Smart kids can fail in school because they don't know how to study.
"I have seen students fail and just give up on life, with no aspirations to go further, just because they lack the skills to study," said Joanne Smith, a teacher who concentrates her educational effort on preventing that from happening.Many people assume children learn to study in the normal course of education, she said, but students can lack the organization and discipline that makes their study effective.
"Teachers are not being trained to help students study well," said Smith. "Children can reach college without ever having learned to study."
Smith's course on productive study habits has reached many students and their teachers as well. Parents often sit in so they can help their children.
She works as a consultant in Granite School District and also teaches a course in the district's community education program called, appropriately, "A Survival Class for Parents and Secondary Students."
Ideally, children will have developed good study habits before they reach the secondary schools, she said.
When a child learns to study effectively and improves his academic success, there often are beneficial side effects, including better behavior.
In fact, Smith's approach begins with improved self-image.
"I tell children `There's an eagle inside of you. If you feel you can do it, you can,' " she said. She encourages each child to create a "bug list" of things that concern, worry and confuse them and impede their progress.
With an attitude established, she then gets into the details of effective study. She calls her technique FAPOD - Future Action Planning, Organization and Determination. It entails:
- Organizing class materials. Listing assignments and keeping them together by subject helps a child to be his own monitor.
- Learning to deal with stress and stay fit. "You have to be mentally and physically fit to learn well."
- Evaluating work. Being able to analyze what he has done helps a student overcome frustration and determine what, if anything, went wrong.
- Encouraging parents to give students study space, materials and a set time to work at home.
- Developing a mental image of success.
- Keeping journals.
Smith has seen the fruits of her effort at Wasatch Junior High School, where the school's achievement test scores have improved significantly.