The Future of Textbooks

The iPad is undoubtedly cool. And one of the coolest parts of the iPad is its potential to revolutionize textbooks, and they are especially useful when recording information from your private SAT tutor.

Inkling, a San Francisco-based software company, is leading this transformation and bringing textbooks into the digital age. Rather than simply loading textbooks onto an iPad as a PDF, Inkling is completely changing the way that students interact with their textbooks by integrating text, video, 3D images, and collaborative note taking all in one place: an ipad app.

Check out this quick video to see Inkling in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX4i9K6upqU

There are many positive impacts that digitizing textbooks will have on education and the world:

• Saving trees - no more huge books!
• Easy content updating by the publisher - no more need to buy version 7 because they made four minor changes to version 6
• Portability - it is so much easier to carry around ONE iPad than 5 textbooks

However, the most exciting part of the textbook transformation is that it is going to make learning COOL, ENGAGING and EXCITING. Instead of forcing students to turn back the clock 30 years by reading paper textbooks, Inkling and the iPad will allow students to learn in a modern and dynamic fashion that is consistent with level of technological interaction they are used to in their day-to-day lives. Kudos to Inkling and the iPad!

How to Avoid the Domino Effect

It’s all happened to us…that ONE bad thing that leads to a domino effect of negative events. Unfortunately, that ONE thing happened to me this morning. Determined to park in the closest spot at work, I disregarded the fact that only a Smart Car could appropriately fit into the tiny space. Needless to say, the piercing sound of a rusty, metal pole scrapping against the side of my grandma’s car was that ONE thing that made me decide today is a BAD day. It also led me to commit the common mistake of blaming my actions on something else…in this case, the massive Range Rover who took up all the space next to me.

As a student, the ONE bad thing that occurs might be missing a big test because you overslept or forgetting your 20 page essay. If you aren’t careful, these things can lead to a series of events that can result in more than just a bad day. Let’s take the classic case that we’ve all experienced: getting your essay back with red marks galore and a big fat “D”. In this example, and nearly any other you face in life, follow these steps to AVOID the domino effect:

1. Take a deep breath: Even if you do break down in tears, take the time to take a deep breath and calm yourself down. Try not to let your emotions lead you to actions that will cause more damage such as blurting out a choice word that lands you in detention.

2. Avoid the blame game: No matter how much easier it is to blame your teacher (ie “She didn’t explain the essay well enough” or “He just doesn’t like me”) avoid it at all costs. Realize that your teacher is on your side and use his/her comments as a tool to do better next time.

3. Take ownership: Rather than blame your teacher, ask them how you can improve the next time or possibly re-do the paper for a better grade. Even the “meanest” teacher appreciates effort, and you’d be surprised how it can affect your grade in a positive way.

4. Think BIG picture: In the end, one poor grade does not mean you’re a failure. What’s more important is to focus on the immediate steps you can take so that you don’t continue to fall in the same patterns.

5. Start out fresh: Try your best to not let your feelings carry to the next class period or the rest of your day. This could lead to earning more bad grades. Forgive yourself and remember that you can redeem yourself next time, and study harder with SAT tutoring and supplemental aid.

6. Create a POSITIVE effect: Regardless of what happened, it happened. In order to turn it into something positive, use it as a way to avoid it from happening again or better yet, create a POSITIVE domino effect. For example, although I wanted to fall into the “BAD day” attitude and blamed the Range Rover, I took the above steps and created a positive effect (hopefully) by writing this blog.

Note: If you look at each of these tips, you’ll realize that it’s all about your ATTITUDE and mentality!

The SAT Essay: Shocking Secrets Revealed!

For second-semester high school juniors, SAT season is in full-thrust and many private SAT tutors are studying the latest modifications. With the March 12th test date only a few weeks away, many students are engaged in feverish cram sessions with tutors or test prep classes. Perhaps one of the most bewildering features of the upcoming test is the Essay. Students wonder anxiously, “How can I possibly write anything half-decent in twenty five minutes without ANY preparation?” As a seasoned SAT Verbal instructor, I can say with certainty that there are definitive methods for writing an excellent essay. Test-takers, do not despair!

