Study Skills Program
The demands of a college preparatory curriculum are intense for young students. In high school, students are expected to apply the critical thinking, careful reading, and expository writing skills they develop in middle school. Learning to balance academic work and extracurricular commitments is a critical lesson for students at Shattuck-St. Mary’s School.
To ease this transition, and to prepare students for a college preparatory program, the Center for Academic Achievement also offers
two courses that address study skills and academic habits. All 8th graders take Middle School Academic Seminar, a course designed specifically for students preparing for the transition between middle school and high school. In addition, for students who have on-going difficulty in this area, the Center for Academic Achievement offers Upper School Academic Seminar each term. Both courses provide specific instruction in study skills and the tools and strategies needed to successfully navigate a college preparatory program, such as:
- Note-taking skills
- Textbook skills
- Time management
- Material and assignment organization
- Test preparation and test taking
- Planning of long-term assignments
- Essay planning and writing
- Reading comprehension strategies
- Self advocacy
Both courses connect the instruction of these skills directly to the students’ current subject matter courses.
Class time consists of a combination of direct instruction of strategies appropriate to the students’ subject matter courses,
one-on-one planning, and independent work with teacher check in. We focus on one subject area at a time and integrate our work
into the requirements of that subject. In the second half of the course, students develop individual goals, and together with their
teacher identify and implement the study strategies and habits necessary to meet those goals.
Our goal is that students will see an improvement in their academic performance and understand how that improvement is
connected to specific changes they have made to their approach to their class work.
