The weather in DC over the past couple of weeks has been beautiful. The cherry trees are in bloom, the daffodils are out and temperatures have soared into the 80s. All of this is a recipe for Spring Fever – diagnosed as having trouble focusing on schoolwork, being distracted, and a strong urge to be outside vs. inside hitting the books.
 
The trouble with catching Spring Fever is that school is still in session and it is important to really work the books to get strong grades in the last quarter or semester, depending on your school. So whether you are in elementary, middle or high school – or even if you are a parent who has been distracted by the warm temperatures or college hoops, here are some tips to help you “spring” into action and keep your eye on the ball:
 
1. Before sitting down to study or work, make sure you get some physical exercise first. Experts recommend that you try to get at least 60 minutes a day – so pull out the bike, your running shoes or a Frisbee and the dog and get a daily dose of Vitamin D from the beautiful sunshine. You’ll be able to sit still better after you’ve taken some time outside.
 
2. Start by making a list. Put down all the homework and other tasks you want to accomplish. Prioritize the list and make time estimates for how long each task will take. Make sure you do the top priority items first – not necessarily the items that take the least amount of time. If you have a big project – break it into smaller chunks. It will be easier to tackle this way.
 
3. Next, get rid of distractions! Find a quiet place to study and turn off other electronics. Turn off your cell phone and the television – and if using a computer to do homework, close applications like Facebook that can be tempting and take you away from your work.
 
4. Work on one project or task at a time and when you have it completed; enjoy the satisfaction of crossing it off your list!
 
5. Schedule short breaks every 20-30 minutes. It’s hard for anyone to stay focused for a long time. Reward yourself with a short break after completing 30 minutes of hard work. Working with a small clock and setting an alarm will help remind you it’s time to get up and stretch.
 
6. Finally, don’t sweat the small stuff! Do the best you can do – and if you don’t get everything done, put it at the top of the list the next day. You don’t have to do everything perfectly – but, be satisfied that you’ve done the best that you can.
 
One of the best remedies for Spring Fever is the corresponding Spring Break – so make sure you really enjoy this time off. Take time to smell the flowers and you’ll come back relaxed and refreshed and ready to make that last push to the end of the school year.

Everyone is familiar with the popular lament “My dog ate my homework!” It seems this problem is reaching epic proportions – even with families who don’t own a dog. That’s right – a common issue is students not completing and/or turning in their homework. The fact I find fascinating is the high number of students who do their homework, they just fail to turn it in when they return to school the next day. Sound familiar?
 
Despite this growing trend, experts don’t agree on what might be the underlying problem. Some feel this is an executive function problem in the brain. The executive functioning portion of the brain is responsible for performing activities such as planning, organizing and paying attention to and remembering details. Others suggest this might be an issue of students trying to win a power struggle with adults, as in “no one is going to tell me when to do my homework.” Other reasons might include issues with perfectionism (e.g., “My homework is done, but not to the level I want.”), children seeking attention (even if it is negative attention), or an overall lack of motivation.
 
Depending on the underlying reason for not turning in homework, there are things parents can do to help reduce or eliminate this problem, especially if the problem is related to trouble with executive function. Here are some tips:
 

Some teachers have found that it helps if students take personal responsibility for not turning in their homework. Barbara De Santis, a fifth-grade teacher in New Jersey has students not turning in their homework fill out a form (Pink Slip) that explains why they are missing their homework. Teachers like De Santis using this form have a higher percentage homework turn in rate than teachers who don’t use this approach.
 
Each child is different, and it takes some detective work to understand why your child may not be completing or turning in their homework. But while gathering clues, take a look at your veterinary bill. If your dog has been free of stomach ailments, chances are, the dog didn’t eat it.
 

This year President’s Day will be observed Monday, February 20, and although the holiday falls near the birthdays of both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, the official holiday was not designed to honor any specific President, but the office of the President itself. However, when it comes to leadership, it is hard to match the leadership qualities possessed by both Washington and Lincoln, as they led our country during extremely difficult periods in our country’s history.
 
