Good Class Habits
An important aspect of being academically successful is that of developing good class habits. The more effectively you use your time in class, the easier it will be to study well and learn the information.
Steps to improve your good class habits:
This is the most important, first step in maintaining good classroom habits. If you miss class, you miss the information, you miss the questions that are asked & answered, you miss the chance to interact with your instructor and peers! Rarely can you read the text and copy someone else’s notes and have an experience equivalent to being there.
Go early enough to review your notes from the previous class so you’ll be mentally prepared. It’s a good bet that this day’s class will have a connection to the previous lesson, so remind yourself of what happened the day before. Quiz yourself on any homework you had, any videos you watched, or what was discussed in your study group. It’s almost impossible to get the most important points of a class when you don’t have any idea what will be presented, so be ready!
Sitting close to the instructor helps to keep you focused and assures that you can see and hear everything, it also helps eliminate the distractions caused by other students and their bad habits. Often the students sitting near the instructor are those that are more engaged and this is where you want to be! If you know you will arrive late or will need to leave early, sit in a place that you will not distract others, maybe to the sides or back of the class.
- Turn off your phone and put it away. Professors are miserly with their time; they have a lot of information to impart and a limited amount of time to deliver it and so they choose their words, phrasing, activities and organization carefully. You’d be surprised at how much you miss if you’re distracted.
- Ditto for your computer: if you’re not required to use it for the class, put it away! If you are required to use an electronic device as part of the class activities, be careful to stay on task and not be tempted to wander onto non-course related pages.
- Learn to take good notes so that you will have a written record of what transpired during class.
- Check your attention so that you don’t allow your mind to wander. If your focus lags, you need to develop ways to bring yourself back to the moment.
Making the most of your time in class will help you make the most of your study time and move you in the direction of content mastery!