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Granite Test Prep

Mindfulness for Academic Achievement

Author : Grantly

How Students Write: Why Artificial Intelligence WILL Break English Class

Education Technology Grantly

Introduction to Artificial Intelligence Writing Tools:

I recently went in search of new writing tools. I wanted something more simple and stripped down than Google Docs. In my search, I stumbled into a strange world of artificial intelligence word processing. These apps claimed to write the majority of your essays, blog posts, or research papers for you, leaving you as a pilot guiding artificial intelligence. Hoping to understand what this technology might mean for education, I chose Jasper.Ai, widely recognized as the most sophisticated and best in the market.

As I plunged deeper into the topic of artificial intelligence writing tools, I realized that students all over the world were using tools like Jasper.AI to write their research papers and essays. I became fascinated with the reality that artificial intelligence might completely reshape if not break our contemporary view of English classes at both the middle/high school and college levels.

Using Jasper.AI to Write an “Essay”

Having recently supported a student in writing an AP environmental science paper, on global climate change, I decided to see if Jasper.AI could have written a similar paper. Specifically, I chose to write a paper on the consequences of global climate change.

After filling out some basic information about the nature of the essay (see image), I was able to use Jasper.Ai to write an introduction on a brief history of global climate change. In the absence of artificial intelligence tools, this is typically how I would recommend a student begin writing a simple five-paragraph essay.

As I plunged deeper into the topic of artificial intelligence writing tools, I realized that students all over the world were using tools like Jasper.AI to write their research papers and essays. I became fascinated with the reality that artificial intelligence might completely reshape if not break our contemporary view of English classes at both the middle/high school and college levels.

Jasper.Ai Essay on Global Climate Change

When prompted to write a brief history of global climate change, Jasper.AI‘s artificial intelligence was able to write the following:

“The beginning of global warming can be traced back to the late 1800s when the Industrial Revolution began. Burning coal and oil to produce energy released large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. This caused the Earth’s temperature to rise, which in turn led to global warming.”

Jasper.Ai TRY IT

While not the type of writing I might expect from a college student, I thought this output was very acceptable for high-school-level writing; I was generally impressed. Additionally, Jasper.AI has plagiarism detection tools, so I felt confident that this writing was not merely a snippet from another copyrighted article.

To thoroughly ensure that no plagiarism or intellectual property theft occurred, I took the entire paragraph and searched it on Google. Sure enough, this was not an exact replica of anything that had ever been written before.

This posed an interesting intellectual challenge to my personal notion of plagiarism. We often think of plagiarism as a “theft of someone else’s ideas, specifically in the absence of one’s own”. Now, however, we have an absence of one’s own ideas, because they are sourced from artificial intelligence; however, we are not actually stealing intellectual property from another human.

I continued my five-paragraph essay by manually writing my own thesis statement:

Thesis Statement

“If left unchecked, the consequences of global climate change could be countless; however, three particularly salient problems we as a society would face include the destruction of coastal property, increased cost of food, and decreased water quality.”

Grantly Neely

I chose to manually write the thesis statement (instead of letting . write it) because I wanted to have control over determining the “3 Salient problems”. I’m sure Jasper.AI would have been more than happy to have chosen a thesis for me.

Having completed my thesis, I let Jasper.AI get back to work. Prompting Jasper to write my first “body paragraph”, the artificial intelligence writing algorithm produced the following paragraph.

Body Paragraph #1

“Destruction of coastal property would be one major consequence of global climate change. As the Earth’s temperature rises, the ice caps melt and cause sea levels to rise. This puts low-lying coastal areas at risk for flooding and other damage from severe weather events. According to a study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “Global sea level has risen by about 8 inches since 1880. It is projected to rise another 1 to 4 feet by 2100.” This would have a devastating impact on coastal communities around the world. In the United States alone, it is estimated that “by 2030, rising seas will threaten $1 trillion in property and displace 13 million people.”

