Help for Students

Passing It On: The Life of a Tutor

A major emphasis in the Student Success Center is our peer tutoring program. This week on our blog we are privileged to hear first-hand about that process. Ashton Cheatham, one of our College of Pharmacy tutors talks about his own experience as a tutor: his basic approach, what he has learned as he taught, and how engagement with those he tutors has enriched his own life.

Teach It to Learn It

What if I told you that one of the best ways to receive encouragement for yourself was to encourage someone else? It seems paradoxical at first, but outward encouragement can be, as the common aphorism states, a rising tide that lifts all ships. The same principle applies with the conferment of knowledge, specifically in the form of tutoring. I am a firm believer that one of the best ways to learn something to the fullest extent is to teach it, and one of the best ways to strengthen your own knowledge is to pass it on to someone else. Becoming a tutor allowed to me to practice that belief. As a tutor, I was placed in a position for my words to hold weight in someone else’s learning and to lead a student in the direction of a better understanding. Much prestige came with this opportunity, but along with it also came its own due pressure.

Be with the Person to Teach the Person

Before my very first tutoring session, my main objective was preparation. I figured that I needed to have all my ducks in a row in order to be the best tutor I could be. This meant re-studying material, coming up with mnemonics, creating supplemental graphics, etc. I remember thinking to myself, “I can never be too prepared. What if the student asks me a question that I don’t know the answer to? What if the way I explain the material only makes sense in my head? What if I go to the white board to write something and my dry-erase marker is…well…just dry?” I took a deep breath. I was making this situation too much about me. Sure, preparation was good, but I realized that I didn’t need to be perfect; I just needed to be present. I didn’t need to talk at the student; I needed to talk with the student and give them the benefits of a one-on-one encounter that are not available in a lecture hall. Now, with the right mindset, I too could learn, and the fruit thereof quickly started to show itself in my own academic well-being. I found myself revisiting certain subjects and observing them from a fresh, new perspective. Dots were being connected, and gaps were being filled.

Improve Another to Improve Myself

I liken tutoring to helping a student build a house. For certain topics, my house had already been built; I had already established a foundation and formed a primary structure that could then be added onto as I encountered more complex topics. For my students, however, it was possible that some of them did not that initial foundation, and I knew that without it, there could be no structure. In response, I was challenged to go back and see why I built my foundation the way I did, correct any faults or cracks, and then, through my instruction, move forward with my students to a state of stronger academic stability. Out of that stability came growth and expansion on all sides: the students’ grades started improving and they began to affirm me in my leadership and teaching abilities. Their encouragement strengthened my overall confidence, a much-needed reassurance as I became closer to entering a workforce waiting with its own expectations.

A Final Word

In short, if you desire to reinforce your knowledge base, you enjoy interacting with others, and you feel joy from pouring into people for the better, consider becoming a tutor. It is an all-around unique experience, and the benefits it offers surpass what words can describe. Not to mention, the wonderful staff at the Academic Success Center represent their department in excellence and are there to help tutors and students in the best way possible. They will provide you the necessary tools to start you on your way to becoming a successful tutor.

Contributing Author: Ashton Cheatham, College of Pharmacy

See SPOT, Run See SPOT: Therapy Dogs and You

“See Spot run. Run Spot run.” I learned to read with Spot and his family: Dick and Jane and Sally and kitty cat Puff. The cute cocker spaniel Spot was the star as far as I am concerned. Later I delighted in Go Dog Go. The dogs wore hats, worked at jobs, conversed with each other and at the end of the week they raced off in their cars and on scooters, urged on by the narrator, “Go dogs, go!” Momentarily paused at the traffic light, they sped on again, parked, ran, up the big tree they went. Finally, they reached their spot, a big dog party in the sky atop that tree. Fanciful, I know, but what fun. Later still, I read my two boys the stories of Clifford the big red dog. He was easy to spot when he grew from the runt of the litter to 25 feet in height give or take (he varied somewhat from story to story).

