Academic+Improvement+Plan

= Work "smarter", not harder! = Bad habits. We all have them- especially when it comes to work and school! The problem is that those bad habits that give us trouble early on in school tend to stick with us, and often become big struggles in college and beyond. You don't want to wind up like this guy --->

Too many students just don't get the opportunity to take a moment, sit back and consider their situation, and come up with a plan to help them overcome these bad habits. //It may seem like a drag now, but assessing your strengths and weaknesses as a student- and making a specific plan for improvement - will help you do better in this class, in your other classes, and (dun dun duuuunnnn) in COLLEGE!!//

= Creating an Academic Improvement Plan =

**Step 1. Identify your "learning style"**
Take the online quiz and research pointers on how to use your learning style to improve your performance in school. Link to [|Learning Style Quiz]

**Step 2. Make an "Academic Profile"**
This involves completing the questionnaires given to you in class. This is the homework assignment that asks you to: (a.) Complete a Academic Self-Assessment and (b.) Identify areas for improvement.

**Step 3. Make your "Academic Improvement Plan"**
Your plan should be typed, have the proper heading for this class, and you will need to print out two copies of your final plan. Your "Academic Improvement Plan" must include the following three sections
 * 1) __** Academic Assessment **__Use the information from your Aacademic Profile to paint a general "picture" of yourself as a student. This should include an analysis of your general strengths and weaknesses, attitude, habits, etc. Try to be as objective (unbiased) as possible when writing this description.
 * 2) ** __Areas for Improvement__- **Identify and describe the areas that have the greatest negative impact on your performance as a student.
 * 3) **__ Specific Plan for Improvement __**Your plan should be //well developed//, but it should also be //practical//. You should be very specific about what your problems are and be equally specific about how to address each of them. Please be sure that your solutions are definitely achievable and realistic (for example, you can't realistically plan to set two hours of studying aside for each class every day when there are only 24 hours in a day).

** TIPS!!!!! **
Be sure to take advantage of all of the information that is on the internet about your specific learning style- there are some great tips out there. Ask yourself A LOT of questions. You should try to be as objective and honest as possible with your answers. Some possible questions include:
 * What do I do well, what comes easy for me and (most importantly) and WHY are these things easier for me?
 * What areas REALLY drag me down? Why am I having such a hard time with this?
 * According to the research, what techniques should help me improve my performance in these areas?
 * Of the suggested techniques, which seem like the most realistic, achievable changes that I can (or will) actually do?
 * Of the suggested techniques, which have I tried before? Why didn't I "stick with it" or why didn't it work for me? What can I do differently this time to make it work?
 * Of the techniques suggested, which techniques seem like a "waste of time", and why do I think they would be ineffective for me? Is there something better that I can do?
 * What is my stress level like? Do I stress too much about school? Not enough? How can I reach and maintain balance?
 * What can my teacher do to help me improve? How can I help a teacher to help me perform better? (besides bribing them to change my grade and throw me a couple of extra credit points ;] )
 * What can a teacher do that causes setbacks for me? How can I prevent this from happening in the future? How might I respond to these setbacks?
 * //** What can be done to help me "work smarter, not harder"? **//
 * Once you have a final list, ask yourself once again, "Can I really make these changes, or am I just setting myself up for failure?" (In other words, are these expectations unrealistic or unreasonable, or will the payoff not be worth the effort?)