Jasper.Ai TRY IT

I was immediately struck by a few elements of this paragraph. First, Jasper.AI had managed not only to add complete sentences, but it had managed to also include something of a citation (two specifically). Having some background in artificial intelligence, I felt confident A.I. would be able to write complete sentences; however, that it was also able to do some form of rudimentary research (and citation) was frankly shocking. I was most fascinated by the fact that Jasper.AI was able to not only find relevant supporting evidence, but it was able to attribute the evidence’s source. At this point, however, I was still not confident that the fact was correct or, maybe more importantly, that they were properly attributed.

Hoping to ensure that Jasper.AI was not simply making up facts, I began with a Google search “Global sea level has risen by about 8 inches since 1880. It is projected to rise another 1 to 4 feet by 2100.”

Checking Artificial Intelligence Citations

In searching the above quote with an “exact string match” in google (searching only for results that perfectly fit the text), I was able to find six instances of this quote. Specifically, it seems that this quote was actually sourced from a February 13, 2013 briefing for the US Senate Environment and Public Works Committee by Dr. Donald Wuebbles, Professor and Atmospheric Scientist, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois. More specifically, the research used in Dr. Weubble’s statements was sourced from A 20th-century acceleration in global sea‐level rise a 2006 article by John A. Church – Church, John A., and Neil J. White. “A 20th-century acceleration in global sea‐level rise.” Geophysical research letters 33, no. 1 (2006). Needless to say, this quote was certainly not lifted directly from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. While the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration does write about sea-level rise, generally, the quote cannot be attributed to them. Students working with Jasper.AI technology will need to be incredibly careful to ensure that all of their direct quotes are properly sourced and attributed; you can read more on this in the “notes for teachers” section below.

The Jasper.Ai artificial intelligence yielded the following as our next body paragraph: 

Body Paragraph #2

“In addition to the destruction of property, global climate change would also lead to increased cost of food. As the Earth’s temperature rises, it creates a number of problems for agriculture. Extreme weather events like droughts and floods become more common, which can damage crops. Pests and diseases are also able to spread more easily in warmer climates. All of these factors lead to decreased crop yields and higher food prices. The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that ‘by 2050, global crop yields could decline by 2% per decade as a result of climate change.’”

Jasper.Ai TRY IT

Once again, we have an incorrect citation, namely the statistic associated with the United Nations intergovernmental panel on climate change. I was not able to find this exact statistic used in any IPPC work; however, this statistic does seem to be a widely agreed-upon number.

This is yet again a situation where students need to be incredibly careful not to leave this artificial intelligence-generated citation in his or her paper. Instead, the student should opt to see this as an example of a hypothetical citation they could include, and instead find an actual citation in the literature and cite it properly.

Our last “body paragraph” yielded the following:

Body Paragraph #3

Finally, another major consequence of global climate change is decreased water quality. Warmer temperatures lead to increased evaporation, which means that there is less fresh water available for drinking, irrigation, and other uses. In addition, warmer temperatures also lead to more algae growth in lakes and rivers. This can lead to decreased water quality and even create toxic algal blooms that are dangerous for humans and animals.

Jasper.Ai TRY IT

This artificial intelligence paragraph doesn’t include any incorrect citations (or any citations for that matter). I would encourage my students to use this type of output as “just the beginning”, offering a bit of inspiration for the final section of the paper (an opportunity to let go of some writer’s block). I would not consider this paragraph to be detailed enough or specific enough on its own, and I would therefore encourage students to continue researching climate change and its link to water quality. Once a student had completed additional research, I would encourage the student to rewrite the artificial intelligence-generated paragraph by integrating his or her own citations.

The Jasper.Ai artificial intelligence generated “conclusion paragraph” was the following:

Conclusion Paragraph

Global climate change is a major problem that we face as a society. If we do not take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the consequences will be catastrophic. We must act now to protect our planet for future generations. The three main points of this essay are the destruction of coastal property, increased cost of food, and decreased water quality. These are all major problems that we would face if global climate change is not stopped.

Jasper.Ai TRY IT

This artificial intelligence paragraph doesn’t include any incorrect citations (or any citations for that matter). I would encourage my students to use this type of output as “just the beginning”, offering a bit of inspiration for the final section of the paper (an opportunity to let go of some writer’s block). I would not consider this paragraph to be detailed enough or specific enough on its own, and I would therefore encourage students to continue researching climate change and its link to water quality. Once a student had completed additional research, I would encourage the student to rewrite the artificial intelligence-generated paragraph by integrating his or her own citations.

