1. Managing Yourself as a
Successful Student

2. Agenda
• Self-management techniques
• Learning styles strategies

3. Self-Management
Use the ‘Izes’
Organize
Prioritize
Recognize
Minimize
Synthesize
Maximize
Re-Organize
Developed by Northeast Center student and peer coach, Tom Daley, ‘13

4. ORGANIZE
Think about how you organize yourself as a
student…
What do you do?
What tools do you use?

5. ORGANIZE
Things to consider:
What do you do?
What could you do better?
• Your calendar (Term, Week and Day)
• Your workload (Work, Personal and School)
• Your individual course responsibilities (Reading, Writing
and Assignments)
• All of your courses together

6. Organization Tips - Time
Choose the right tool(s) – term-at-glance, datebook, electronic, other
Be consistent with your time management tool and how you manage your time
– make time management a habit not an after-thought
- regularly schedule time for each of your classes
(reading, studying & assignments)
- regularly schedule time for yourself
Give yourself a “time buffer”
Regularly review your plan

7. Organization Tips - Physical
Keep an organized workspace – everything has a place
Physically organize your assignments, course materials and papers/
assignments:
Have a binder or notebook for each class
Include notes from your reading and/or class meetings
Have a section in the binder/ folder in the notebook for all of your work from
your instructor

8. Create a Positive Learning Environment
• Relatively free of interruptions (phone, email, TV,
friends)
• Free of distractions (noise, people watching,
windows)
• Study in the same place & time (routine)
• Not too comfortable (easily fall asleep)
• Choose a time when you are mentally alert
• Take breaks
• Approach assignment with a positive attitude
• Keep a distractions list

9. Organize - Electronic
Electronically organize your assignments, course materials and papers/assignments:
On your computer
Make folders on your computer/flash drive for specific classes/instructors to more easily
access your coursework.
When saving your files, be sure to clearly label and date your papers/assignments.
(ex. Journal1_NickNortheast_Jan14)
Be sure you know what format(s) your instructors prefer so your assignments are
compatible - Mac vs. PC – Word, PDF, RTF – find out what your instructor prefers.
In your email
Make folders in your e-mail for specific classes/instructors
to more easily track assignments, correspondence, etc.
Move emails into the folders once you have replied to messages,
that keeps everything organized and in one place.

10. PRIORITIZE
Think about how you prioritize
your work as a student…
What do you do?
What strategies do you use?

11. PRIORITIZE
Things to consider:
•
•
•
•
Your goals (long-term and short-term)
Your tasks (complex, simple and time bound)
Your responsibilities (work, personal, school)
Adopting an effective style of planning (more proactive
than reactive)

12. PRIORITIZE
Be honest here!
URGENT
(Due Soon)
IMPORTANT
NOT
IMPORTANT
NOT URGENT
(Due in the Future)
Important & Urgent
(crises, deadlinedriven projects, crying
child )
This is what should be finished
1st
Important & Not Urgent
(reflection, anticipate & prevent
problems, long range planning,
stress relieving activities )
Urgent & Not Important
(interruptions, some email,
other people’s priorities and
expectations )
This is what should be finished
3rd
This is what should be finished
2nd
Not Urgent & Not Important
(constantly checking email,
over use of mindless TV,
excess web surfing)
This is what should be done
4th
Adapted from Steven Covey’s First Things First

13. RECOGNIZE/MINIMIZE
Recognize - Pitfalls
Minimize – Reduce impact
Indulging immediate wants versus focusing on long
term needs
Minimize any negative impact – balance wants and
needs
Example - I want to go out and buy new shoes. I need to finish
my research for this paper.
Example - I will spend two hours on my research and then go to the
shoe store.
Overstressing on the wrong thing -- being a
perfectionist/overachiever
Understand your tendencies to overdo/overstress.
Example – My paper is about the Greek and Roman gods and
their impact on daily life in Greece and Rome. I need to learn all
of the Greek and Roman gods before I can even start the paper.
Example – I need to stay focused on the assignment and look at the
impact on daily life and then determine which gods/goddesses
contributed to that impact.
Identify when you might be procrastinating
Redirect your focus and get back to the task at hand
Example – I will start my homework after I clean the kitchen and
the bathroom. I need to have my house in order before I can do
schoolwork.
Example – I need to schedule time for both homework and housework
and stick to that plan. I might need to leave the house to do homework
if I can’t focus on it and want to procrastinate by cleaning the house.

14. What is Procrastination?
• Filling time with unimportant tasks
• Being easily distracted after beginning an
important task
• Letting fear, dread, or discomfort take control

15. Dealing with Procrastination
•Understand why it happens
• task is unpleasant
• lack of organization
• perfectionism (afraid you don’t have the skills to do a good job)
• feeling overwhelmed
• Adopt anti-procrastination strategies
• eat the frog first (click the link for video)
• create your own reward system
• create a prioritized to do list
http://www.eatthatfrogmovie.com

16. SYNTHESIZE
Think about the ways to connect all parts of your life
• Exercise and time with kids or significant other helps you
reduce stress and stay fit
• Do homework on your lunch break or come into the office early
to do some of your schoolwork before work.
• Extended “Coffee-Break” or “Dr. Office” Time - always have
work with you to read/study while you wait on line or sit in the
waiting room.
• Involve your family in your school work, make it dinner
discussion make the kids your study buddies.