George Washington, the Father of our Country and Commander in Chief of the United Colonies, was a leader and a visionary. It has been said that George Washington may not have possessed the greatest intelligence himself, but he knew when to rely on others. After formulating and communicating his vision (including both short- and long-range goals) people were ready to follow him because of his impeccable character, trustworthiness, and charisma. He was loyal, organized, and persistent. He had outstanding morals and character and he gave credit to those who deserved it. Most importantly, Washington knew how to learn from his mistakes. Of the nine battles in which he fought, he only won three, but by learning from his mistakes he prepared for the most important battle, the Battle of Yorktown. Washington teaches us many leadership lessons, and maybe most importantly, that it is through our defeats we learn to prepare for our future victories.
 
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, led our country through the devastating American Civil War; a war that threatened to tear our country apart. Despite these challenges, Lincoln persevered because of his amazing array of leadership qualities. He was a powerful leader, sharing both the credit for things that went well, and the blame for things that didn’t. Lincoln also had a great sense of humor and he understood the importance of laughter, relaxing and having fun. Also, like Washington, Abraham Lincoln was an expert at sharing and communicating his vision so others might follow. Lincoln knew that a key element to building and communicating his vision was to surround himself with people of different beliefs and ideas. One of my favorite Lincoln quotes is “I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.”
 
It’s hard to pinpoint the combination of factors that went into making Washington and Lincoln the outstanding leaders they were, but scientific evidence points to the fact that most leaders are made and not necessarily born leaders. Business executives have long recognized the importance of leadership development and training. This is why I am so excited to announce ThoughtLink’s new Leadership Certification Program for high school students. The program will be held over 5 Sunday afternoon sessions from 2-5 pm at the Vienna Community Center in Vienna, VA. The dates for the sessions are April 1, 15, 22 and May 6 and 20. The program uses a nationally-proven curriculum that helps prepare teens for a future of success and excellence. Some of the Rising Stars curriculum includes these topics: Understanding Leadership, Goal Setting, Time Management, Motivation and How to Lead Others. The cost of the program is $699 if you register before March 17 and $749 after that date. Registration closes March 30.
 
The world needs more leaders like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and we are looking for outstanding high school students in the DC area to be tomorrow’s leaders. We hope you and your high school-aged students take advantage of this exciting program. To register, call 703-281-5694 or e-mail us at Leadership Registration today.

No matter what your age (young or old) or your profession (student or professional) there are probably ideas to help you manage your time better. Here are some quick ideas to consider to improve your time management:
 

 
As Stephen R. Covey, the author of “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” has said, “The key is in not spending time, but in investing it.” Invest it wisely!
 

 We live in crazy, busy times and no one seems more affected than today’s kids. Between band practice, sports commitments, club and team meetings, keeping up with social media, oh yea, and homework – your kids might be thinking they face the same predicament as the poet Robert Frost … they have promises to keep, and miles to go before they sleep. However, recent scientific studies on how sleep affects learning and the brain may have you, and your kids, reprioritizing the time allotted to a good night’s sleep.
 
If you want your kids to do well in school, here are some tips:
 

 
We all know that being sleep deprived can make us tired and irritable but the negative effects are more serious than being snappy and petulant – missing critical hours of shut-eye can shrink the temporal lobe of the brain (the region critical to memory), produce higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol, decrease overall IQ and impair the brain’s hippocampus, the region responsible for spatial memory. Mark Mahowald of the Minnesota Medical School reports that sleep deprivation can be equally as impairing as having legally intoxicating blood alcohol levels.
 
Many authorities agree that sleep enhances brain connections and students who get a good night’s sleep before an exam will benefit much more than pulling an all-nighter. Sleep is essential for life. Studies show that people who routinely get less than six hours of sleep a night have a shorter life expectancy.
 
While we while away the hours in our dreams, the body is busy dividing cells, synthesizing tissues, releasing growth hormones, and building learning and memory functions in the brain. Of all the body parts that require sleep, it appears the brain requires sleep more than any other part of the body.
 
So take my advice and have your kids sleep tight, and as my mother always told me, “Don’t let the bedbugs bite.”
 
Sweet Dreams!

Everyone has experienced some level of anxiety while taking a test (especially if you haven’t studied effectively). Here are three quick tips to remember before worrying over that next test:
 
A – Avoid Cramming: Trying to squeeze in those last bits of information before an exam can sometimes have a negative result; those tidbits of information swallowed right before a test can actually work against you.
 
B – Be Prepared: The best way to avoid test anxiety is to know the materials. Make sure you have a study plan and you use a checklist to ensure you’ve covered the materials on the test
 
C – Confidence: This is your most important weapon against text anxiety. Use techniques like visualizing yourself acing the test, journaling about your fears or concerns, or giving yourself a pep talk.
 
