Elevate Education in Secondary
On Wednesday, 23 March Year 7 and 8 students had a visit from Elevate Education. Elevate’s study skills seminars are designed to achieve behavioural change amongst students by getting students to use and apply the skills they learn. Below are some student reflections on this incursion.
Year 7 Reflection
On the 23 February 2022, the Year 7 students had an opportunity to participate in an incursion from the team called ‘Elevate’. Each class had an instructor who explained time management and made the topic very engaging. Our class had an instructor named Jakey who taught us various strategies on how to better manage our time and how to study, and still be able to do all those things outside of school that we enjoy.
Our class were each given a booklet to fill out that included: a timetable, ways to breakdown assignments and to be able to complete work easily. There were numerous tips on how to do homework and one of our favourite tips were doing the work we hate first. We really enjoyed this incursion and thought it was very beneficial to our transition into Secondary School. - Evangeline and Skye (7E)
Year 8 Reflection
The session included various activities to build up more refined study techniques. First, we got handed out a booklet which included pages that help us to scan and summarize texts, take effective notes, and use images to help us trigger information. Our guest speaker went through each topic thoroughly, giving us situations and explaining how to manage them.
The session was new to some of us but knowing that we had someone to help us improve our studying during our Secondary school experience was not only comforting but beneficial to our learning. For that hour, the guest speaker made us feel reassured and safe about our learning skills.
The skills we picked up during the workshop, helped us to distinguish the benefits of memorising condensed versions of key words and phrases, compared to regular notes of up to 88 words. This helped us understand how we could increase the amount we remember, without having to write down large bodies of information. We also recognized the importance of putting notes in our own words so we would be sure of understanding information. In addition, colour and images, as we learned, is also a predominant factor in helping our brains process the information memorized quicker.
All in all, the organizational skills we learned throughout the program is bound to have a positive impact on our future at Hume Anglican Grammar. It taught us how instead of working harder, working smarter will prove to be more efficient in our studies. The study skills from the 3 main categories of reading, note taking and memory, taught us valuable strategies that help not only in effective positionings and groupings of words, but also faster article scanning and evidence finding. - Hanna and Alexandra (8A)