don’t waste my time doing stupid things instead of studying. I am getting better grades and seeing that I’m doing much better in my classes and on my tests. I also started to write down my assignments more so I could remember what I needed to do for class.

When I find myself going back to my old ways, I’ll be able to stop for a minute and think, “Is this really worth it?” And from there I will go onto remove my distractions and keep them away and to make sure I have time to do my work or assignments. I will also be able to use the different ways of studying I learned to use and apply it to each class.

Greg Robertson

For me having to read my textbooks or even read a news article is painful. What ever I am reading needs to be interesting to me like snowboarding or sports. Ultimately, my goal in life is to be an entrepreneur and hopefully own a Gym. If and when I own a Gym the reading I would do mainly, would consist of general business things. Reading would be Letters, bills, and emails. Through college my goals are to maintain being focused on school work, keep my grades the best to my abilities, and teach myself to get the most out of the time I spend reading. I found this out later than I should of but my reading secret formula is #1 Remove Distractions + #4 Take Notes + #6 Set Aside Time to Read = I got more out of reading.

One of the defining moments that made me realize I needed to step my reading up is when I got my mid-term back for me Econ class. It was horrible. I thought I had studied enough; clearly I was not very prepared. The week before I took the exam I thought to myself “I don’t need to re-read in the book what is in my notes” I studied my notes without even opening the book to see what I was learning. Needless to say I should have at least skimmed the chapters and took more notes. After that wakeup call I shortly re-visited my notes along with my text book and cleared up what I thought I understood.

The more I read and took notes the more I learned. Rather than just looking at notes I went into further detail. I made a bunch of flashcards and began to highlight what were important, definitions, formulas, all in different colors. For me to learn Econ I just needed to figure out what worked the best for me to take in and store the information. When I got better at understanding econ it motivated me to try and do better in the class instead of be lazy and wish I never took Econ. My grade increased a little here and there because I started doing better on quizzes.

I honestly still think I shouldn’t have taken econ right away my first semester, but it’s ok. I learned skills because of that class that can now help me in the future. For the classes now and classes to come my reading secrets really aren’t secrets anymore, they are my tools for successful reading.

Tanquasia Thomas

I went from High School having limited freedom, to college a world full of opened door, my decision on which one to take advantage of; this showed me I had a lot to learn. I never thought that going from eight hours a day five days a week, to sixteen hours a week could be just as hard. I learn about the same amount of work just at a faster pace. I had to establish something to keep up with this drastic change. The key was time management and organization, so now I had to fit this in to reach my career plan.

My career plan for my future is to obtain a business degree; then open up my own hair salon. While achieving this task I will have to do numerous things; reading, hard work, effort, perseverance and constant willingness. My weakness is reading so
I need to establish how I will be able to enjoy reading. I tend to do that by setting aside time to read and removing distractions when I read, as a result I will need to turn off my phone and isolate myself when it is time to read, and use my time management skills to set a specific time I will read daily. My goals throughout college to ensure my success will be to study hard and work hard.

I learned the keys of successfully completing college are by studying hard and working hard, my second week of school. I learned this in my Economics class due to the difficulty of understanding the concept and inability of studying the correct way to fit that course. The test I took in this class did not seem to be the average test, so I failed it because I study the wrong way. This made me very upset! I then had to go back and reevaluate my mistakes and establish a new way to study this material, and this was a wakeup call that everything is not as easy as it seemed. So from then on I had to study the lecture, the professors’ notes, my notes, and the course book. There was still not much of a change; this is when I established maybe this course was not for me. I could not maintain a B average as my GPA when I am totally failing this class.

This has not only showed me that college it not simple but also that there are numerous ways to study and I need to find out which one fits the course before I start studying. If I was put in that situation now, I would use my prior knowledge from that course, and establish a study habit that fits the course and seek help from a class member. This experience has prepared me for my next few semesters in college!

Emmanuella Vilfort

When I was in high school, I always wondered what the first semester would be like exactly. I knew from others older than me that of course it was going to be a lot different, faster paced, and sometimes challenging to understand. Indeed, what I expected was what I found but to be honest, my classes in my first semester were really laid back; I didn’t have to do much reading at all. Although, I am not expecting that next semester will be the same and that everything I’ve learned with my class is very useful, even for everyday things. My plan after college is to be a child life specialist. Until then and throughout college, like everyone, a mass of reading is involved before I’m anywhere near out.