In order to obtain a high score on the essay, it is important to first understand how the essay fits into the context of the exam and how it is approached by CollegeBoard graders.

The Facts:

• The SAT Essay is a fraction (about 1/3) of the overall Writing score - the bulk of the score is determined by a student’s performance on the two Grammar Multiple Choice sections. Nevertheless, the essay can be a terrific area for students to rack up points, particularly for those who are not “grammatically inclined.”
• The Essay is always the first section of the exam and lasts 25 minutes.
• The Essay is evaluated on a scale from 2 to 12. Two essay graders are assigned to review each essay and select a score from 1 to 6 based on their “holistic impression” of the writing. In other words, essay graders are more concerned with the overall content, organization, and cogency of the writer’s argument than minor mistakes in grammar, mechanics, or spelling. As a caveat, an accumulation of these mistakes can hinder a score if they obscure the clarity of the argument.
• The Essay prompt is not revealed until students sit down and take the exam; however, the prompt is broad enough to allow students to develop well-supported arguments within the allotted time.
• For an in-depth look at the scoring rubric used by the CollegeBoard, click here.

The Method

• Take a stand! Perhaps one of the greatest mistakes students make when writing the Essay is refusing to take a definitive stance on the prompt. Although advanced English students are typically rewarded for writing arguments that synthesize opposing viewpoints, this is NOT the case on the SAT. Students should save themselves the hassle of thinking too far outside the box and pick the side of the prompt that they feel most comfortable writing about. A well-defined argument forms the crux of a high scoring essay.
• Include two or three strong supporting examples! Another key to an exceptional score lies in the writer’s ability to pick relevant, specific supporting examples and expound. A common trap that students fall into is choosing supporting examples that sound “academic” that they actually know very little about. Although the plot and character development of Jane Eyre might be more palatable to an academe than, say, the events on the latest installment of “The Bachelor,” both of these things may provide grade-A fodder for a high-scoring SAT Essay. As long as the supporting example is detailed and well-linked to the argument, the source of the example is inconsequential.
• Create an Idea Bank! The number one complaint volleyed at the SAT Essay is the unknown-nature of the question; nonetheless, there are things a student CAN do to prepare himself before the tumult of exam day. With my past students, the best way to improve an essay score was to come up with an Idea Bank of potential supporting examples. As I mentioned earlier, the best supporting examples do not need to be drawn from scholarly sources. Many of my previous students who scored 11’s or 12’s on their essays had written about their favorite movies, books, television shows, or tabloid magazines (I am particularly reminded of a student who connected the proliferation of internet-based social media to the fall of Britney Spears. Brilliant!). The purpose of an Idea Bank is to devise five or six well-researched supporting examples that can be instantly recalled and connected to various essay prompts. Even the most glaringly “un-academic” sources (e.g. Jersey Shore, Twilight, SpongeBob) can be parsed for sophisticated themes (e.g. the perils of excess, the volatility of romantic love, the bliss of total ignorance). On test day, it is the student’s job to determine which examples in his Idea Bank can be manipulated to address the concerns of the prompt.
• Make it up! As a last resort, it’s better to improvise supporting evidence than to omit it entirely. Be creative and come up with a believable personal anecdote or an “imaginary” novel. Graders do not have the time to fact-check your essay. I was once fooled by one of my students who had written a fascinating account of her pilgrimage to the South American pyramids. Said pilgrimage NEVER happened, but the tale perfectly aligned with the prompt and her developing argument. I gave her a high-five.

And there you have it. Although daunting, the SAT Essay is totally beatable AND can be prepared for in advance. Test-takers should feel empowered to write about what they know rather than what might “sound good” to essay graders. Craft an Idea Bank and practice connecting supporting evidence to a variety of potential essay questions prior to exam day.

In Just Five Minutes...