The Jasper.Ai artificial intelligence generated “conclusion paragraph” was the following:

Notes to Students

To any students reading this article, I would advise you to be careful and curious when using artificial intelligence writing software. careful because so many of our current professions demand constant writing. if you are passively engaging with the writing process, allowing artificial intelligence to write your entire essay, you won’t ever improve in your writing and you will make yourself fairly useless in most white-collar careers.

As you can see, from both my video and the section above, artificial intelligence (just like humans) makes lots of mistakes when it writes! If you never learn how to write and edit for yourself, you will never be able to effectively use artificial intelligence.

I would encourage you to think about working with artificial intelligence just like you would think about working with a friend on homework. When Jasper.Ai outputs a paragraph, think of it as simply asking a friend “hey how would you write this paragraph”. You would never want to submit your friend’s paragraph as your own work. Instead, you’d want to look at the paragraph, suggest edits, modify sentences, and add citations that you felt were exciting.

Remember that at the end of the day the point of school is to learn skills that will make you more successful in anything that you want to do. accordingly, if you find yourself ever using any technology simply as a way of “getting around” an assignment, you are missing an opportunity to improve yourself and your future.

Notes to Teachers

Many teachers are incredibly frustrated about artificial intelligence entering their classrooms, and justifiably so. Artificial intelligence stands to fully subvert the intention hard-working teachers have in helping their students improve. I would encourage teachers to begin by being transparent with their students, explaining that these Technologies do exist, but the goal of all assignments in class is to improve our skills so that we can achieve our goals. No matter what goal we want to pursue, writing will be critically important. You can share the following with your students:

Motivation

“If you want to be a professional athlete, you need to know how to review and edit contracts and endorsement deals to maximize how much you earn.

“If you want to be a fashion designer, you need to know how to right about your work to gain media attention and influence.”

“If you want to be a billionaire banker, you will need to know how to read and write in detail about businesses.”

“If you want to be an influencer you will need to write incredibly convincing sales copy to endorse products.”

Grantly Neely
If you find any students who are convinced that their profession will not require them to have any independent writing skills please have them leave a comment on this article or on the YouTube video; I would love to thoroughly discuss the matter with them.

Assignment Style

A surefire way to stop your students from mindlessly copy-pasting artificial intelligence writing output is to require detailed MLA citations. As I demonstrated in the first section, artificial intelligence is able to write sentences; however, it’s not able to do research and synthesize ideas.

Instructing students to craft an entire Essay with artificial intelligence, and then go back retroactively adding citations and editing the writing, could be a very useful assignment.

When working with students on writing, I often find that the biggest barrier they face is an unwillingness to edit their own work. Generally, this is out of pride. Students aren’t comfortable with the idea that their sentences might not have been perfect the first time. However, if students are able to edit work generated by artificial intelligence, they will not suffer the same “ ego hit”, while learning to become talented editors.

Granite Test Prep wins 2021 NEXT Award

Uncategorized Grantly

GRANITE® TEST PREP wins at NEXT Awards 2021

We are thrilled to announce that GRANITE® Test Prep has been named the NEXT Awards 2021 Emerging Products and Services Winner. It is such an honor to be recognized in a city of so many brilliant, talented, and innovative entrepreneurs.

We firmly believe that this award serves as evidence that Granite is home to some of the cities most talented educators and that our methodology (Mindfulness for Academic Achievement®) is a critical innovation in the field of education.

We would like to thank the EC for organizing this lovely event and the Schermerhorn Symphony Center for hosting the event. Additionally, we would like to congratulate both the 2021 Hall of Fame inductees: Leatrice McKissack, Lucius E. Burch, III, The Honorable Phil Bredesen, and Trisha Yearwood as well as our fellow 2021 NEXT award winners!