I learned how to determine my reading style and discovered that I am definitely an auditory learner. I also learned the six reading secrets and that I have to use them differently than a kinesthetic or visual learner. Because of the fact that I am an auditory learner, I have to do things like writing what I’m thinking in the margins, or by telling people what I’ve learned to make sure that I remember the new information.

A huge thing that has been trying to help me is keeping a radical schedule. Like anyone I know, we all have extra busy lives that constantly change. I have never known a time since I was young where I knew exactly that my schedule would stay the way I planned it. I don’t know anyone who does but in life things happen uncontrollably. The radical schedule regulates exactly how much time you really have on your hands. It’s based in between class time, studying, work, free-time, and even a bed time. The hard part is actually training your brain to stick to it. Also, studies show that it’s better to study only twenty minutes a day and taking breaks in between longer study sessions. That was one thing that fascinated me because I found that it actually works and is generally better for me.

A moment that I knew I needed all of what I learned the most was after my grandmother died. Things like these happen in life and everything is harder to handle when stress comes from the outside and not just school. I flew to Haiti for the funeral, came back and was more behind than I thought. I panicked because I later noticed my grades were slipping and I wasn’t catching up like I thought I was. With that, my stress level sky- rocketed while I was trying to maintain my regular life as well. I started paying extra attention to my radical schedule and starting setting little reminders for myself for anything I needed to do. I used strategies given for an auditory learner, but also highlighted things a lot. Over the little bit of time I had, I started seeing my grades go back to normal and I wasn’t as stressed over school at least.

I can’t put a stop on unfortunate events that can happen in the future, but next semester I already know that my classes are going to be a bit more of a challenge. Now I know what to do to prevent myself from falling in a hole that I can’t dig myself out of. I can use the reading secrets, FLIRT, DRIVE, and RELAX and any other strategies to keep myself on track and actually make my school work a lot more interesting to look at. Also, I know how not to get lost when I don’t understand what I’m reading. I can always refer back to the book if I don’t remember anything and I need help. I can give the strategies and everything else I’ve learned to any of my family member and friends, like I have been, and it is sure to help them as well. This class helped me and showed me that I can keep my learning simple and easier to understand without doing more than adding to what I already know. It’s possible to be a great student for the rest of my college career, and without extra hassle after all.

Willie Hicks

The transition from high school to college wasn’t a very easy transition for me. I did all four of my high school years Home schooling online. I enjoyed it for the most part, for the reason that, I was able to work at my own pace. My main problem was reading, I really hated it and would find ways around actually picking up a book and reading. In high school, when I had to do a book report I would choose the novels that later became movies because I’m more of a visual person, I found that simpler and a lot quicker, then actually sitting down to read the book. It took me day or so to write the report. I would do it at the last minute and cram everything in the night before it was due. Returning to a classroom had an early effect on me. For example, I would over sleep and miss classes so I had to adjust to actually getting dressed and out the door every morning on time. I also had to prepare for classes earlier.

My major is business. I haven’t decided if I’m going to minor in the finance or management field. Both require a lot of reading. I would more than likely have to read contracts, financial documents, tax returns, Business proposals and plans. I definitely wouldn’t be able to ease my way through my classes anymore or make excuses of any sort. My number one weakness is I procrastinate, so I have to plan things out earlier and focus to conquer it, if not, I would rely on others more than I want to. As a businessman I want to rely heavily on myself. However, I always want to keep an open mind and except others help or constructive criticism on certain ideas and plans.

I’ll make every effort to be successful because successful people figure out how to adjust to difficult or uncomfortable environments. I realize that I have to remove distractions, set a purpose, and take notes which are really necessary actions for me to be successful in college and one day in Business.

Using my secret reading formulas, I was able to find out that my learning profile is a visual learner. It enables me to find simple and easier ways that will lead me to making reading more of an enjoyment then an obligation. I would look at the pictures before, during, and after reading. As well as writing important ideas down, it helps me undercover patterns and examine relationships between certain key concepts. While I’m reading I would use highlighters which keep my mind interested and focused on the text. The highlighters would highlight important quotes, words, and even things I didn’t understand in the text.

I can say that my freshman year has taught me that college and high school are without doubt two different educational worlds. I’ve learned that I can’t continue some of my old high school study habits. I really have to buckle down and focus if I want a thriving career in business. In addition to putting my best foot forward, I have to set goals and maintain them and conquer my reading demons.