We have our own pack to entertain us now: Bubba the aging poodle mix as non-alpha as a dog can be; Chris-O our son’s escape artist dog burrowing under or leaping over our backyard privacy fence; Maddie so named by the workers at the Pound because she resembles Eddie from the “Frazier” TV show—as a Jack Russell she owns everything in sight and expects servile compliance from the other dogs; Angel and Remington (“Remmie”), our two newest. Rescue dogs all, we spotted them along the way, and they are rescuing us too, it seems.

Now it’s your turn. When you are dog-tired the next several weeks, take advantage of the visits from the SPOT therapy dogs. These dogs and their attached humans will be visiting several times as the semester winds down. A number of studies indicate the healthful benefits of interaction with these dogs. Stress reduction along with increased energy and happiness are the benefits most often identified. In turn, stress reduction, increased energy, and an optimistic attitude are beneficial for academic success. Spot yourself a few bonus points of preparation. Come, enjoy the ministrations of these UAMS therapists. The schedule when they will visit is as follow:

Nov. 28 (Wed.) 11:00-12:00

Nov. 29 (Thurs.) 12:00-1:30

Nov. 30 (Fri.) 11:00-12:30

Dec. 13 (Thurs.) 12:00-1:30.

They come to the first floor of the library near the bottom of the stairway. Again, come be refreshed by the kin of Spot and Clifford. Come to our small dog party.

FYI, Abbreviate with Care

For your information, we humans are prone to abbreviate. Some of us, military types and medical types and such, are espec. prone to abbreviate. Like most things in life, to abbreviate serves us well and serves us ill. COP & UAMS & COM & CHP & COPH and CON save space and effort and mean the same as their longer equivalents. But to the uninitiated, abbreviations confuse and can be offputting and secretive. In addition, an abbreviated form can carry unwanted connotations. When working in a nursing home many years ago, I learned not to sign the paper charts with my initials BM. I abbreviated RM for Robert instead. A friend told me about beginning work in a medical facility and wondering why so many of the patients were described as SOB until he heard the shortness of their breath and realized it was not a commentary on their attitudes. I heard about a person who invited a friend to dinner WTF (Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday she thought).

The long and the short of it is, abbrev. w/ care.

Do Abbreviate

When you must save space or characters (e.g. when texting or taking notes).
When you are sure you and your reader will understand the same meaning.
When you need to keep private from the uninstructed a message that must be sent.

Do NOT Abbreviate

If the other party does not know (of even if you are unsure whether they know or not) the meaning.
If the meaning is ambiguous.
When patient safety and quality of care are at issue,

Confused by the message on the Slideshow in the Student Success Center? Here is what was written:

Abbrs are gr8. In our med wrld we use them oft & to gd effct. COPD is much easier than wrtng or spking out the ent. phrase. Some abbrs can ref to more than one sit. Ck out our curr blog pst on the use of abbrs.

Here it is without all the abbreviations:

Abbreviations are great. In our medical world we use them often and to good effect. COPD is much easier than writing or speaking out the entire phrase. However, some abbreviations can refer to more than one situation. Check out our current blog post on the use of abbreviations.

Remember to abbreviate with care.

Tips for Academic Searches

Along the way I’ve written a paper for one or another of my classes or for a professional assignment. I thought I would share a few practical search tips for academic searches that might help you. They have worked for me along the way; may they work for you as well.

#1. Learn how to specify your topic.

I learned from Wikipedia to put a name to this step—disambiguate. If you are looking for information on John Adams, for instance, Wikipedia has a page where you can figure out which John Adams you mean. There are 17 politicians by that name, 13 of them American. There are 2 composers and 7 military men, and there are numerous other categories (such as sports figures) as well. Learn how to be as specific as possible when you are using search tools.

#2. Use the search engine features to your advantage.

