One important aspect of Dr. Hirsch's approach is that those who aim to assist students in improving their performance at college or university is that they must help the student identify their own goals and desires--as opposed to those of parents or society. If, through this process, it becomes evident to the student that improved performance at school is integral to achieving personal goals, the necessary motivation for change and improvement will have been discovered.
For GOLD students, I feel that it is very difficult for many of them to see why they need to work hard at tasks they see as painful AND pointless. Dr. Hirsch, working with a population that has presumably exercised some level of choice by deciding to enter post-secondary, probably has less distance to cover when he sees students struggling with motivation. "If lack of motivation is the primary cause (of poor academic performance) then this must be addressed first..." (p145). At the secondary school level we have students who have been told "you must go to school--all kids go to school--this is the ONLY path to health and happiness."
Putting the coercion and pain aside for a moment, and assuming that the student has some motivation to work at succeeding, I believe that Dr. Hirsch has some valuable advice for students struggling at school at any level.
Keeping in mind Dr. Hirsch's caution: that the helper must very carefully watch the student when he/she is suggesting changes--watch for signs of immediate rejection, anger, or interest. "Students can often listen to the advice of the professional offering study skill suggestions and even give nonverbal indications suggesting interest and approval of what the professional is saying while internally rejecting the study strategies being offered" (p146). These points of departure--where the motivated student is rejecting suggestions--should be carefully examined by both parties. The reason a suggestion has been rejected may contain a clue to what a more effective intervention might be.
Here are some of his suggestions:
- Set goals per session: # of pages read, # of questions answered, # of facts memorized
- Try to personalize the material--spend time trying to draw connections between the material and the student's interests
- experimenting with time and setting--each person has their own energy cycle--some are consistently tired between 4 pm - 8 pm, then alert and energetic from 9 pm-midnight. Some students need isolation and minimal environmental distractions, while others require occasional interaction and background stimulus.
- Proper materials -- some students respond positvely to certain sorts of pens, highlighter colours, grades of pencils--these preferences should be (within reason) indulged--as they can lead to greater energy and engagement.
- Break it up -- use a timer or set goals that allow for frequent breaks--15 minutes of reading followed by 5 minutes of videogame or loud music--high interest and activating breaks will improve efficiency for many during the "work" sessions.
- Stand up, walk around, punch the air - sitting still can be deadly for some--getting up, moving around while studying, acting out parts of the material can all be extremely helpful in preventing mental shutdown
In a separate blog entry, I will try to deal with the whole issue of music and studying, but I'd like to do more research into the topic. In the meantime, I want to relate my personal experience of using Bruce Springsteen to power my way through 3rd and 4th years of my English BA. I eventually stumbled upon a formula that worked for me when writing essays--blasting songs from Springsteen's great albums--"Darkness on the Edge of Town", "The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle", " The River", "Greetings from Ashbury Park", and "Born to Run"--kept me awake and motivated--screaming the lyrics aloud as I finished a paragraph--seemed to help me power through late nights with looming deadlines like no other methods I'd experimented with. This method would appear to be counterindicated by many professionals in the field--very few recommend music with lyrics.
The "Springsteen method" I used wouldn't work for me as I read 18th century novels--it was only effective when I needed to write or when I was trying to memorize large amounts of material--I needed the little breaks and the mini-adreniline rushes provided by the music in order to keep going.
So, if we are working with a MOTIVATED student, we should be willing to offer many different techniques that some people have found to be effective. In addition, we should be flexible to the student's preferences and makeup--be willing to help them experiment to find what works best for them. Paying attention to what works for what type of academic task is very important--an isolated room with few distractions might be what is necessary for one type of task, while group discussion and 1:1 might be a requirement for another type of task.
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