Hailey Schuchart

Throughout my four years of high school, I struggled with wanting to read. Reading seemed to be a hassle for me so I barely ever opened a book. Whenever a reading assignment was given for homework or I had to read something for one of my classes, I would always try to find the easy way out. I would read the back of the book for a quick overview and go to different websites to find more information. I would also ask my friends about the assignment because I knew they read it and would give me a quick summary. I would always end up getting all the information that I needed to know, but once I started college I realized that I was on my own and needed to change my habits.

My career goal after graduating from college is to become an Elementary Teacher. As an elementary teacher, I will have to read textbooks so I can plan my lessons as well as reading and grading assignments. From Reading Secrets, I have learned and practiced different strategies that I can use to be successful such as, removing distractions and taking notes. Removing distractions is a great way to keep your mind focused on strictly one thing without having to stop every five minutes to check your phone or change the channel on the television. Taking notes is great way to identify key concepts and connect information that you already know to new information. This helps you stay focused on what you are reading and you are not bored because you are always writing. This is nothing less than a one-way ticket to success!

When I started applying these strategies, I realized drastic changes in my grades. Every assignment became easy because I was able to stay focused on one thing and was able to fully understand what I was reading. I was receiving grades that I have never received before and I was motivated to drop my old habits and strive to do even better!

As a result of using these Reading Secret strategies, I am now a mature reader! Reading has become an educational and fun activity that seems natural to me. I have learned to prioritize so that I can still have fun and get great grades in all my classes without feeling overwhelmed because I get bored or don’t understand the text. Thanks to Reading Secrets I am able to prioritize and understand information that will lead me to success!

Savion Kirkland

I had made many changes throughout my first semester of college, thanks to the strategies I learned in my LLED class. These strategies helped me accomplish all the goals I needed in order to pass the semester with a high grade point average. The strategies I think that helped me the most was the flirt and reading secrets strategies. After taking an LLED class I was able to manage my time a lot better, put more effort into my school work, put more effort into studying, and understand what I was studying. Each of these of strategies played a great role in helping me reach my goal such as the flirt strategy.

The flirt strategy gave me a better understanding of what was being studied. Instead of just being stuck while studying, I learned how to flirt with the text to get a better understanding. I think the flirt strategy is most important because, how can you understand something without analyzing the data first. I never knew that something that I was so good at in high school will get me by in college. The flirt strategy is a good way to understand what’s being learned such as the reading secret strategy.

The reading secret strategy helped get by my first semester as well. I learned how to Remove all distractions, set a purpose, adjust my pace, take notes, stop when I’m confused and set aside time to read; now I’m able to focus on my work and get the job done. These strategies will help me in the future with my career and to reach that goal.

When I grow up I want to be a vet. In order to become a vet I would need to take a hell of a lot of math’s and sciences. In order to understand math and science I would need to know how to flirt and adjust myself to the work. In LLED class, I was taught those strategies. LLED not only changed me as a person, but changed me as a student as well.

Cody Grimm

Reading Secret Formula= #1 Remove Distractions+ #4 Take Notes+ #6 Set Time Aside to Read=Success

I came out of High School, with my eyes set on becoming a councilor of some sort. I think I’m on my way to doing that. Little did I know, readings going to take a big part of my career. With reading updated studies and study reports and just reports in general. There are all kinds of things you have to read when becoming any kind of councilor. Just to keep one’s self updated on the current events of the world, there is a lot of reading. I do find, though, when I do read, I take plenty of notes and ask about things I may be confused about. To activate my schema and access my prior knowledge, yet, add to it. I set aside my time to read and in the process remove my distractions that I may have, so I may better understand the material and remember more. So with this all in mind, my goal is to really get involved in HDFS and Sociology (etc). I want to further what I know, so I can make more sense out of the world and continue to help people in it.

My oh shiitake moment was when I realized that I couldn’t use the same study tactics I used in High School. Well the main reason I couldn’t use them is because I never studied. I just took the information, remembered it and dispersed it when the test came. When you taking five colleges level classes, that method of not studying is a lot harder to do; especially when you have multiple chapters you have to remember, and you may even have two or three other tests that day (Which always seems to happen). So from my first Bio test on, I had to study. I had to figure out what worked for me again. I remembered that flash cards really worked for me and you can bet I stuck with them. Almost every test or quiz, I had an ample ready pile of flashcards to study from. My brain never gets bored of them, which is good, because it really works for me.