These ABCs – along with a good night’s sleep will help you go a long way to doing better on your tests!

“Your mind is your instrument. Learn to be its master and not its slave.” ~ Remez Sasson
 
I recently returned from a 6-day silent yoga and mindfulness meditation retreat.  For people who know me, they know that for me to be quiet for 6 days, itself, is a miracle.  But, actually, the silent part wasn’t the most difficult.  What was hard was getting my mind to be silent.  Boy, if you think I’m noisy, you should hear all the voices in my head when they get together!  But, I managed to survive and I learned a lot about myself and meditation too.
 
What I realized at the end of the retreat is that you don’t have to become a Mediation Master or attend a 6-day retreat to reap the benefits of meditation.  The retreat instructor, Bhante Rahuna, talked of the simple task of having a few M&Ms every day (Mindfulness Minutes).  And who doesn’t like M&Ms?  These M&Ms melt in your mind, not in your hand.
 
First a definition.  Meditation is a practice used to relax the body and calm the mind by becoming more aware of the present moment.  There are many types of meditation, but mindfulness meditation (the form I will be discussing here) focuses on becoming present to your thoughts; acknowledging and observing (but not judging) those thoughts as they arise. Mindfulness meditation is generally done in a seated position with your eyes closed, focusing on your own slow, natural breaths.  The next step is to be mindful of what your body feels, what you hear, maybe even what you smell (if the windows are open or if someone is baking cookies).
 
The reason I’m writing about mindfulness meditation on ThoughtLink’s Cyber Tiger Blog is that I believe there are many benefits for students who practice mindfulness meditation.  The benefits of meditation are long and it is easy to see how these relate to students.  A few of the benefits include:
 

• Lowering stress
• Improving memory and learning abilities
• Bettering sleep
• Improving concentration
• Reducing moodiness
• Increasing self-esteem
• Developing a more optimistic/positive outlook
• Enhancing confidence

 
What’s not to like about these benefits?
 
Meditation started thousands of years ago.  Some researchers believe meditation was first practiced by primitive hunters while staring at a fire.  There is also evidence of meditation from Indian scriptures 5,000 years ago.  One of meditations most famous evangelists was Buddha who spread the teaching of meditation across the Asian continent around 500 BC.  Over the years, meditation has grown away from having a religious connotation and focused more on the benefits from quieting the mind.  Today, anyone with any belief system can benefit from mindfulness.
 
With the plethora of technology, from television to computers, from cell phones and texting to Facebook and Tweeting, it’s a good idea to “unplug” and connect with ourselves for a while without all the lights and noise.
 
Meditation is simple.  Just take a minute, close your eyes, breathe deeply and be aware of your body and surroundings.  The easiest way to focus is to be aware of your breath. Breath slowly and deeply and be aware of the thoughts that come to mind.  Just taking a minute or two to slow down, breathe deeply and relax your mind and body can do wonders.
 

The origins of the children’s story about the little engine that pulled a stranded train over difficult terrain aren’t exactly clear, but the story is believed to have first appeared around 1906.  Although there have been many iterations of this tale, the underlying theme is always the same.
 
In the story, a long train of freight cars needs to be pulled up and over a steep hill. When the train cars ask the larger engines to make the trip, they all make up excuses about why the job is too difficult.  They won’t even try.  But, when the much smaller, little blue engine is asked, he replies “I think I can!” and it is this attitude that pulls the chain of train cars up and over the difficult incline.
 
A person’s belief about their capabilities to achieve a goal is called Self-Efficacy.  Albert Bandura of Stanford University has done a great deal of research on self-efficacy  and he describes how a person with high self-efficacy will take on greater risks, have higher motivation and recover more quickly after failures or setbacks.  People with low self-efficacy, on the other hand, avoid difficult tasks and can become stressed or depressed after not accomplishing a goal.
 
