By Oskar Cymerman | @focus2achieve | BAM! Radio Network & Teaching Channel Blogger

Hi!

Thank you so much for checking out the Focus2Achieve Newsletter! I truly appreciate it. You are awesome!

Today, I want to talk New School Year and Teaching Students Skills.

The new school year has started in some parts of the US, is about to start in others, and will start as late as on that one Tuesday after the Labor Day Holiday in September.

In most of Europe, where I happen to hail from (Poland), students are to report in September. There is a greater variation in school year calendars in Asia and South America.

Check out what happens in New South Wales:

Personally, I like the idea of a 6-week+ winter vacation and four 2-week+ breaks between each term. Of course, the winter here is summer in Australia. Think about the flexibility and convenience of travel without having kids miss school for family vacations etc. Pretty cool!

Back to reality...

The summer has been great and it continues in the Northern hemisphere, but the school year is upon us. The new school year is the new beginning filled with new opportunities to grow as educators, learners, and leaders. It also allows for new opportunities to help students learn and grow. And, while it's important, I am not talking about learning subjects here. The growth I imply has to do with students becoming more effective, thoughtful, curious, and reflective learners and eventually professionals.

This is education as it should be. Equipping students with the skills and the brain power that will serve them their entire lives.

The best way to do that is to deliberately plan teaching students how to learn: Teach them effective strategies and give them tools that make learning last.

One such tool I use with my students is note taking. I'm a big believer in active learning, so I give my students the Cornell Notes on Steroids Template I created and I show them how to use it. We do it together. Review it. Reinforce it. Repeat it.

Check it out:

I created the template in the summer of 2015 and had my students use it during the past school year. I explained it, checked it, gave suggestions, reinforced it etc. Not every student loved it, but about 2/3 of the students (out of a total of about 130 students) surveyed anonymously ended up liking it and finding it effective, while others commented that it helped with organization, knowing what is important (Objectives), or found some other aspect of it useful.

I also improved the template based on student feedback. Needles to say, I will use the template again during the 2016-2017 school year. Click below if you'd like it for free.

And here's the free Table of Contents that is goes with it:

I talk about Cornell Notes on Steroids and many other effective learning strategies in my new book "Crush School: Every Student's Guide To Killing It In The Classroom" available for Kindle on Amazon. Written in conversational language and filled with stories students can relate to, "Crush School" is a unique and first of its kind tool to help students learn how to learn.

While anyone can download, print, and use the Cornell Notes on Steroids as filler sheets in a binder, some might prefer notebooks. With that in mind, I created the Cornell Notes on Steroids 120-Page Notebook. It is currently on sale. The regular price of $6.49 has been slashed to $4.99. You can save even more when you purchase bundles of 3, 6, or 12 notebooks. And, these are high quality notebooks - thicker and brighter eucalyptus paper, laminated cover, and the table of contents. But hurry, this 25% Back To School Sale will only last till September 1st.

But hey - you stuck around this long, so I'll make it worth your while! Use the PROMO CODE: Back2School2016 and I'll give you additional 10% off any notebook order.

And that's not all. My goal is to get the Crush School Book into the hands of as many students as possible, so use the PROMO CODE: CrushSchool2016 to get additional $5 off the PDF version, which allows you to print and make copies of the chapters you are interested in using with students. We are talking Copyrighted work and I am telling you to go ahead and use it as you please!

ALL DISCOUNTS WILL EXPIRE ON SEPTEMBER 1ST 2016.

So help me pay the rent and go to the Products Page. Don't forget to use the PROMO CODES.

Or don't - the choice is ALWAYS YOURS. Thanks for reading!

And Rememeber: You Have The Power To Change The World. Use It Often.