What Makes a Great Learner?
Whether you’re studying a tough subject, learning a new skill, or preparing for an important exam, you probably feel, at one time or another, that everything would be easier if only you were smarter. Yet, while traits like high working memory and processing speed may be significantly influenced by genetics, most qualities associated with high IQ individuals can be adopted by anyone. Here are seven of the most important ones: 1. INTELLECTUAL HUMILITY 2. CURIOSITY 3. COACHABILITY 4. PUNCTUALITY 5. RESPONSIVENESS 6. CRITICISM 7. PERSISTENCE INTELLECTUAL HUMILITY The journey to becoming smarter often begins and ends with the same realization: you’re not as smart as you think. Receptivity to learning admits that there is at least a little and probably a lot to learn. Once you resist the false confidence of the Dunning–Kruger Effect–that cognitive bias wherein the less people know, the less likely they are to recognize their ignorance…
Resolved to Be Better
Happy New Year! The fresh canvas of a new year inspires most of us to select some (possibly most) areas in our lives to improve in specific ways. We at Chariot Learning certainly do. Deliberate improvement over time is something I think a lot about. Here at the intersection of education and performance, we see lots of students looking for better grades and test scores. Obviously, we want the same for them along with greater proficiency in our ability to support our students. Our most recent and sixth consecutive Best Of Rochester award for tutoring makes for a nice picture, but best is just a moment. Better is a process. Better does not come easy. Becoming better than you were in any dimension of your life may be a worthy goal. Staying better–being able to cast aside bad habits and develop new, more adaptive ones–is another thing entirely. How do…
Who Needs a Coach?
Top athletes and singers have coaches. Should you? That was the subheader of a fascinating 2011 article in the New Yorker penned by an enlightened surgeon. Atul Gawande noticed how his surgical skills had plateaued in a predictable, professionally accepted way. While he was coming to terms with this presumably inevitable fact of life, he also experienced how impactful even a single lesson with a tennis pro was in improving his game. Then he connected the dots: “Not long afterward, I watched Rafael Nadal play a tournament match on the Tennis Channel. The camera flashed to his coach, and the obvious struck me as interesting: even Rafael Nadal has a coach. Nearly every élite tennis player in the world does. Professional athletes use coaches to make sure they are as good as they can be. “But doctors don’t. I’d paid to have a kid just out of college look at…
What Kind of Test Prep is Right for My Teen?
Once we agree that all tests–especially the influential and high stakes ones–should be prepared for (and they obviously should be) the next questions focus more on methods and means. Considering the wide range of test prep material out there from books to online programs to classes to tutoring, teens and their families can be understandably intimidated by the choice, especially when factors like fit, quality, cost, and interactivity come into play. I answer questions about which types of test prep are best for different students, but rarely are my answers recorded. Luckily, my Tests and the Rest partner Amy Seeley and I were recently interviewed by the unstoppable Linda Abraham. Not only has Linda, as the founder of Accepted, helped countless applicants gain admission to top medical, law, business and graduate schools over decades, she is also a leading educational podcaster. Amy and I had her on our podcast to…
Being Coachable
Anyone with even a passing knowledge of basketball will recognize the name of Michael Jordan, widely considered one of the best–if not the very best–players of all time. Jordan combined ferocious physical and mental strength with incomparable skill and an indefatigable will to win. However, he attributes his legendary success to one train above all others: My best skill was that I was coachable. I was a sponge and aggressive to learn. What does “coachable” mean? Have you ever met someone who seems sure he or she knows it all, someone who has no interest or perhaps even ability to learn from others? How about someone who crumbles under even constructive criticism, externalizing failure or blame? Those are definitely NOT examples of coachability. Instead, consider the traits someone who is coachable shows consistently: Interested in becoming better, even if that requires hard work Willing to listen and learn Eager to…
Professional Development and the 2020 Winter Prep Conference
We like to think that anyone who works with Chariot Learning recognizes our commitment to the same levels of coaching, practice, and incremental improvement over time we teach our students. Simply put, every member of the team embraces the challenge of being a true test prep and/or tutoring professional rather than a hobbyist or dilettante. That level of industry understanding, educational expertise, and executive function makes a massive difference in student outcomes and does not happen by accident. How does the Chariot Learning stay ahead of important developments in education and testing while delivering quality prep and practice testing to over 1000 students across Upstate New York a year? How did we nail the Best of Rochester Award in the Tutoring Service category for two years in a row? The answer is simple: professional development. When your founder has over 25 years of experience in the test prep industry and…