To change how I studied, I had to perform a drastic change. I had to slap my brain across its brainy face and tell it to listen up; this is how we do things now. I slowly studied a chapter over a course of a week and got faster and faster at remembering the information. So I arrived at my first quiz, and read over the paper and for the first time in five years. I could pull the information readily from my head and put them down on the paper. That quiz in fact, I received an A-. Which was great for me, because no matter what; I always set my expectations to at least a B or high C. So with that small study session, my memory, motivation, focus and graders were higher!

All and all, it all comes back to reading. Everything seems to always come full circle back to reading. When I’m stuck in a situation next semester, my mind will sift through the files of my Reading Secrets to find an answer. The things I’ve learned in LLED and my Reading Secrets will probably stick with me for a long time. The methods I’ve learned, the methods the class as a whole learned, sets them on the right path for excellent success in college and life.

Nicole Gerber

Reading Secret formula is #1 Remove Distractions + #2 Take Notes + #6 Set Aside Time to Read = Success

I was never that big into reading, I always thought it was boring and could never stay focused. I always found excuses to keep me from sitting down
with a textbook. I realized that reading and studying is not that bad, this class helped me realize that. I always wanted to teach little kids, that's why i'm majoring in Early Childhood Education. Therefore, I will have to read all the e-mails from the students parents and the teachers. I will also have to look at newsletters on a day to day basis to keep up with information and important things going on in the school. You have to do a lot to become a teacher, so I have to make sure I remove all distractions and not wait to the last minute to do the work.

Time management was an issue for me. There were times where I waited to do my work till the last minute which made me stress and worry that I did't
get all the information I needed. I fixed this by keeping organized and writing down when things were due also by making sure I set aside time to do the work.

When it came to homework and/or just reading I could never stay focused. I never got interested in what I was reading and I always just read the text but never spent time to really understand what was going on which made me forget easily. I finally decided I should take notes and write down main ideas in the book. I also seemed to get distracted when it came to doing homework or reading. I always looked at my phone, had the tv on and music playing. I came to realize that it took me a lot longer to get things done and to actually stay focused. For me to get things done, I had to remove all my distractions. Once I removed distractions I notice I could remember a lot more.

If I started having the same issues next semester like time management, distractions and not staying focused, I will probably stop and think about the problems I had last semester and times where I was stressed out. Taking this class helped me manage my schoolwork and made studying a lot easier.

Kelsey Poe

#1 Remove distractions + #4 Take notes + #6 Set aside time to read = Success

Being a freshman in college comes with many different situations with some being great others being bad. My first few weeks of college were really rough for me because of not knowing what to expect and coming out of high school and not knowing how to truly study. Being a business major I have many different things I need to learn like time management and study habits. In order to make myself successful in college I will use the reading secrets and not be afraid to ask for help.

I knew college was not going to an easy part of my life, but it wasn’t till I got into the first few weeks of college that I realized how bad I was at reading and studying. At first I was attending classes regularly and thought I was doing great. However, as I sat in my room one night with my mind screaming for me to stop staring at the textbook in front of me, and want me to watch my favorite television show I was missing because I procrastinated, was when I realized I needed to take action and change.

Once I knew that my mind wasn’t going to just calm down and learn on its own, I asked for more help and really opened up to many different ideas. After the first meeting with an instructor I changed everything I could to make sure I kept my grades high. Making a Radical Schedule, learning to Flirt, Drive, Relax was only the start to the changes I made. I noticed within a week or two I had a better schedule to work with and that it also allowed me find times when I was better at studying like in the afternoon rather than the morning. I also noticed I was better able to read and study more calmly and better capable to understand the whole concepts rather than just the definitions.

I was smart to ask for help when I knew I needed it and I will continue to ask for help whenever I need to. However, next semester I will be better prepared for when I run into problems with time management or studying. If I find a situation that I’m missing my favorite television show because I forgot to read a chapter, I will make a new Radical Schedule to fix my time management problems. Also if I find myself having problems with studying I now know how to find new ways to study to help keep my mind focused and refreshed.

Holly Griffith

Since I was little I always wanted to attend Penn State and become a children’s lawyer. However, it has not always been so easy working towards that goal. I found that I needed to get good grades and do well in everything I did to obtain my goal. Since the moment I decided what I wanted to do I have worked my hardest to get there. And a couple years later I found myself attending Penn State and working towards my goal. Although it wasn’t an easy process to get through, being that I wasn’t always the best student. I found that I was very good at procrastinating and spending too much time goofing off rather than studying.