When I was in high school, there were a few daily duties I had to complete everyday that I described as the “bane of my existence.”

In no particular order, here are the two I can recall as the “most annoying”:

1. Cleaning out my swim bag – including hanging up my towel, cap, and swim suit, replenishing the power bar pocket, and tossing my running shorts in the hamper

2. Studying Latin vocabulary flashcards (50 every week) and taking notes in my SAT tutoring sessions.

As an adult, this list has not changed much. Two of my least favorite chores are:

1. Doing laundry

2. Cleaning the kitchen (including vacuuming, unloading the dishwasher, and wiping off the stove top)

It’s funny how certain hatreds do not change much – thankfully, relatively early on I made a discovery that changed my approach to such despised responsibilities so that now, they don’t seem so painful anymore.

Maybe the adaption was organic, but when I was sixteen my dedication to cleaning out my swim bag every night and studying flashcards was sporadic and distracted by procrastination. I rarely did these things consistently (daily), and I often found myself cramming all 50 vocabulary flashcards in to one Sunday night study marathon study session or left with only damp dirty towels since I hadn’t done a wash in days.

Let’s be honest: nobody likes to study flashcards for two hours straight. So, somewhere along the line I tried something different: one day, I studied 25 cards on Saturday and 25 on Sunday.

And then I had an idea: what if I broke down my list of 50 vocabulary words in two groups of ten and studied a set of ten for five minutes every day?

Hence, the birth of what I like to call “the just-for-five-minutes-a-day” tactic for tackling “icky” jobs. Have a kitchen that needs to be cleaned? Give it a whirl for five minutes, everyday. I promise – you will be pleasantly surprised at not only how much you can accomplish in five minutes – but also, how you’ve just turned a seemingly daunting hour-long job in to a manageable and relatively stress-less accomplishment.

This isn’t to say you won’t spend the same amount of time doing the laundry or studying, per se – but it will lighten the anticipated dread to a level that makes any task seem absolutely manageable – and you won’t be left towel-less in a dirty kitchen.

When You Just Can't Concentrate

As I recall, getting through high school was no easy feat. Like many of you, I struggled to find time in the day for classes, homework, extra-curricular activities, a social life, and sleep. I battled fatigue, constant distractions, and the ever-present urge to procrastinate. On some days, I was victorious. I would turn off the TV, silence my phone, and sit in my orderly workspace, energized and motivated to tackle my work. But even then, I found that setting the stage for productivity wasn’t always enough. Despite my determination to complete the task at hand, my mind would sometimes wander.

What will I have for dinner? I can’t believe he said that! That was a good movie. My mom will be so upset when she finds out. Maybe I shouldn’t go this weekend…

There was always something to think about, and the fact of the matter is there always will be. Staying focused on work can be challenging at any age—in high school and beyond, which is why it is good to start SAT tutoring early. So, over the years, I’ve picked up a few strategies to help me stay on track. And if you’ve ever had a hard time concentrating, you’ll find them useful too.

Task lists: Write down everything you need to accomplish, and break large projects down into smaller, more manageable tasks. If you happen to lose focus, your task list—a sort of visual plan—will remind you of exactly what you should be working on. And the best part of making lists is the satisfaction you get every time you cross off an item.

Time boxing: This can be a very effective time-management tool. Instead of working on a task through completion, commit to working on it for a set amount of time. The idea behind time boxing a particular task is that you are excluding other tasks and unrelated thoughts from your radar during that window of time.

Breaks: Taking scheduled breaks is an important part of maintaining your concentration. A 15-minute break after an hour of studying, for example, can help keep your mind fresh and focused. Try to get a change of scenery during your break. Go outside, do stretches, walk the dog, etc. Exercise is a great way to clear your head of clutter and can even help you absorb what you’ve just studied.

Music: Sometimes noise is the best way to drown out other noise or unwanted thoughts. Be careful when listening to music while you work, though, as some types can be distracting. I recommend listening to something instrumental or even the sounds of nature, which should help relax you and aid concentration.