Grantly Neely receives 2021 Next Award
Tricia Yearwood at 2021 Next Awards
Alden, Diana, and Grantly Neely at 2021 Next Awards
2021 Next Awards
Grantly Neely at 2021 NEXT Awards
mckissack family at 2021 Next awards
2021 Next Awards at the Schermerhorn
2021 Next Awards
Phil Bredesen at 2021 Next Awards
Lucius Burch III at Next Awards

Top 6 Test-Optional Tricks and Hacks for 2021 and 2022

College Planning, Test Prep Grantly

#1 Understand School's Motivation

The appearance of exclusivity, rather than the development of an intellectually and spiritually enriching environment for students, is frequently what drives the adoption of test-optional policies. Yale’s application rate, for instance, went up 33-percent this year, and its introduction of a test-optional application must have been largely responsible. And, as noted in the New York Times, “with low scores out of the tabulation, the average test score — reported to U.S. News & World Report for its all-important rankings — rises”. 

New York University is another helpful case study in a willfully misleading test-optional policy. The 85,000 NYU applicants for the fall of 2018 were not required to submit test scores, but of the 6,700 students who enrolled, 4,277 submitted SAT scores and 1,796 submitted ACT scores. This allowed the university to boast that this incoming class was their “most selective in history,” having neatly cut their acceptance rate in half from what it had been in 2015 (from 31% to 15%).

#2 Explain Your Circumstances

Admissions officers are more likely to consider an application without test scores from underprivileged students who faced nearly impossible obstacles. Consider the story of JoEllen Soucier: her parents never received a high school education, her father disappeared when she was five, and when she was sixteen she was without a home at all. Thanks to her resolution and to financial aid, JoEllen went on to earn “a bachelor’s degree in business, two master’s degrees and is well on her way to earning her doctorate in higher education”. For students in similar positions of financial hardship, or ones who have, say, a documented learning difference, a test-optional application can be a good choice. Of course, many of the largest and most direct scholarships are granted through ACT or SAT scores. If you need money for college, try and figure out how much your current scores could get you. Check out “How Much Money is One ACT Point Worth” to learn more about this!

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#3 Analyze Your Score

In deciding whether a standardized test score will benefit one’s application, it is helpful to look at the school’s admission data if it’s available. The middle 50 percent of the accepted students for Princeton’s class of 2024, for example, scored 740-800 on SAT Math, 710-800 on SAT evidence-based Reading and Writing, and 32-36 on the ACT. A student whose test scores fall comfortably within those ranges could only benefit from sending it in with her application, especially at a selective school like Princeton. As Jed Applerouth has speculated, “Students who do have strong scores are probably going to stand out a little more in this year,” since many other applicants will provide no scores at all.  But if a student’s score falls significantly below this average, it would of course be better not to let the school see it, though one would then be relying heavily on a high-school record, including extracurriculars, which would need to be exemplary. The decision to omit standardized test scores would make sense only for students with a disparity between their school performance and their testing performance (e.g. a student with straight A’s and a 16 on the ACT).

Boost Your ACT® Score

#4 Think About Finances

There are a host of scholarships given directly for ACT® or SAT® scores. That is not to say that you cannot earn scholarships without an ACT® or SAT®, however, these tests can serve as a very easy way to earn extra scholarship dollars. Here at Granite, we calculated that for each point your ACT score increases you can expect an averages scholarship increase of $8,451!

Maximize Your Scholarship

#5 Analyze Your Grades

In the absence of standardized test scores, colleges and universities will rely more heavily on your high school GPA. Accordingly, if your GPA is very high and your test scores are markedly low, it might be a good idea to consider applying test-optional. The table below offers a general comparison between high school GPA and ACT. This is based on an unweighted 4.0 GPA scale. 

Boost Your GPA

ACT Score

GPA (4.0 Unweighted)

36

4.0

34

3.95

32

3.9

30

3.8

28

3.6

26

3.4

24

3.2

22

3.0

20

3.0

18

2.8

16

2.6

14

2.4

12

2.0

10

1.8

#6 Identify “Student Type”

If you are in the small portion of students who have received likely letters (or another form of early admissions acknowledgment), it can be worth reaching out to the admissions office and inquiring about the need for standardized tests. Many star athletes and significant donor families (donations above 1 million in the last five years) have found that standardized tests were not needed for their admissions.

