The 21 Secrets of A+ Students
Teenager Peaking Between Stack of Books
Ever wish you could pick the brain of A+ students? Well, we did it for you — we spoke with dozens of students and educators to find out their secrets for success.
Everything they had to say is compiled here. There’s short term techniques to get you started on your way as well as long term tips to maintain your achievements.
Happy studying! And remember — grades aren’t everything. Use them as a tool to measure your learning, not as a goal in and of themselves.
9 Great Books to Read Before 9th Grade
Girl Reading Book with Green Background
Ninth grade is important, nerve-wracking, and intimidating for students. Going into this year prepared is crucial, since students actions this year determine the path of their high school career. Reading over the summer will ensure that your teens maintain their skills over the summer, as well as expand their vocabulary and learn.
With these novels, allow your children to be transported to Victorian England, Tolkien’s fantasy world of Mordor, and Hiroshima during WWII. Classic works like Uncle Tom’s Cabin bring history to life for your teen, while fictional worlds like the one depicted in Ender’s Game, stimulate their imagination. Enjoy a movie night as a family after your teen reads Lord of the Rings, and then have a family discussion that will force your kids to think analytically about the novel.
Summer is a period when your kids will have a lot of downtime. While it is important for teens to enjoy themselves and have a break from school, it is also important to invest some time in their education. Reading is a fun activity that allows them to achieve both these goals, so go buy some books!
Weekly Wire: Rethinking College, STEM, and Cheating
Should Everyone Go to College?
While overall the average earnings of a college graduate are higher than a high school graduate, this is not true for each individual graduate. This analysis of people’s earnings based on their choice of major, the selectivity of their school, their goal profession, and other factors will help people decide whether college is the right choice for them.
Kids Need STEM Education in the Digital Age
A discussion of the importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education in schools. Regardless of the profession students pursue, they will need some understanding of the STEM subjects in order to be employable in this age of technology.
How Could a Sweet Third-Grader Just Cheat on That School Exam?
Cheating has become a problem starting in elementary school, but often the child does not understand they are doing something wrong. Group projects coupled with parents sometimes lending a little too much help at home may be sending the wrong message to small children. Parents need to clarify why cheating is wrong and explain that getting a mark off on the test is better than cheating and getting the right answer.
Shadow Education: Booming Private Tutoring Industry in Asia
In Asia, household devote huge amounts of money to private supplementary tutoring. In Korea private households spend 80% of what the government spends on education on private tutoring!
With Google Play for Education Google Looks to Challenge Apple’s Dominance in the Classroom
On Wednesday Google introduced: Google Play for Education, through which Google hopes to extend Play — its application and content marketplace for Android — into the classroom. It plans to launch this fall with content pre-approved by educators that will be searchable by grade level, category, etc.
The Coming Revolution in Public Education
The education reforms of the past decade that have moved towards more standardized testing to evaluate students’ progress and determine school funding/efficacy are being increasingly challenged. People are now arguing that they are harmful to students, especially those in disadvantaged areas.
The Global Search for Education—Is the AP Worth it?
Educators question whether AP classes and programs are effective and beneficial to students or if they fall short of their goal to “narrow the achievement gap and level the playing field for traditionally under-served high schools and students.”
8 Great Books to Read Before 8th Grade
Student with skateboard and backpack reading in the grass
TEACHER: How many books did you finish over the summer? STUDENT: None. My brother stole my box of crayons.
While the joke is funny, don’t let this be your teen! Eighth grade is a very important year. The classes your child takes this year will decide placement in their freshman year of high school, and those freshman classes set the tone for their high school career. This means that it is very important to maintain and hopefully even improve reading skills over the summer.
With this booklist, help your teen take a walk in someone else’s shoes with stories that bring to life the harsh reality of the civil rights movement or the Salem Witch Trials. Allow them to be transported to the mythical world of Alagaesia, or stay on the edge of their seats as a pandemic hits New York.
Reading helps expand vocabulary, improve writing, and spark imagination. Plan a discussion to analyze the book as a family. Then you can evaluate your teen’s comprehension and get in some quality family time.