Once I got to college I found myself doing the same thing I was in high school. I was just like every other college student, just doing what I needed to, to get by. Up until the point I failed my first exam in college, and my professor told us if we failed the next exam we needed to drop the course. At first I just ignored the problem and just blew off studying. After a little while it finally clicked with me that if I didn’t want to fail, I needed to do something about it. Not accepting failure as an option I took some tips from one of my other classes LLED. LLED taught me how I could have a life and still get good grades. I learned that I was an auditory, visual, kinesthetic learner, which means I need to have a lot going on while studying. I also learned a few reading secrets that would help me to turn around all my grades, and my way of studying.

After my bad exam grade I found that if I used my learning profile and my reading secrets I could get good grades. My reading secrets are 1 Remove Distractions, 5 Stop When I am Confused, and lastly, 6 Set Aside Time to Read. I am constantly looking up words I don’t know, putting away my cell phone while working on school work, and highlighting, and taking notes. All of these tools help me to not only be a better reader, but a better student as well.

Once I learned how to study I found that the time I would spend studying flew by. LLED taught me a lot of things over the last semester that I will continue to use throughout my entire life. I have learned to never procrastinate my work, always remove my distractions, and last but not least always set aside time to do my work. Studying is now easy and sometimes can be fun for me. I can say this much, next semester I know not to fail an exam and always work at my best level.

TaTyana Williams

Throughout the first semester of my college career, I ran into a lot of obstacles and the literacy and learning education class helped me over those obstacles. Right now, I am studying psychology with a minor in broadcasting journalism. I’m not sure what I want to be after I graduate, but I know I want to work with people. I either want to have my own television show or my own radio show, my dream is to become the next Oprah Winfrey. I have some big shoes to fill. Becoming a psychologist or psychiatrist I would have to read and write a lot of articles and documents. As you can see I have dreams of becoming something better than what I am now, and in order to do that I need to set a purpose and stay focused on my goals. My grandmother is a psychologist and she has a very busy schedule, so I would also have to adjust my pace on what I’m doing, but the main reading secret that is important in any career is to remove all distractions. I plan on helping a lot of people, so in order for me to work at the best of my ability I would have to stay focused and distance myself from all the distracting things.

College is very different from high school, the classes are fast paced and there is more work. I came into college thinking it was going to be a piece of pie, but of course I was wrong. In high school I was a straight A student, and English and writing was my subject. But after getting—what I thought was the best paper I ever written—back with a “No Grade”, that was my breaking point. I burst into tears, because I never seen that before and I could only think of the worse. I was starting to think I wasn’t good enough and that I didn’t know how to write a Modern Language Association paper. After I calmed down, my professor explained that I used to wrong format for the paper. It was an analysis paper and not an MLA paper and she gave me and chance to rewrite the paper in the correct format. In high school MLA was all I have been taught, so I assumed that was what we had to do. Throughout the semester we had to write different varieties of essays, and I learned quite a lot. After getting my second grade back, which was an A, my confidence was sky high. But since then I paid more attention during the lectures, because every week we had to write a different paper. I kept getting better grades and I was proud of myself. I’m looking forward to next semester because I have two writing classes. If this would ever happen again, I would probably ask questions even if I’m not confused, but just be sure I’m doing an assignment the right way. I wouldn’t take the “No Grade” back because dealing with that experience made me a better person and built my confidence. It was just what I needed to be successful this semester.

Abdulaziz Gafar

Reading secret formula is: #1 Remove Distractions = Success

When I was in high school I wasn't really into reading because I liked playing soccer rather than spending many hours reading textbooks. Now after I become a mature college student there is lots of reading required to my major.

My immediate goal is to obtain a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. A bachelor’s degree in civil engineering will provide the opportunity for me to take many courses which will prepare me for the engineering challenges of the work force. To be more successful, engineering must have to be strong in math and be familiar with numbers.

Being fond of soccer effects on my grades because I use to all my reading work with the TV on. In my first month of my freshmen year In Penn State, I had an event that caused me change. This event was that in my English class i had "C" , and after I set a purpose, take notes and remove all distractions that's around me, my grade turned to an "A".

For me I found that the best way to be successful is to be an organized student by having a radical routine and use the time wisely. Also I spent extra time to read, and I underline the things that I don't understand.