Launch Education Group Hires Two Associate Directors!

We are very excited to announce the addition of Matt Steiner and Erin Tanaka to the Launch Education team! Matt and Erin will be joining the Los Angeles office as full time Associate Directors. Their impressive academic backgrounds and professional experiences make them a great fit for our growing company. Learn more about Matt and Erin by reading their full bios below!

Matt Steiner, M.A., Associate Director (Los Angeles)
Matt earned his M.A. in the Social Sciences from the University of Chicago. Prior to his graduate studies, Matt was the head of classroom programs at Ivy West, LLC, a Los Angeles-based standardized test prep company. As a result of his extensive experience in the test preparation industry, Matt has become one of the most knowledgeable and empathetic experts in the field.

Matt received his B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he was awarded College Honors and Honors in the major. He has a penchant for interdisciplinary learning and can be found dabbling in books and journal articles pertaining to Psychology, Philosophy and Anthropology.

When off the clock, Matt spends some of his time scouring Los Angeles County for delicious new eateries. In between meals, he enjoys healthy doses of television and exercise - Bravo reality television shows are his greatest vice - and spontaneous trips to the Griffith Park Observatory. Eventually, Matt hopes to visit foreign lands - especially Barcelona, Tokyo, and Rome - and become “worldly” (i.e. well-versed in international cuisine).

Erin Tanaka, M.Ed., Associate Director (Los Angeles)
Erin earned her M.Ed. and multiple subject teaching credential from UCLA. Prior to graduate school, Erin received her B.A. from the University of California, Irvine where she graduated cum laude, majoring in Psychology and Social Behavior and in History, and minoring in Educational Studies.

Following graduation from UCLA, she was a founding teacher at John Liechty Middle School in downtown Los Angeles, where she taught English, History, SAT prep, and Advisory to 6th through 8th grade students. A highly dedicated teacher, Erin founded the school’s first leadership group, co-advised the first spirit team and completed the Los Angeles marathon with several of her students. She also has extensive one-on-one tutoring experience, privately working with students in Los Angeles, New York and Buenos Aires.

As a Santa Monica resident, Erin loves running along the beach, dancing with friends, practicing photography with her DSLR camera, indulging her inner foodie, and of course planning her next travel destination with friends.

Getting Good at Email

This email thing has really caught on. Whether or not it’s a regular part of your life now, it will become so at the latest when you begin college. And for something people spend so much time doing, most people are pretty bad at email.

“How can someone be bad at email?” you ask.

Let’s imagine someone who’s bad at making a bowl of cereal. So this person puts a bowl on the counter and takes out a box of cereal. They open the box and take one Cheerio and put it in the bowl. Then a second Cheerio. Then a third. 15 minutes later, they’re ready for the milk. They open the milk carton and carefully pour it into a teaspoon and then dump the teaspoon into the bowl. Then a second teaspoon, and then a third and fourth. Finally, 30 minutes after getting started, they’re ready to eat! (Thank goodness they didn’t want to add in any sugar.)

Now, if you were watching this person make a bowl of cereal, what would you say?

You’d go crazy. You’d want to pull your hair out. “Why would anyone ever be that incredibly inefficient?!” you’d think.

Well that’s me when I watch most people use email. Getting quick and efficient at using email can help you stay organized and save you a ton of time. Here are some tips to help you pour the email cereal:

Get on Gmail
In my experience (and I used Yahoo for four years), Gmail is far and away the best. If you use Yahoo, or AOL, or Hotmail, or whatever—give Gmail a try. Sign up for a free account, and if you agree that it’s superior to whatever you’ve been using, send one email to your contacts and tell them that you have a new email address, and just like that, you’re switched.

Keyboard Shortcuts
Once you’re on Gmail, go straight into Settings and turn “Keyboard Shortcuts” on. Then, once you refresh the page, you’ll be ready to use them. Start by pressing Shift + / to bring up a list of all the keyboard shortcuts Gmail offers (or check them out here). Beyond the obvious time-savers like C to compose a new message, R to reply, F to forward, etc., there are dozens more, all of which are useful. Also, to send a message, simply press Tab to highlight the Send key, and then Enter to send your message. Trust me—once you get used to these, you will never go back to clicking around Gmail with your mouse.

