Overcoming Test Anxiety

OVERCOMING TEST ANXIETY 

Most students experience some level of anxiety during an exam; however, when anxiety affects exam performance it has become a problem.

Test preparation to reduce anxiety:

• Approach the exam with confidence: Use whatever strategies you can to personalize success: visualization, logic, talking to yourself, practice, team work, journaling, etc. View the exam as an opportunity to show how much you've studied and to receive a reward for the studying you've done.

• Be prepared! Learn your material thoroughly and organize what materials you will need for the test. Use a checklist.

• Choose a comfortable location for taking the test with good lighting and minimal distractions. • Allow yourself plenty of time, especially to do things you need to do before the test and still get there a little early.

• Avoid thinking you need to cram just before.

• Strive for a relaxed state of concentration.

• Avoid speaking with any fellow students who have not prepared, who express negativity, who will distract your preparation.

• A program of exercise is said to sharpen the mind.

• Get a good night's sleep the night before the exam.

• Don't go to the exam with an empty stomach. Fresh fruits and vegetables are often recommended to reduce stress. Stressful foods can include processed foods, artificial sweeteners, carbonated soft drinks, chocolate, eggs, fried foods, junk foods, pork, red meat, sugar, white flour products, chips and similar snack foods, foods containing preservatives or heavy spices.

• Take a small snack, or some other nourishment to help take your mind off of your anxiety. Avoid high sugar content (candy) which may aggravate your condition. During the test:

• Read the directions carefully.

• Budget your test taking time.

• Change positions to help you relax.

• If you go blank, skip the question and go on.

• If you're taking an essay test and you go blank on the whole test, pick a question and start writing. It may trigger the answer in your mind.

• Don't panic when students start handing in their papers. There's no reward for being the first done.

Excerpted from Overcoming test anxiety. Study Guides and Strategies. Retrieved 06/12/2009 from http://www.studygs.net/tstprp8.htm Permission is granted to freely copy, adapt, and distribute individual in print format in noncommercial educational settings that benefit learners.

C-SPAN Student Cam Contest - Due 1/18/2018

StudentCam is C-SPAN's annual national video documentary competition that encourages students to think critically about issues that affect our communities and our nation. 

This year students in grades 6-12 are asked to create a short (5-7 minute) video documentary on a topic related to the new 2018 competition theme, "The Constitution & You: Choose a provision of the U.S. Constitution and create a video illustrating why it's important to you."

With cash prizes totaling $100,000, C-SPAN awards prizes to 150 student documentaries, and 53 teacher advisors. 

For more information, click here.

Brain Health Series: Part 3: Your Brain, Sleep, and Relaxation

Did you know that not getting enough sleep is not healthy for your brain? New research shows that sleeping less than seven or eight hours a night has been linked to cognitive decline, memory loss, and possibly even Alzheimer's disease.

A sleep deficit can have dangerous implications for your brain, and not just because it makes you sleepy during the day. Parts of your brain are several times more active at night than during the daytime. One of them is a newly discovered drainage system called the glymphatic system. This is a bit like your city's sewage and recycling system. Its job is to clear out and recycle all toxins in the brain. One protein actively recycled during sleep is amyloid plaque. This plaque is the hallmark of Alzheimer's. Alzheimer’s disease is caused by many factors, but one of these may also be sleep deprivation.

A University of Pennsylvania study found that extended wakefulness can injure neurons essential for alertness and cognition, and that the damage to these neurons might be permanent. Other studies have led scientists to conclude that chemicals secreted during the deeper stages of sleep are crucial for repairing the body, including the brain.

One of the chemicals involved in creating memories, acetylcholine, is also developed during sleep and dreaming. Brain cells that produce acetylcholine are destroyed in people who are developing Alzheimer’s disease. So, these people do not dream as much.

Relaxation and meditation or mindfulness has been found to be very beneficial to brain and body health.  Deep relaxation and meditation, when practiced regularly not only relieve stress and anxiety but have been found to improve mood. Deep relaxation has many other potential benefits as well—it can decrease blood pressure, relieve pain, and improve your immune and cardiovascular systems

The brain requires substantial downtime to remain industrious and generate its most innovative ideas. According to Tim Kreider, of the New York Times, "Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as indispensable to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of it we suffer a mental affliction as disfiguring as rickets,"

Let’s get a good nights sleep, remember to relax, and meditate. do it all for the health of our brains and become better thinkers in the process!

Sources:

https://healthybrains.org/pillar-sleep/

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mental-downtime

http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/conditions/rest-relaxation-and-exercise

Daily Practice for the New SAT

For more information, please click here.

ENCORE conference: Empowering Students in the Digital Age - 11/11/2017

Webb Middle School is hosting its annual ENCORE conference: Empowering Students in the Digital Age on 11/11/2017 from 8:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.. This year's host is KEYE's Chris Saldaña, a two-time Emmy-winning TV anchor. Programming includes workshops for families, a holiday dinner and a screening of the award-winning "Screenagers." Free and open to the public. For information, contact Margaret Bachicha at 512-414-4196.

East Austin Studio Tour - 11/11-12 and 11/18-19/2017

 

 

For more information, click on this link.

Congressional Essay Contest - Due 12/01/2017

The National Society of Colonial Dames opens annual essay contest for students in grades 10-12. Information at http://nscda.org/student-resources/congressional-essay-contest/ . Essays due 12/01/2017. Contact Jessica Jolliffe (Jessica.jolliffe@austinisd.org) 512-414-4690 with any questions.

• Why did the authors of the United States Constitution give Presidents the power to issue Executive Orders? How did Congress and the Judicial Branch limit these orders?