Peer Mentor Academic Support Meeting Step 1 of 3 - Information 33% Name(Required) First Last Peer Mentor Name(Required)Aleanna SotoAlexandra RichoAngelica PeraltaBella CappuccioBrandon AllenCarolyn SuttonDaniya ChopraEthan LiHao ZhuoIan RutledgeJoey YangJuliana WisemanKaty SparmerMinnie SirichanthoNathaly HerreraNeha JayannaNicole YildirimRenee KwokTara SperryKristin GlinzakStudent ID:(Required) NetID:(Required) UPO Advisor(Required)Assigned UPO Advisor can be found on the check-in screen in Nexus.Alana AdamsAlex SauerAlison LermanBeth WilliamsDan LevyEddie PapazoniHunter TasheaInga PoetzlJia CaiJose AponteKristin GlinzakLaila ChaouiNakeia MooreStudent UConn Email:(Required) Campus:(Required)Select CampusAvery PointHartfordStorrsStamfordWaterburySelect form the following topics, areas that you wish to further develop:(Required) Time Management Strategies to Assist with Low Grades During the current term Talking with Faculty/Instructors Motivation/Focus Time Management(Required) Prioritization (aka Time Management) is difficult for pretty much everyone, especially because many of the factors that influence the required time to complete tasks like assignments and studying for tests can vary greatly from person to person. On top of that, there will always be things that come up that are outside of your control which influence the time you need to get things done. Mastering important prioritization skills and finding effective prioritization strategies that consistently work for you is the best way to take back control of your time. Time Management Skills to Master Awareness: thinking realistically about your time by understanding it is a limited resource Arrangement: designing and organizing your goals, plans, schedules, and tasks to effectively use time Adaptation: monitoring your use of time while performing activities, including adjusting to interruptions or changing priorities Strategies to help improve these skills Awareness: Find your peak performance time. Break your typical day into three to four time slots and, over the course of a week, rank-order these slots from your most to least productive (most productive is peak performance). Treat your time like it’s money. Create a time budget that details how you spend your hours during a typical week. Categorize time into fixed time (“must dos”) and discretionary time (“want to dos”). Try timing up. Record how long you’ve spent on tasks with very clear deadlines, rather than how much time you have left. Evaluate how realistically you assess time. After finishing a project, evaluate how long you thought it would take and how long it actually took. Take a “future time perspective.” Think about how the tasks you are doing right now will help or hurt you in the future (for example, how do today’s project tasks impact next week’s tasks?). Avoid “sunk cost fallacy.” When you think you might be spending too much time on an activity, step back and evaluate its importance (for example, How valuable is the outcome? Who will be affected if it’s finished or not finished? And so forth.) Arrangement: Prioritize activities and obligations. It’s not enough to simply list out your tasks, to-do lists, and meetings. Avoid the “mere urgency effect.” Urgency and importance are related but distinct concepts: Urgent tasks require immediate action, whereas important tasks have more significant and long-term consequences. Tasks that are both urgent and important should be done first. Use a calendar app. Record due dates for tasks and appointments — and do this immediately when they are planned or requested. Label or color-code entries (for example, work, school, life, etc.). Schedule protected time. Make calendar appointments with yourself to ensure uninterrupted time to dedicate to your most important projects. Reduce underestimation errors. When forming plans, ask a neutral party for feedback about your forecasted time requirements. Try half-sized goals.When struggling to attain a goal that seems to be too challenging, set a less-difficult version of the goal. Adaptation: Try “habit stacking.” Tie your time management behaviors to habits you already exhibit (for example, track daily progress every evening when you sit down for dinner). Use short bursts of effort. When tasks seem overwhelming, put forth maximum effort for 15- to 30-minute intervals to help avoid procrastination. Experiment with time-tracker or checklist apps. Remember, benefit must exceed cost when using these tools. Gains should outweigh the time spent using the app. Don’t be a “reminder miser. Reminders should have detailed explanations or descriptions, not one or two words that fail to describe the task’s importance, expected quality, and so forth. Create contingency plans. Think about best-case/worst-case scenarios when you outline possible outcomes of your plans. Seek to reduce time wasters.Create do-not-disturb time slots and block social media sites during critical work time. Source: Harvard Business Review, Time Management is About More Than Life Hacks by Erich C. Dierdorff Other Resources: Time Management Worksheets from AAC Tomato Timers Clockify Toggl Suggested Readings: LAUNCH - Managing Your Time Effectively 5 Productivity Hacks You're Doing Wrong Forbes's Time Management Tips Strategies for Low Grades in Current Term(Required) Office Hours This is a great time to go to your instructor’s office hours to connect individually on your current grade, ways to improve in the present moment, and how to achieve the best total grade in the class you can at