Archiving
In Gmail, there are two ways to maintain your inbox: 1) The old fashion way—let your messages pile up into the thousands, creating a never-ending inbox, or 2) The modern way—"archive" emails you’re done with, keeping your inbox clean and only containing messages you still need to read or answer. I can say with absolute conviction that the modern way is superior. The key is that archived messages haven’t gone anywhere—they’re sitting in the “All Mail” folder on the left, and you can either go to that folder or use the search feature to find an archived message at any time. Just type the name of someone on that email and maybe a word from the email or another recipient, and the archived message will be right in front of you again. Meanwhile, your inbox is clean and only contains messages you need to attend to, allowing your inbox to serve as your email “to-do” list.

You can bring in your own systems on top of this—you can “keep as new” messages you need to deal with more urgently, or tag them with a star, etc. Whatever works best for you.

(When I go through my emails, I simply press either k or ]. k leaves the message in my inbox and moves one to the next one, ] archives the message and moves to the next one. For me, it’s one or the other, unless it’s r to reply to the message.)

Labels
Labels can help you stay organized. Rather than putting an email in a “folder,” Gmail lets you tag emails with one or more labels that you create. Then when you click that label on the left side of the screen, every message you’ve tagged with that label is sitting there. For example, I created a label called “Flights” in my Gmail. When I book a flight online, I receive an email with the flight details. Since I know I’m going to need that email in a couple months—but I don’t want it to stay in my inbox that whole time and create clutter—I slap the “Flights” label on it (keyboard shortcut: when I’m in the message I press L to bring up the "choose a label" field and then type the first couple letters of “FLIGHTS” and press Enter and voila). Then, a couple months later when I need the email, I just go to the flights label and there it is.

Filters
If you’re a beginner, worry about the above items for now—but for the more advanced user, filters are the way to tell Gmail what you want it to do with messages. For example, if I get a weekly newsletter that I might want to read here and there, but I don’t want to be bothered with it popping into my inbox each week—I can create a filter that tells Gmail: “When a message comes in from the sender of this newsletter, apply a “newsletter” label to it and archive it before it even reaches my inbox.” So now I’ll never see another one of these newsletters in my inbox, but when I click on the “newsletter” label on the left, all of the newsletters will be sitting there. Cool, right? You can create filters in Settings.

Labs
Finally, once you get good at Gmail, head to Settings and go to the Labs tab. There you will find over a hundred little cool features that you may or may not want to activate in your Gmail. One of my favorites is “Undo Send,” which allows me to take back a sent message for 10 seconds after sending it—comes in surprisingly handy. Check them out.

Themes
While you’re in Settings, head to the Themes tab and make your Gmail page more interesting. My favorite is Tea House, which allows you to check out the daily life of a delightful little fox who lives at the bottom of your screen.

Good luck! This stuff may take some getting used to, but you’ll thank me one day (reminds me when my private SAT tutors said the same thing). For more on Gmail, check out the Gmail blog.

Raise Your Hand: So 2011

I have no qualms asking questions, so it probably doesn't surprise you that I am also an avid fan of Wikipedia, the dictionary, and the classic "Google search."

Unlike most, one of my favorite arenas for asking questions is in the restaurant. Since it's not so typical to preface an order with "I have a question..." some might say I've got quite a lot of moxie to "raise my hand."

However, I find that I learn some of the most interesting things from the simple act of asking anyone, my teacher, my SAT tutor, my mentors. The other day, I got my notion confirmed by a pastry chef that Boston Cream Pie is indeed not a pie, per se, but a sponge cake. Who knew!