If you are looking for journal articles and using one of the databases available through the UAMS library:

You can limit your search to certain years (if you need the current state of research on a particular condition or a prescription drug, you can easily eliminate materials published more than 5 years ago, say).
You can limit the sources of the information (to full articles, to a specific journal title, to reviews if you need to find out how a particular book was evaluated, and so on).
You can limit your search by languages.
Other limiting options are available; use them to your advantage to target your search.

#3. Learn the function of and use the Boolean operators.

Boolean operators are words like “and”, “or” and so forth. Most search engines incorporate these features into the basic functions where you search by subject, keyword, author and so forth. Effective use of these commands can help to focus your search and shorten your time evaluating the results of your search request.

#4. Follow the references.

As you begin to read articles, books, and other materials note whom they reference, especially if the reference is identified as particularly important or a leader in the field. In this regard check in with the reference librarian and with your professors. They have expertise in identifying particularly important work and perhaps also in helping you to steer clear of inaccurate, misleading, or confusing sources.

Happy digging!

The Study Schedule: Your Plan to Defeat Procrastination

We have arrived at that point in the semester when students are looking stressed, and are scrambling to catch up with their workload. Many find themselves losing the battle with procrastination, and end up cramming right before an important exam. Their performance is off, and they can’t catch their breath.

Create a Study Schedule

Creating and sticking to a study schedule is easy to do and will help you win your battle against procrastination. Your schedule will help you stay on top of your work, rather than having to drop everything to study for an exam. It will help reduce your stress and improve your long-term retention of information.

Creating a study schedule is easier when you can actually see time. Use this Weekly Schedule to create your schedule, starting with what I call the non-negotiables. These are things you can’t control: your class/lab/clinic and work schedules. Your non-negotiables tend to stay fairly constant from week to week, making them easy to schedule around.

Second, add the things you can control. Start with your sleep. What time do you want to go to bed? Bed time is an individual decision, but what is most important is that you get enough sleep. Try to make sure you are getting between 6 – 8 hours per night. You can’t learn if you are exhausted, so scheduling your sleep is very important. Next, schedule family time. Again, this is different for every individual, but it is important that both you and your family know when it’s family time. They can better understand your need for study time if they know they have time with you. Another important thing to schedule is time for physical activity. It doesn’t really matter what you do – take a walk, go to a yoga class, play basketball with friends – just make sure you are doing something. Your memory and your stress level will thank you.

Finally, schedule blocks of time to study. The number of hours needed will vary by College and by program, but all will require concentrated study time. Try to schedule study blocks every day. You may want to take a day off – like Friday, when you are exhausted at the end of the week – but otherwise, plan to study every day. This will spread your studying out over time, and give you the opportunity to process new information within 24 hours of its presentation. You will be able to stay on top of the work and still have time for reviewing and connecting the new information with what you learned previously. Planned daily study time is the best weapon you have to fight procrastination.

Make the Most of your Study Schedule

You can get more out of your study schedule if you plan what you will study during those hours. First, work on the new material from the day. Take your notes and turn the new information into a series of practice questions you can use to review. Work through the practice questions then add them to your other materials for review. Second, make time daily to review the practice questions, charts, diagrams, and other materials you’ve created, so you are constantly reviewing and re-testing yourself. Be sure you use the study time you’ve blocked. Don’t skip a study session! That opens the door and ushers procrastination right into the room!

Creating and sticking to a study schedule is the first step in defeating procrastination and improving your academic performance. If you want some help creating your own study schedule or need tips on how to study more effectively, the Learning Specialists in the Student Success Center would be happy to work with you. Just complete and submit the Academic Coaching Request form, and we will contact you to set up a meeting.

Choose What Matters

Welcome to UAMS, especially to students in the College of Nursing! You are the reason I’m here! I am the Student Success Center faculty member who specifically works with College of Nursing students. I’m excited to be a part of what we get to offer to students: Academic Coaching, Peer Tutoring, and many other resources!

When I was invited to write this welcome post, I started thinking about what I would say to my past self. It would be this: Choose what matters most to you, and make time for those things.