17. MAXIMIZE
Do you wonder how you can maximize how
you learn and study?
• Learning Style (auditory, visual, kinesthetic
and/or read/write)?
• Study Strategies (note-taking, reading,
writing, learning environment)

18. How do you best learn?
• Most people have developed a preference for how
they learn.
• One style is not better than another, and all of
another
approaches to learning can be improved.
• Effective learners know how their minds work and
are able to adapt their studying strategies to any
learning situation.
• Understanding how you learn best can help you to maximize your studying
strategies to match your strengths.
• Making connections between what you are learning and your life experiences
can help you better understand and retain information.

19. ACTIVITY
Here’s a riddle we would like to share with you.
“The day before two days after the day before
tomorrow is Monday.”
PLEASE ANSWER THIS QUESTION –
What day is it today?
Don’t just think about the answer;
pay attention to how you try to get the answer.
SOURCE: Visual Brainstorms

20. A few ways to get the answer…
“The day before two days after the day before tomorrow is Monday.”
Separate
phrases in
the sentence
into the parts
you know:
Draw
a
calendar
The day before two days after = 1 day after
The day before tomorrow = today
Tomorrow is Monday
If tomorrow is Monday then surely today is Sunday
SUN
Day before
tomorrow
is today
Answer :
Today is
Sunday
Talk
it
out
MON
TUES
WED
THURS
Is
2
tomorrow days
&
after
Day before today
2 days
after the
day before
tomorrow
Use
Your
body
FRI
SAT

21. Identifying Your Learning Preference
VARK Learning Styles Self-Assessment Questionnaire
TAKE ASSESSMENT
http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=questionnaire
What were your results?
Your VARK preferences can be used to help you develop additional, effective
strategies for learning related to how you:
take in information;
study information for effective learning; and
study for performing well on an examination.
Visual Study Strategies (V)
Aural/Auditory Study Strategies (A)
Read/write Study Strategies (R)
Kinesthetic Study Strategies (K)
Multimodal Study Strategies (MM)

22. Characteristics of Visual Learners
Visual learners tend to:
VISUAL
• Have a keen sense of aesthetics, visual media and art.
• Easily remember information presented in pictures or diagrams.
• Have strong visualization skills. They can look up and “see” the information
invisibly written or drawn.
• Make “movies in their minds” of information they are reading. Their movies are
often vivid and detailed.
• Have very strong visual-spatial understanding of things such as sizes, textures,
angles and three-dimensional depths.
• Pay close attention to the body language of others (facial expressions, eyes,
stance, etc.).
You learn best when information is presented visually and in a picture or design format.
In a classroom setting, you benefit from instructors who use visual aids such as film,
video, maps and charts. You benefit from information obtained from the pictures and
diagrams in textbooks. When trying to remember something, you can often visualize a
picture of it in your mind. You may have an artistic side that enjoys activities having to do
with visual art and design.

23. Characteristics of Aural/Auditory Learners
Aural/Auditory learners tend to:
•
Remember quite accurately details of important information heard during
conversations or lectures.
•
Have strong language skills, which include a well-developed vocabulary and an
appreciation for words.
•
Have strong oral communication skills. They can carry or interesting conversations
and can articulate their ideas clearly.
•
Have a “fine tuned ear” auditory may lead to learning a foreign language more
easily.
•
Often have musical talents, can hear tones, rhythms, and individual notes.
When trying to remember something, you can
often "hear" the way someone told you the
information, or the way you previously repeated
it out loud. You learn best when interacting with
others in a listening/ speaking exchange.
AURAL/
AUDITORY

24. Characteristics of Kinesthetic Learners
Kinesthetic learners tend to:
KINESTHETIC
•
Work well with their hands and may be good at repairing
work, sculpting, art or working with various tools.
•
Often have well coordinated and have a strong sense of
timing and body movement.
•
Learn with movement = often do well as performers:
athletes, actors, or dancers.
•
Often wiggle, tap feet or move their legs when seated.
•
Have been often labeled “hyperactive” as children.
You learn best when physically engaged in a "hands on" activity. In
the classroom, you benefit from a lab setting where you can
manipulate materials to learn new information. You learn best when
you can be physically active in the learning environment. You benefit
from instructors who encourage in-class demonstrations, "hands on"
student learning experiences, and field work outside t he classroom.

25. Characteristics of Read/Write Learners
Read/Write learners tend to:
•
Like lists and words to keep ideas and “To Do” items straight.
•
Remember information displayed as words.
•
Emphasize text-based input and output - reading and writing in
all its forms.
•
Prefer PowerPoint, the Internet, lists, filofaxes, dictionaries,
thesauri, quotations and words, words, words...
READ/
WRITE
You learn best when information is presented visually and in a written language format. In a
classroom setting, you benefit from instructors who use the blackboard (or PowerPoint, overhead
projector, etc.) to list the essential points of a lecture, or who provide you with an outline to follow
along with during lecture. You benefit from information obtained from textbooks and class notes.
You often see the text "in your mind's eye" when you are trying to remember something.

26. VISUAL
AURAL/
AUDITORY
MULTIMODAL
READ/
WRITE
KINESTHETIC
Life is multimodal. There are seldom instances where one mode is used, or
is sufficient. Those who prefer many modes almost equally are of two types.
There are those who are context specific who choose a single mode to suit
the occasion or situation. There are others who are not satisfied until they
have had input (or output) in all of their preferred modes. They take longer
to gather information from each mode and, as a result, they often have a
deeper and broader understanding.

27. RE-ORGANIZE
Periodically review the “izes” and your progress and
make adjustments when necessary
27