Subsequently, a majority of my adult friends would probably be surprised to know that as a child, I was not the kid who easily raised my hand in class . Looking back, I believe I was afraid to ask a question because I was embarrassed and thought everyone else would think I was stupid. I have the sense (probably due to the uncomfortable looks I get when I inquire about the method to make, say, bacon foam)- that I am/was not alone in this assumption.

Recently, I read Aristotle’s quote “the more you know, the more you know you don’t know” – and it made me wonder: all those years I kept my hand at my side for fear of being called “dumb” – maybe, just maybe - I was wrong?

Being an adult, I took my quandary to the streets and asked a few of my teacher friends for their perspective on the classroom dynamic as it pertains to hand-raising.

A pal who is a 7th grade math teacher says that he has never had a “dumb” question come from a student raising their hand in class. In fact, “the types of problems that students ask the most questions about out loud are usually the ones every student in that class ends up acing on the exam.”

Coincidence? Hardly.

Taking the matter to an 11th grade English teacher, I was informed that her daily lesson plan includes a 5 minute “question and answer” block right before the end of class. Initially, she had her students vote on how they wanted to use the time: to do homework, to study for other classes, or to “clarify” what they had gone over that day via peer-generated questions.

Impressively, each of her six periods voted to use the time to ask her questions as a group – instead of through personal email or individually, after class. She claims that group "Q & A" allows everyone to benefit from her answers – and not-so-surprisingly, the classes that ask the most questions per day tend to have the highest class average on exams and essays in comparison to the classes that use the time for study or other homework.

It would appear that Aristotle was on to something. So, if you pledge to do anything this semester, promise to seek an answer when you are curious, and if you are feeling bold – ask a question out loud for the rest of us.

Senioritis

Symptoms: These include laziness, excessive apathy, chronic tardiness, occasional absences, and an overwhelming urge to slack off.

Causes: The onset of senioritis can happen as soon as you send off your college applications. But symptoms often don’t become apparent until that big envelope arrives in the mail and the suspense of the college application process is over. With your acceptance letter in hand, it seems your hard work as a high school student is done, and all of your SAT prep is behind you. So you begin to let loose, and before you know it, you’re in a slump. Hello, senioritis!

Complications: Ignoring the symptoms can have serious consequences. College acceptances are often contingent on a student’s continued academic success, and a drop in grades due to senioritis won’t be overlooked by the admissions officers reviewing your year-end transcript. Every year, colleges rescind their offers of admission to those who haven’t maintained their grades or have fallen short in some other way. (Final grades were cited by 69% of colleges that revoked admission offers in 2007; disciplinary problems accounted for 25%, says the National Association for College Admission Counseling.) Additional complications associated with senioritis include being put on academic probation and receiving less financial assistance in college.

The Cure: If you thought I was going to say graduation, think again. You’ll need to combat senioritis long before then to avoid jeopardizing your future. My advice: nip it in the bud. If you feel your motivation waning, just remind yourself of how close you are to the finish line. You’ve been running this high school marathon for years, and now is not the time to slow down. So fight the temptations brought on by senioritis, and keep your eye on the prize. Before you know it, you’ll be done with high school, and only then will the race truly be over.

A Tutor's Guide: How to Get the Most Out of Your Session

Feel Good about Yourself

By deciding to have a SAT tutoring session, you've already taken a conscious step toward self-improvement. So feel good about yourself. Confidence doesn't guarantee success, but it always helps.

Visualize Your Goals

Think carefully about what you want to achieve and how you want to achieve it. Write down your goals, tell your friends, and hold yourself accountable. Don't be afraid to aim high, but remember that major triumphs are built on small victories.

Come Prepared

Organization is critical. No one’s perfect, but starting homework without a plan is like walking into a rainstorm without an umbrella. Work with your tutor to keep track of all assignments and establish a clear, step-by-step plan to get them done.

Communicate

The key to any successful relationship is communication. Make sure you share your goals with your tutor, and know that every tutoring session is a safe environment to share concerns and ask for help.

Thank you Alex M. (one of our fabulous L.A. tutors!) for contributing this week’s blog post!