This may be some bad news for our Simply Charly readers that are heading off to college in the fall…an article in the US News & World Report suggests that it may be best for your grades if you are an early bird and take your classes in the morning. According to research collected after surveying 824 psychology students about their sleep habits, those that were the better performers were the ones who had not stayed up until the early hours of the morning and slept until afternoon.

The article does provide tips to develop good sleeping habits for those of you who are simply not morning people:

• Be consistent - Make the attempt to go to bed and awake at the same time every day, even on weekends and in the summer. 
• Become a morning person - Two to three weeks before the semester starts, begin getting up and out of the house. Exposing yourself to the sunlight helps set your internal clock.
• Schedule your classes with care - Be aware that you are likely to turn into an evening person when you go to college. Don’t schedule 8am classes just because you are used to getting up early for high school…that will likely change. Give yourself time to get adjusted.
• Compensate - If you do have early classes, schedule some time in the afternoon to study, while you are still fully awake. Don’t wait until the evening, when you will likely be tired or have other activities scheduled. And avoid all night study sessions.

Being a freshman in college is very different from being a senior in high school. The freedom and independence may hit you all at once and can be overwhelming. The key is to be in control of the situation and arrange your schedule in the way that best fits you.

Happy learning!

From TEDTalks:

Ben Dunlap shares the story of Sandor Teszler, a Hungarian man he met at Wofford College. Listen as he weaves the tale of Mr. Teszler’s life, arcing from the Holocaust to the South in the 50’s…it is a wonderful tale of passion, and justice, and living your life.

About Mr. Dunlap:

Ben Dunlap was a dancer for four years with the Columbia City Ballet, kicking off a life of artistic and cultural exploration. A Rhodes Scholar, he did his PhD in English literature at Harvard, and is now the president of Wofford College, a small liberal arts school in South Carolina. He has taught classes on a wide variety of subjects, from Asian history to creative writing.

He’s also a writer-producer for television, and his 19-part series The Renaissance has been adopted for use by more than 100 colleges. He has been a Senior Fulbright Lecturer in Thailand and a moderator at the Aspen Institute.

Happy learning!

According to an article in Time, students in a rural New Mexico school have been equipped with mp3 players in an effort to incorporate a new tool into the classroom. The mp3 players will allow the students to watch videos and listen to lectures recommended by the teachers and other students. The students are encouraged to link up during class hours, on their bus rides to and from school, and while they are on school trips.

We all know this as podcasting, and this experiment is an agreement between the school and Microsoft. The teachers get a bonus for lessons that identify 20 downloadable lectures that support what they are teaching in class and for developing 5 of their own. Microsoft is collecting data on how the study works, and also gets to showcase their brand to the schools. 

Of course, with an mp3 player comes responsibility. The students had to agree to not download anything that would be offensive and adhere to the “grandma rule”: don’t download anything that their grandmothers would find inappropriate. The teachers have designated certain areas, “no mp3 player” zones, and students must turn off their players when asked.

Bravo to this community for incorporating another tool into the learning process!

Happy learning!

Summertime is sometimes equated with picking up a good book and losing yourself in another world; a bit of escape perhaps from the day-to-day rat race that is life. You may wish to delve into a classic, or you may be more interested in the newest thriller or romance novel. Whatever your fancy, the choices are endless!

Classics

A book is considered a classic if it is written over fifty years ago and many people enjoyed it. The book has stood the test of time regarding relevance, and can be enjoyed by people of all ages. Mark Twain said that “a classic is a book which everyone praises but no one reads.” Whatever the case, the choices are many…here are some to choose from:

• The Good Earth - Pearl Buck
• Don Quixote - Miquel de Cervantes
• Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
• Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
• Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
• To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee
• Song of Solomon - Toni Morrison

Modern Classics

There is such a thing as a modern classic, which basically means that the book is not as old as a classic, but it’s significance is just as celebrated. 

• Another Country - James Baldwin
• Cry The Beloved Country - Alan Paton
• Catcher In The Rye - J. D. Salinger
• The Color Purple - Alice Walker
• One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

source: http://www.wcl.govt.nz/popular/fiction-classics.html

New Releases

But maybe you are not up for going back in time…that’s alright. You have your choices of new books that are released weekly…too many to name here. From the latest James Patterson thriller to Randy Pausch’s motivational self-help book, you are sure to find something that will hold your interest. Check out your favorite bookstore and pick up a book (or a couple of books!) that you can lose yourself in. Give into the joy of reading a good book, and maybe learn something new in the process!

Happy learning!