As you go through your program, you’ll have multiple things vying for your attention: classes, career, family, yourself. All of these are good things, but by being picky and creating margin in your life, you can make time for the things that matter the most to you.

Choose to Be Picky

When you are choosing where to spend your time and energy, be picky.

It’s easy to think that the more things you do, the better your experience will be. That’s not always the case. In the 1991 comedy City Slickers, the cowboy Curly tells Billy Crystal’s character that in life only “one thing” matters, but that he’ll have to figure out for himself what that “one thing” is.

For some of you, the “one thing” may be forming a study group that works hard together and supports each other; it may be seeking out Peer Tutoring (or being a Peer Tutor) so that you can get the most out of your educational experience. For others, the “one thing” may be deciding with your family how to plan ahead for study time while also leaving space for family time.

Choose the Margin

As you choose to make time for the things that matter the most to you, you will have to say no to some things in order to say yes to others. This is the idea of “margin”.

Margin in life is just like a margin around a page – it’s a planned space that allows for life to be imperfect. I used to try to say yes to everything I possibly could: spending time with friends, volunteering at every event that came my way, reading every book that I thought would help me accomplish my goals. What I finally realized was that spending time doing everything left very little time for the things that actually mattered to me.

I started creating margin in my life. I volunteered at one place I really cared about. I stopped scheduling events on top of each other & hoping that I somehow could magically create more hours in the day. For you this may look like leaving 10-15 minutes earlier so that you can arrive refreshed for class or work even if traffic is bad. Or it may be saying no to a night out 3 days before a test so that you can say yes to doing well on the test and yes to a celebratory night out when the test is over.

Choose the One Thing

When you think ahead to this semester, and your next few years here at UAMS, choose what matters most to you, and make time for these things. Be picky about where you spend your time and energy, and give yourself margin for life to be messy. Your “one thing” may look different from someone else’s, and that’s okay.

As you work through decide what matters most to you, and make time for these things, I’ll be happy to help in any way I can.

Reward and Challenge at UAMS

Welcome to UAMS, and specifically to the students of the College of Health Professions! The start of a new academic year is filled with optimism, possibilities, and challenges. While you are here, the faculty and staff will work to prepare you for success in the profession you have chosen to pursue. They will teach you the information you need to know. They will demonstrate the skills you will be asked to perform. They will challenge you to think critically and apply your skills in a clinical setting, and they will ask you to see yourself as an important and responsible member of a professional community. The process will be exciting, rewarding, and very challenging.

A Different Challenge: It all Counts Now

Your coursework at UAMS will be different from what you have done before you arrived. Here, all your classes are important – they all count. There’s no Ancient Civilization or American Literature course that you can take and then forget. At UAMS, the classes build on one another. Every class you take will be vital for success in the next class. There is no forgettable, or throw-away information. You will need what you learned for one test to be successful on the next test. Everything you learn will be needed for your board and certification exams. You begin preparing for your profession on the first day of class.

A New Challenge: Your Habits Will Change

Because everything counts now, many of the time management and study habits you used for earlier courses may not be enough for you to be successful. Often students study exam to exam. This means that they wait until an upcoming exam and then drop everything to study. In your new courses, these is so much information to learn, and you will often have multiple tests within a single week, so it is important to carefully manage your study time to stay on top of your workload.

You may also have to change the way you study. Many students study by rereading and highlighting their notes. But your tests aren’t assessing how well you stuff information into your head. Your tests are designed to check how efficiently and effectively you can pull information out of your brain. So you will need to learn ways to practice for your exams by creating your own test questions and answering them. If you would like more information or help, the Learning Specialists at the Student Success Center can help you sharpen your time management and study skills.