this stage. Remember to: Check Office Hours outlined in your syllabus for that specific course Email your instructor if you need a differently timed appointment outside of their office hour range OR to inform them you will be coming to Office Hours on a specific day and time to discuss your current grades/ways to improve Have a rough draft of a plan to improve in their class to begin the meeting with as a starting place to plan from with your instructor Remember, a great place to start raising your grade is by making up anything you may have missed like a test or assignment so connecting with your instructor one on one will enable you to discuss these options and plan to take action immediately Time Management Rebalancing the way you manage your time might be the key to your success! While it is important to dedicate time to raising a specific course grade; you must also ensure your other course grades continue to succeed. Be sure you evaluate your time management with some of these quick tips to incorporate if needed! Time Blocking: Devote chunks of time to a specific task or assignment For every hour of class you attend, plan to study for 2-3 hours Be sure to also block off break time Color Coding: By class, by type of activity, by due date – do what works for you! Plan Ahead: Plan time weekly to plan your time for the week J It is more manageable and habitual. Look out for assignments you know will take you longer/you will need time for extra help on. Consider the M.I.T. (Most Important Tasks) approach of doing these things at the beginning of the day so you don’t get interrupted or to tired. Track Your Time: Know how you are spending your time and consistently be improving efficiency. Time Limits: try to limit how long you spend on individual projects to encourage you to stay on task. To Do List: Seeing what needs to get done (even for the hour ahead of you) and being able to cross it off can be so satisfying! Don’t forget to avoid procrastination by being an environment with little to know distractions or by giving yourself meaningful small rewards such as breaks to go for a walk/having a snack after completing a task or long study stretches. Identifying Your Grades and the Causes For Them Take time to reflect on why you earned the grade you did – this includes good grades too! Identifying how some grades are higher then others can be very helpful. Alternatively, understanding how your lower grades were earned will help you figure out where some changes can be made. Studying for a test the exact same way after getting a low grade the first time will likely lead to the same result. Push yourself to analyze areas that could be improved or done differently. Don’t forget to not only assess specific earned grades, but also all possible future grades and how grading is done in your syllabus for the course While you will earn a total grade for each class at the end of each term – also be aware of effects grades can have on your GPA. Here are some calculators UConn’s AAC offers to help but there is also a great GPA Calculator in Nexus for you! Semester GPA Calculator- This calculator lets you find out your semester GPA depending on your grades in various classes Cumulative GPA Calculator- This calculator will show you what it will take to graduate with your desired cumulative GPA Weighted Course Grade Calculator- This website will calculate your weighted grade in a single course by percentage, point, or letter grade value Get help! (i.e If you feel stuck and know things are not going well - reach out to any and all resources including faculty, advisors, and other University staff available to help along with your peers.) General Academic Support: Academic Achievement Center (in person services only in Storrs and Hartford): Subject Specific Tutoring: Class specific Study Groups through Nexus Hartford Q Center Information Hartford Writing Center Information Stamford Based Tutoring (BUSN subject tutored virtually for everyone to access) Storrs Q Center Information Storrs Writing Center Information Waterbury Based Tutoring Talking with Faculty/Instructors(Required) Connect early in the semester to establish your goals in the course, areas you might struggle, or just to introduce yourself - this will make asking questions throughout more comfortable Recognize your teachers are a resource, not just in taught material but in the field itself. If you are interested in a subject, be sure to connect to discuss their experience and opportunities they may share. Consider how to align your learning style with the way a class is taught. If you can explain what you need to be successful, many instructors would be happy to explore this with you. Lead with trying to understand your grade rather than get it changed. A conversation with faculty empowers both the instructor and the student to reflect together. Remember to approach office hours as a conversation, not a battle! Don't be nervous about following up on questions or requested help. If you don't get a response, it is likely faculty is focused on other classes or research for UConn - they are not intentionally ignoring your request! 