Academic Coaching is a detailed approach to helping students learn strategic study skills, become better time managers and learn organizational skills. As an Academic Coach, I help students fill these gaps that aren’t taught in school. For example, students learn how to independently track their assignments, plan projects, study faster and more consistently, and set goals. This allows them to create more balance, reduce stress, and gain confidence in their ability to succeed.
Academic coaching can help improve:
- Academic Outcomes
- Time Management & Organization
- Study Skills
- Test-Taking and Active Study Strategies
- Follow Through on Assignments
- Self Advocacy- asking for help
- Confidence
What’s the difference between academic coaching and tutoring?
Traditional tutoring focuses on helping students master specific class content, such as math or science.
Academic coaching helps students successfully navigate the entire school experience. Students learn a wide variety of skills, that can be applied to every class. These new tools help the student build a powerful toolbox for school success.
What happens during a typical academic coaching session?
Although every academic coaching session is shaped by the student’s unique academic workload and goals most sessions include:
- Check in
- How are you doing? Catching up with events since the last session. What’s gone well, what hasn’t. (5 minutes)
- Habits and Grades Graphs
- How well are you following through on your habits this week? What are your grades looking like this week? The grades and habits are tracked online graphs to track progress. (10 minutes)
- Skill Building
- What skills need practice so that you can be successful he next week? (30-45 minutes)
- Action items
- What action items will you commit to during the next week? (5 – 10 minutes)
How many academic sessions does a student need?
The number of sessions depends on the student’s goals and varies from student to student. Some clients only need a booster set of 4-8 sessions centered around a specific goal. The majority of students, however, have weekly meetings during the school year to keep them on track. The longer students work with me, the better able they are to fully integrate habits and positive behaviors into their life.
How do virtual academic coaching sessions work, and are they really as effective as in-person sessions? What is Zoom?
Zoom is a wonderful solution for face to face meetings. I have a virtual Zoom office and students and I meet on the site for our sessions. Zoom allows for computer screen sharing and both student and coach can take over each others screens when necessary.
I know it seems counter-intuitive, but virtual sessions are often as good or better than in-person coaching. Through the use of Zoom, Google Docs, screen sharing, and online drawing tools, students stay busy and engaged throughout the session. Additionally, online sessions allow me to be in the student’s study space, eliminating wasted travel time. Because so many assignments are digital, it’s often easier to look at assignments together online rather than crowd around a laptop. For paper assignments, snapping and sharing a quick photo works well.
Who do I work with??
I love working with students who are in high school, college or grad school.
Strategic Study Skills
Not all students find school stressful, but as parents, we know that transitions and increased academic and organizational challenges are often on the horizon. Because study and organization skills are rarely taught as part of an official curriculum, motivated and proactive students can gain a strategic advantage by learning more effective and efficient techniques. By gaining study skills ahead of educational transitions, students avoid encountering common educational roadblocks and help your student get ahead.
Study Skills
The study skills that are necessary for success vary depending on the grade level. They include:
- Managing multiple classes and teachers
- Tracking assignments from multiple sources
- Note-taking
- Studying for cumulative final exams
- Managing daily homework loads
- Balancing extracurricular activities
- Planning long-term projects
- Time management strategies
- Building in study time
- Optimizing study time with retrieval practice
- Transitioning to college
- Working on group projects
Why is school suddenly stressful, like I’ve hit a roadblock?
Parents may suddenly be feeling anxious about their students academic challenges. Arguments about procrastination, homework, and grades are becoming more frequent and the students performance at school is declining.
A roadblock may occur when the required study and organizational skills increase, and students don’t have the tools they need to succeed. Our current educational system assumes that students will just learn these skills as they progress through school, but they are not part of any state or national curriculum.
These times of stress and concern are sometimes heightened around transitions such as:
- Starting middle school
- Starting high school
- During second-semester shifts
- In Junior year of high school
- Transitioning to college
- Starting Grad School