3 Reasons a Radical Routine is Essential for Scheduling Your School Work

If you’re constantly stressed over getting all of your school work done on time, a radical routine is a great thing for yourself to create.


By having a structured plan you eliminate procrastination and give your mind time to rest and relax avoiding stress. Having a structured plan is very important when it comes to your success in college.

By having a routine and a structured time do complete the work in every class nothing will ever get left out. Being reminded of your work becomes second nature and really helps take the stress off. A big problem for students is procrastination. Having a radical routine is a great way to avoid this problem. I find that I do my best work when I take my time and do not rush through assignments. Always allowing yourself plenty of time to do so is a great thing that a radical routine does for you. All your work is done good and correctly, on time every day of every week.

Rest and relaxation is also very important in the everyday life of a college student. With this schedule you allow yourself plenty of time to do other activities that don’t involve school work to make sure you are relaxed and well rested. All of these reduce the stress that you have and no stress equals better success in a college environment.

This was a guest blog by colleget student, Eric Sowers. I would love to hear your secrets for creating a radical routine. Share your thoughts below or join the conversation on facebook.com/myreadingsecrets If you liked this post, sign up for my newsletter for more tips to become a better student.

4C's for Relevant Teaching

I feel like I am drowning in the letter C. First the message was, "Make sure students can COMPREHEND what they read." Then I was told to, "strengthen CORE instruction through CORE reading programs." Next I heard about teaching 21st CENTURY skills through, "COMMUNICATION, COLLABORATION, CRITICAL THINKING, and CREATIVITY." Now, the whole nation seems to be getting involved with the adoption of the, "COMMON CORE state standards". Are there any more C's left? This blog attempts to put all the recent talk into a simple plan.

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has built a simple framework of lessons that blend these C's into four main topics:

1. Communication: Sharing thoughts, questions, ideas and solutions

2. Collaboration: Working together to reach a goal - putting talent, expertise, and smarts to work

3. Critical Thinking: Looks at problems in a new way, linking learning across subjects and disciplines. One sample lesson suggests students visit www.kiva.org and select a person to support. Each group creates a presentation to persuade classmates to choose that proposal.

4. Creativity: Trying new approaches to get things done equals innovation and invention.Help students bring the text to life by visiting these sites. Google Lit Trips provides a new approach to reading. There is also Google Historical Voyages and Events for history teachers.

For the iPad generation and those who educate them, what does it mean to be literate? Yesterday’s definition is no longer relevant and tomorrow’s definition hasn’t been created. Given the ever-changing definition of literacy, perhaps it is easier to define the set of skills needed to be literate rather than defining literacy itself.

Keep in mind, each C requires a lot of modeling, practice, and facilitation. Without a teaCher, C is just a letter. Let me know how you use these four C's in your classroom.

3 tips to Eliminate Distractions

A distraction is when someone or something blocks your mind from paying attention to the text you're reading. The best way to pay attention to what you're reading is to avoid being distracted by other stimuli.


Your mind is naturally going to be drawn to three specific stimuli:
1. New or novel thoughts:-Your brain loves to think. Control what your mind thinks by drawing pictures about the text you are reading and writing notes in the margin.
2. Loud sounds:- Sit in a quiet room with the TV off, computer off, cell phone off, and head phones out of your ears. Yes, I said OFF, not low, muted or on vibrate.
3. Fast moving objects:-When choosing a seat in class or the library, sit far way from doors and windows. This way your mind won't pay attention to people walking down the hall or cars driving on the road.

What does this mean to you as a reader? If you want to remember what you read, you must remove the distractions from your environment. By removing distractions, your mind will pay attention longer and remember more.

Remember, multi-tasking while reading is as dangerous as multi-tasking while driving! Be a safe reader and remove all distractions before you read.