A Rewarding Challenge: You will be a Health Professional

When you graduate from UAMS you will be ready to take your place as a member of the community of health care professionals. You will leave with the knowledge, skills, and experience you need for a successful future, making your time here a rewarding challenge. Make the most of the opportunities you are offered to become better in your chosen profession. Enjoy your time with your classmates and learn from one another. Often, they can continue to be a source of support and encouragement throughout your career. This great adventure will challenge and change you in ways you can’t yet imagine, but it will also bring many rewards, both during your time at UAMS and in the future.

Remember, the Student Success Center is ready to help you through many of the challenges you face in working toward a successful academic and professional career. You can learn more about our services on our website at http://studentsuccess.uams.edu.

Resilience Study

More years ago than I care to remember, in high school, I ran the 880 yard dash and one mile relay leg. Meets opened with those nutty guys running the 2 mile. Only in that race did everyone run together: the varsity and the freshman/sophomore teams. At one race, when I was a senior, a lone freshman from another town ran so slowly he was in danger of being lapped twice by the winning varsity runner. Only a desperate sprint at the end of his sixth lap prevented this ignominy. He struggled to the next curve and fell off the track into the grass, not finishing. Some years later my younger brother, one of those nutty long-distance runners, told me “The Rest of the Story.” That same runner moved to another event, off the track even, onto the field, and he won the conference meet in the high jump his senior year.

Success, Failure, and Resilience

As we think about resilience in this series of posts, why does one succeed and another not? What is resilience? Is it the dogged determination of General Grant, or is it the transition to another endeavor to which a person is better suited? Both seem resilient in different ways. Both moved on to success.

3 Models of Resilience

Resilience study has become an established academic subject, principally among psychologists and psychiatrists and originally focused on childhood development in the face of crises or traumas. In her book Ordinary Magic: Resilience in Development Ann Masten notes that some research has given attention to the variables in situations requiring resilience. At least three models of resilience have arisen out of attention to these variables. One model notes that resilience arises in the direct interplay between a person’s assets and some risk or adversity. As a UAMS student you might spend your assets of organization and detailed recall to prepare a paper or study for an exam.

A second model notes that mediators, indirect influences, are often present. Masten recounts that economic downturn in the late 20th century led to a significant rise in worsening adolescent family relationships among Iowa farm families. In our situation, poor sleep, unhealthy diet and exercise, and other issues can contribute to adverse academic performance. As best you can, eat well (not much, but well), sleep well, keep active. Take care of yourself, and you will more likely thrive. A third model suggests that moderators are often significant. A moderator is an intervention which removes or ameliorates an adversity. They function like airbags, Masten suggests, lying dormant, unused until needed. For instance, someone prevents an attacker or shields a victim. Masten mentions the widespread use of 911 as a moderator which greatly improved outcomes.

I think of our Student Success Center as this kind of moderator. We are here for academic coaching, for peer tutoring, for writing help, for referral to other services. Help us help you be more resilient when you face adversity at UAMS. Face adversity you will; be as prepared as you can to bounce back, a resilient success.

Tips for Testing Well

When it comes to testing well there is no substitute for planning and preparation. There are, however, some practical approaches, or test-taking strategies, you can use to ensure that your performance accurately reflects your preparation.

Test-taking strategies improve how you take a test. They include your attitude and how you read and answer test questions, and can be used across disciplines. Using good test-taking strategies improves your testing skills, often resulting in higher scores and increased confidence. Common strategies include

Carefully reading the directions
Knowing the types and number of questions
Answering the easy questions first
Managing your time carefully

Testing well will also require that you know how to approach more complex and difficult questions. These questions often present a detailed scenario, and then ask you to supply a specific piece of information or part of a process. Use the following steps to improve your performance on these types of questions.

Work the Question

The first step is to zero in on what the question is asking. In complex questions it can be difficult to figure out exactly what the questioner wants. Some of the details in the question can be distracting, so you need to work the question carefully in order to know how to answer it. Try to come up with a likely answer in your head. If your answer differs from the response options, you probably didn’t analyze the question correctly.

