IMPLEMENTATION INFORMATION AND TIPS
Getting Started
This system is front end heavy; you need to spend more time with it in the beginning than you do later on. We recommend spending about 20 to 30 minutes a day going through the DVDs until you have gone through the entire program. Don’t rush through the material. Educators are usually in a hurry to get to the meat of the program and want to start teaching students how to use the planner and forms right away, but the system is set up to build on itself. Until students have looked at their attitudes and have determined that they want to succeed, they will fight the system.
The students have gone without these skills for this long, it’s okay to wait a couple more weeks and build a solid foundation first. Take the time it takes to really understand the lessons. Stop the DVDs whenever necessary to either discuss a specific topic, to fill out part of the workbook, or to repeat a section of the DVDs.
Checking the Books
After the instructional part of Academic Gameplan is over, the relationship continues as the parent/educator now helps the student apply the skills they’ve learned. This usually happens through regular meetings with the student to go through their Gameplanner and binder. This process involves a series of questions and directives. How did you do on your English test? So what comes next? Have you started your rough draft for your history paper? How many points are still available in your math class? Etc. The student does the work and the parent/educator can help by walking him/her through it. Slowly the students will be pulling away and doing more and more of the system on their own. However, the parent/educator should always check in on the student at least once in awhile to see how things are going. How often this needs to happen is dependent on the individual student and how much direction and help they need.
Start Moving and Reward Every TRY!
Coaching and checking the Academic Gameplanner has to be almost feverish at the beginning. It takes 21 days to make a habit. The students are going to mess up, make mistakes, and do things wrong. When a student makes a mistake, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s an underhanded ploy to undermine your authority. After all, summarizing, planning a day, and taking notes aren’t skills that come naturally, but they are necessary skills. There is a difference between not doing the work and doing it poorly. Reward the slightest try, but then correct it. Demonstrate and discuss what should have been done and then have the student try again. Slow, steady improvement is all we are looking for.
Notice the Trend
What Academic Gameplan really gives us is a daily checkpoint to see where each student is. We become aware almost immediately of successes, failures, and difficulties when we coach the system. It’s like watching the market: there are rises and falls, but when you look at it over the long term, the overall trend is up.