Or feel free to follow in my mother’s footsteps and have your children write book reports all summer! Hire a writing tutor from Tutorspree who can go over the book reports and use this opportunity to focus on your teen’s writing. They might be upset now, but they will thank you later.
Weekly Wire: Tiger Moms, FAFSA Changes, and The Best Education Money Can Buy
Is your state’s highest paid employee a coach?
You may have heard that the highest-paid employee in each state is usually the football coach at the largest state school. This is actually a gross mischaracterization: sometimes it is the basketball coach.
Tiger mom study shows the parenting method doesn’t work
A study demonstrates that the Tiger Mom parenting style is not effective and produces low achieving and depressed kids.
Department of Education comes out on college aid for students of gay parents
The department of education now requires students of gay parents to report both parents income when filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
Is Avenues the best education money can buy?
A debate regarding whether the new private school Avenues’ policy of giving parents a say in the running of the school is effective, or whether the multitude of opinions will make decision making impossible.
California moves quickly to carry out national education standards
The new national education standards known as the “Common Core Standards” adopted in 44 states is producing a shift in teaching methods. An emphasis is now placed on critical thinking, problem solving, and the use of technology.
Colleges and their Priorities
Colleges are spending too much money on “amenities” like new exercise facilities and not enough money on professor’s salaries.
Undermining Pell
Contrary to the goal of Pell grants, colleges are increasingly charging low income students high tuition which is making it difficult for them to attend college.
Expert Secrets for Learning Foreign Languages
Say Hello Around the World Image from Shutterstock
There’s an old joke that goes, “What do you call someone who speaks three languages? Trilingual. What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bilingual. What do you call someone who speaks one language? American.”
In the United States we are often criticized for our lack of emphasis on foreign language education, and unfortunately, learning languages can be a difficult and frustrating process for many people.
Experts agree on one key technique to make a new language stick: Repetition. Finding ways to take what you learn in a classroom or with a tutor and apply it in your everyday life is essential to retaining more of those vocabulary words that are sloshing around in your brain.
7 Great Books to Read Before 7th Grade
Summer Reading Image via Shutterstock
Summer reading is important! According to the Department of Education, children often experience a decline in reading skills over summer vacation or a “summer slide.” Don’t let that happen to your child. Ensure that your children are learning all summer with this great reading list for incoming seventh graders.
This list is a fun mix of classic literature and recent publications, fiction and nonfiction, challenging books and quick reads. Help your children be transported to the future world of Panem, live the life of a British Intelligence agent, or travel to Afganistan where the Taliban controls your every move. Get your kids hooked on a new book series like The Hunger Games, and then plan a fun family evening to watch the film. Reading is a fun way that everyone can be engaged and interested.
Buy a few of these books at the beginning of the summer so you always have a constructive suggestion for kids when they have downtime. Being prepared gives your kids more time for reading, and gives you more downtime for yourself!
15 Must-Have Apps For Finals Week
You can’t live without your phone. It’s the first thing you look at when you wake up in the morning, and the last thing you check before collapsing in bed at night.
But as much as you rely on your phone, are you really getting the most out of it? Go beyond WhatsApp and Facebook with these 15 apps that will help you survive finals week. Before you know it, your phone will be planning essays, organizing group projects, helping you learn languages, and even graphing quadratic equations. It’ll be so smart, even the term “smartphone” will seem like an understatement.
Best of luck with your finals — we’re cheering for you!
Love,
Tutorspree
Why Your Child Is Struggling With Math
Here at Tutorspree, math is by far our most in-demand subject for tutoring. We see more requests for math help than for the next two most popular subjects combined (English and Science, in case you’re curious).
Math is so difficult for so many people that books and even Barbie dolls have been devoted to the hatred of the subject. On the contrary, it does come easily to some — there always seems to be at least one kid in every school who skips two or three grades in math and breezes through calculus.
Is being good at math about genetics, practice, a secret sauce teaching method, or something else?
