December Notes

Stress Management in Bethesda, MD

January 2, 2025

December learning notes

December brought a high level of stress to students waiting for early college decisions and to
high schoolers taking end-of-semester exams.

Stress is high for all students; however, it can be exacerbated when students strive for high
grades despite challenges in executive functioning. Attention Deficit Disorder, Anxiety, and
Depression all create an added burden. We talk through this in session and discuss learning
strategies and test-taking techniques.

I just finished reading “Make It Stick” by Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel. This book is a
must-read for teachers, students, and parents. Unfortunately, students are not taught how to
study.
The book recommends that students be in charge of their learning and have strategies to
facilitate it.

Students memorize information that is lost the day after the exams. They read and reread the
material without processing it.

The book describes Retrieval Practice as an “active technique” for remembering information.
Retrieving information strengthens learning, and quizzing exercises memory retrieval. Making
connections and constantly practicing retrieving information make learning “stick.”

They also recommend “space practice, Which involves studying each day before the exam
without jamming everything into the final countdown to test time.

Elaboration means delving deeper into the material and making connections with it. When faced
with exams, students may go blank if they have not developed pathways to access the
information. Those pathways can be constructed using different retrieval, reflection, and
elaboration strategies.

An interesting example used in the book was that of Sully (the pilot who saved the US Airway
flight by landing on the Hudson River). He learned from his early days of training by reflecting
on the material. He engaged his mind in visualization and mental rehearsal so the knowledge
would be available almost automatically when needed.