It is easy to see how having a high self-efficacy would be beneficial to a student, especially a student in a highly competitive environment.  So what can parents, teachers and tutors do to help raise a students’ self-belief?  Here are some suggestions based on Bandura’s research:
 
1)      Expose students to many experiences where they overcome obstacles and succeed after significant effort: To build one’s sense of self-efficacy, they must see that hard work can lead to success.  If success is always quick and easy they can be easily discouraged by failure.  On the other hand, if tasks are too difficult and a student faces too many failures, this can have a negative effect on their self-belief.  It is important to identify areas where mastery can be obtained (with effort).  This helps build a sense of resiliency.  An interesting sidebar is that many authors of literary classics were rejected countless times before being published but with high degrees of self-efficacy, they did not let these failures stall their desire to be published.
 
2)      Introduce students to vicarious experiences of success: It is important for students to see peers with similar capabilities succeed.    By seeing people similar to them reach their goals it raises their belief that they have what it takes to succeed as well.  The more the student believes there is a similarity in their skills and capabilities, the more these vicarious experiences can raise their belief in themselves.
 
3)      Build a Student’s Confidence with Verbal Persuasion:  If students are told by people they admire and respect, that they have the capabilities to master a challenge, they can be bolstered to try harder.  When others believe in the student, the student will in turn believe in himself.  Students should also realize that their accomplishments are being measured against their own achievements and not others.
 
4)      Reduce stress and encourage a positive mood: How someone interprets their emotional state can relate to their self-efficacy.  A person with high self-efficacy may interpret a high state of arousal as energizing whereas a person with low self-efficacy may interpret that state as feeling stressed.  It is important how a person perceives their emotional and physical reactions to a situation.  The more a person can view these states as positive, the more it can play a positive role on their self-belief.  Having learning experiences by challenging but fun can be a valuable key.

 
 
There is a growing body of research that indicates a relationship with a student’s self-efficacy and their academic performance.  ThoughtLink realizes the value in having high self-efficacy tutors.  These tutors believe in the student’s ability to attain their goals and work on creating the optimum environment for high student achievement.
 

Welcome to the new ThoughtLink! After 15 years conducting research and training for the U.S. government and non-governmental agencies, ThoughtLink is making a big change! We are excited to announce that ThoughtLink is changing our focus. We are now an academic tutoring, skills coaching and leadership training company for students (grades 6-12).
 
The reason we’re making this change? We saw a need and we want to make a difference.
 
Do you remember a teacher who made a difference in your life? For me, there were many teachers and role models who helped give me confidence, taught me life skills, and made me believe I could achieve whatever I wanted to achieve if I worked hard. Some of the teachers who stand out in my memory are Mr. Brooks – my 6th grade teacher who made me feel like I was special, Mrs. Davidson who taught me to get over the fear of talking in public with her “two-minute talks”, Mr. Nelson and Mr. Marzo – my junior high biology teachers who taught me I wouldn’t die if I did something I hated (like dissecting a frog), and Mrs. Collins – my honors English teacher – who encouraged me to go after what I really wanted in life. These teachers did more than teach their subject areas – they connected with me and made a positive difference in my life; a difference I appreciate now more than ever.
 
In today’s academic world, students sometimes feel lost in the system. In addition, there is an alarmingly high attrition rate in teachers, teacher’s administrative requirements are overwhelming, and students are held back with other children with standardized testing and the focus on no child left behind. In addition, the advent of social media, the Internet, television and other distractions make it difficult for students to manage their time and prioritize what they can do to really make them thrive.
 
ThoughtLink’s tutoring and coaching is built around developing an understanding of your child’s needs. We conduct a multi-level assessment to assess what is causing your child to struggle. Our one-on-one sessions are tailored to match your child’s needs.
 
We hope you enjoy ThoughtLink’s new web site. We’ll be posting tips and resources that can help your child, along with our Cyber Tiger Blog that offers in-depth ideas on how you might improve your child’s academic and life success.
 
All of us at ThoughtLink want your children to reach their full potential. We believe your children will make a difference in the world tomorrow, and we hope to make a difference in their lives today.

Stanford University School of Medicine released a study that shows a link between listening to music and learning.  The study used functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, to show the areas of the brain that were activated while listening to 18th-century composers.  The results showed the music engaged areas of the brain involved with making predictions, paying attention and committing details to memory.  This study focused on Classical music which appears to be significant to the findings.

Playing a musical instrument has also been shown to also be beneficial to learning.  A study by Northwestern University showed if students are engaged with musical sounds their brain’s neuroplasticity and nervous systems are enhanced.  Music might not be for everyone, but, why not give it a try.  Next time you are studying – go to www.pandora.com and try the Mozart channel!