Read all the Answers

One of the biggest mistakes people make when taking a test is to select the first “correct” answer and move on to the next question. Most questions will have more than one response that sounds correct, so it is important to carefully read them all.

Eliminate Options

It’s easier to get to the correct answer if you eliminate the obviously wrong answers. Sometimes the options will contain distractors. These might be answers that have subtle errors in them, or have absolutes like always and never. Distractors tend to sound good, but aren’t quite right.

Apply the “Most/Best Rule”

Once you have narrowed your options, it’s time to choose the best answer. One strategy is to apply the Most/Best rule. Generally, the answer that applies to most of the people, most of the time is the best answer. Unless the question is asking for an outlier, it is unlikely that best answer will be a 1/200 occurrence.

Planning and preparation are still key to testing well, but using good testing strategies can increase your confidence and help you bump up your scores. You can find more resources to help you improve your test-taking skills and a tutorial on our Learning Support page.

Time Troubles

Many students have some kind of time troubles. They can be caused by overcommitment, perfectionism, or simple procrastination, and they can create a lot of stress and anxiety. If we don’t deal with them, they lead to missed assignments, low-quality papers, and poor test scores.

Get a System

One of the most common “fixes” for time troubles is to use a planner, calendar, or journal. Students will pick one, use it for awhile, and then gradually many of them will stop. Why don’t they stick with it? It’s because calendars, planners, and journals are only part of the solution. Time management systems, whether digital (phone, tablet, or laptop), or analog (pen and paper), aren’t one-size-fits-all. Even the choice of digital or analog is based on what works best for the individual. So before you commit to a time management tool, it’s a good idea to figure out what your particular time troubles are.

I don’t have time!

Most of the students who come into my office tell me they don’t have time. There can be a lot of reasons students feel this way, but here are three of the most common, along with some suggestions for solving them.

Things falling through the cracks: Identify why this is happening. Have you included everything you need to accomplish in your calendar or planner? Put all your assignments, tests, papers, and projects on your calendar, and plan when you will start them so you are not working of everything at the same time. Prioritize what you have to accomplish, and watch for lighter time periods so that you can take advantage of slower times to get work done. It helps to keep a monthly overview calendar so you can plan further in advance. I keep yearly, monthly, and weekly calendars in my journal so I’m not thrown off guard when things get really crazy.

Too behind to catch up: Feeling like you can’t catch up can cause serious motivation problems, leading you to think, “why bother”, and give up. To catch up, try to figure out how you got there. Are you a procrastinator? If so, the key to solving these time troubles is to stay on top of your work so you don’t fall behind. This is great advice, but how do you get caught up so you can do that?

Start by breaking down all your tasks into smaller pieces, until you can find something you can do immediately. Keep working away at those smaller pieces until the tasks are done. I use pages in my journal to break down big jobs into smaller tasks, and then check them off as I complete them. It can be very motivating to watch yourself making progress.

If you’re not a procrastinator, you might be overcommitted. Try limiting your commitments so that you aren’t being pulled in too many directions. This may mean giving up some activities and interests for a period of time so that you can focus on getting back on track.

Overworked: There will always be times when your classwork overwhelms you. Multiple tight deadlines surrounded by long reading assignments will leave you feeling exhausted. You know you have time troubles, however, when that feeling of overwork becomes normal, and you aren’t taking the time for proper meals or needed sleep. To combat this, start by making sure you are actually working during your schoolwork time. Try keeping a homework log, and track what you accomplish during your work time. Are you actually working as much as you think you are? You might need to eliminate any distractions that can eat away at your time.

Next, look at your weekly schedule and set dedicated work time and put it on your calendar. Then make a realistic list of what you will accomplish during that time and how much time you will assign to each task. Organizing your work time in this way can help you stay focused, and helps you stay within your time limits. When it’s time to stop, do it. Working to the exhaustion point doesn’t lead to academic achievement.

Identifying your time troubles and applying specific solutions will make using your preferred time management system much more helpful. The more helpful it is the more likely you are to stick with it.