3 - 5 business days is a typical turnaround during a busy season, so be professionally persistent but keep that timeline in mind. Emailing your faculty members will be the best way to communicate with them. Not sure where to start? Try using our email template. Be sure to fill out the subject line with the any appropriate information. Subject Line: Meeting to Discuss _____________ Body of the email: Good Morning/Afternoon Professor _______________ (insert last name) , I would like to set up a time to connect with you, outside of class, to go over some questions that I have about ____________________________. Are you available for an in-person/virtual meeting on ______________ (insert days of the week) from _____________ (insert hours that you are available - be sure to list multiple times)? If not, I am available on the following days and times: ____________________. Please let me know what times work best with your schedule. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you, (insert your name) Motivation/Focus(Required) Finding motivation and ways to stay focused can be challenging, especially in college when there is so many new things to explore and so many distractions everywhere. Luckily, there are some proactive steps you can take to improve your motivation and ability to focus on all the things you need to do to be successful in college. Staying Focused In Class: Be proactive to navigate distracting times especially when sitting in a lecture as this is important time to be retaining learned information and ask questions to better understand the course Know what you need to take notes on Review the lecture topic listed on your syllabus and read the associated readings prior to class. While reviewing, create a basic outlines of all the major topics discussed in the readings, leaving space between each topic to add in notes, emphasize important nuances, and examples discussed during the lecture. Preparing ahead of time will help you to pay attention more actively when looking for key things to write down. Participate Remember to engage while you are in class. Answer professors questions and ask questions about anything you are confused about. Being an active participant will help to keep you focused on the lecture and should also improve your retention. Mark up your notes During class, make some additional annotations in your notes to remind you of particular things to follow up on after class. Consider the what sections of the material you will likely need to spend the most time on studying later, and highlight or otherwise emphasis those topics in your notes during class. Gamify Your Focus Check out the Flora App This app is a gamified focus-timer, habit tracker and to-do list. When you want to focus on completing a goal, you plant a little tree and the longer you keep away from your phone, more it grows Create a Better Study Space Color Coding Your Class Supplies: Help to signal your brain that you are moving from one topic to the next Find Your Light: Natural light (sitting by a window or even outside if possible) stimulates serotonin production and improves your mood! Support Yourself: Sit up with good posture in furniture that supports your back. Keep Separate Spaces: Don't work where you rest and relax! Our brains subconsciously pick up on contextual cues in an environment. These cues literally prepare your brain and body for the most associated activity in that physical space. Mismatched activities with the wrong contextual cues can make you slower to process information. Separate spaces, or at least facing a different direction than you do when you are resting creates clear boundaries. Suggested Readings Six Strategies to Build a 'Learning Mindset' and Advance Your Career 5 Best Focus Apps to Reclaim your Day Create 1-3 SMART Goals to help you improve on the area(s) of Academic Support you identified and reviewed with your Peer Mentor. SMART Goals are: S = Specific: Make your goals as specific as possible. M = Measurable: Be sure that your goal is measurable. A = Attainable: Set goals that you can reasonably achieve, given your current situation. R = Realistic: Set goals that are grounded in reality, not an idealized version of your future. T = Timely: Establish a timeline for reaching your goal Example: By the end of this semester, I will improve my time management skills by being more aware of my time as a limited resource. To do this I will find my peak performance time, record how much time I spend on different tasks, and practice evaluating how realistically I assess time.SMART Goal #1(Required) SMART Goal #2 SMART Goal #3 Before proceeding to the last page, wrap-up your meeting with the student and let them know a copy of the notes and resources you discussed in the meeting will be sent to their UConn email. Stop Light Assessment of Student(Required) Green - student reports that classes are going well (A's and B's)and they feel prepared for finals, they feel fairly adjusted to UConn and are enjoying their time, they've engaged in some out of class experiences and feel like they are finding their community at UConn Yellow - student is doing ok in classes (possibly getting C's), they may have some unrealistic expectations about their abilities in classes or how finals will go, they have attempted to get involved but may not have stayed with anything, they may not feel entirely comfortable at UConn but are working on ways to find community Red - student reports they are doing poorly in classes (D's and Fs in one or more classes), they have not discussed this with anyone or taken steps to improve grades, they are not involved nor are they making attempts to get engaged, they feel lonely/isolated and possibly like UConn is not for them Please enter brief notes explaining your choice above and any other pertinent information from your meeting.(Required)NameThis field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
