I developed a small study group that I facilitated in the summer of 2014. I used methods from researching and using all the top ACT/SAT in the country like Kaplan. I used a lot of resources online for practice questions and practice tests. I also used methods that most standardized tests in this country universally agree are the best strategies for preparing to take any test like the ACT. The group I worked with was no bigger than five or smaller than three, but three felt perfect. The group was student focused with just the basic parameters in place to stay on target. I incorporated the idea that I learned as a case manager: When a client (in this case, student) is directly responsible for his/her own case plan or "curriculum," "focus," and "syllabus," he/she is much more likely to follow it and remember it . A person puts more thought and importance in an idea he/she had as opposed to an assigned plan. This went a long way toward reaching the ultimate goal already established by attending the group. I have many more methods I developed during this process working primarily with students with learning disabilities and needing as much stimulus as possible to enhance the learning process.
I did private sessions for all four of the subjects for the ACT as well as course work in a number of different classes (mostly around high school and general education courses in college). I began as an algebra tutor for several of my classmates and took on a 16-year-old homeschooled girl and 40-something woman in algebra that following semester. I found myself with dyslexic high school students and found both to be enlightening, and I learned so much about learning! Currently, I am working on a mini course I call "learning to learn." The philosophy is a mix between our westerners' approach to teaching and learning with critical thinking and Shanghai, China, with the approach that has yielded the highest scores in logic and mathematics in the world. I focus on the students' learning strengths, and together, we learn how to incorporate the power of those strengths into the students' "weaker subjects." There isn't a rule in using the better-honed skills for a subject once thought to not possess or benefit from the particular skills one has the greatest understanding of. The depth of the understanding can far outweigh the usefulness than the overall surface area knowledge.