BONUS TIP!

Another consideration to keep in mind when deciding whether or not to take a standardized test is one’s future career. Many employers, especially when dealing with job applicants who are entering the workforce right after college, will ask for standardized test scores. Though there is debate around whether SAT and ACT scores can predict job performance, they will likely be required for careers in finance and consulting.

Mindfulness-Based ACT Prep for The Boys and Girls Club

Events, Test Prep Grantly

Mindfulness-Based ACT Prep for The Boys and Girls Club

Grantly
May 4, 2021

We are so excited to bring Granite’s Mindfulness-Based ACT® Prep Program to the Boys and Girls Club of Middle TN for the Summer of 2021! 

Program Overview

Boys and Girls Club members will have the opportunity to take part in a two month comprehensive ACT prep program. Our team of educators will host in-person classes three times per week. Sessions will include english, math, reading, science, and (of course) Mindfulness For Academic Achievement! Club members will also have access to Granite’s ACT Everything App (a mindfulness-based ACT® prep app). Finally, Boys and Girls club members will have the opportunity to take part in two fully proctored official ACT® Tests. Boys and Girls Club administrators (and students) will then have access to a rich suite of statistics overviewing student success! 

Live Classes

Our team of educators will host in-person classes three times per week. Sessions will include english, math, reading, science, and (of course) Mindfulness For Academic Achievement!

Mindfulness-Based Software

Club members will also have access to Granite's ACT Everything App (a mindfulness-based ACT® prep app).

Proctored ACT®

Boys and Girls club members will have the opportunity to take part in two fully proctored official ACT® Tests.

GRANITE® Overview

At Granite®, our test prep services are powered by a “mindfulness-centric” holistic approach. Students are encouraged to go beyond simply memorizing test content and learn how stress reduction, focus training, and test taking strategy will help them perform at the highest level.

At Granite®, we cover the academic fundamentals of your test (math, grammar, reading, science, quantitive reasoning, etc..), but we also offer students the opportunity to learn how to excel at Test Taking Intangibles®: test day diet, sleeping to score well, meditation and relaxation to reduce test anxiety, focus training to boost attention, and much more. At Granite®, we like to call this Mindfulness for Academic Achievement®!

At Granite®, we encourage our students to think about test taking as an athlete might think about an event, considering how both mind and body can work together to perform at the highest level.

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How to Cure Dyslexia? Do you even want to?

Tutoring Grantly

How to Cure Dyslexia? Do you even want to?

Grantly
March 8, 2021

What is dyslexia and does dyslexia have a cure? This question has become almost ubiquitous in recent years as dyslexia diagnoses have become more common. In this article, it is my goal to provide answers to the questions: “What is dyslexia?”, “How do you get dyslexia?”, “What are the symptoms of dyslexia?”, “Can you cure dyslexia?”, and “Who has dyslexia?”.

Dyslexia Overview

According to the National Institute of Health, dyslexia is a reading disorder that presents itself in people with otherwise normal intelligence. According to the National Institute of Health, roughly 7% of students in the U.S. will be diagnosed with dyslexia (Seminar: Developmental Dyslexia). Yale University describes Dyslexia as “an unexpected difficulty in reading in an individual who has the intelligence to be a much better reader.” (Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity). Accordingly, students with dyslexia often read slower than their peers and have trouble with spelling and sequencing tasks. Unexpectedly, however, dyslexic students often have very fast creative problem-solving skills in non-reading academic tasks. This ability to perform some tasks very quickly and others slowly can leave dyslexic students and their families confused. The good news, however, is that with the right tools dyslexic students can use this to their advantage.  

How do you get Dyslexia?

Dyslexia is genetic, in other words, it travels through families. Accordingly, if you have a family history of dyslexia, it is more likely that you (or your children) will also be dyslexic. While scientists aren’t exactly sure which genes control dyslexia, they have observed a fascinating connection between roughly 6 genes and prenatal neural development (in other words these genes are controlling how your brain develops before you are even born). While you might be developing before you are even born, dyslexia is rarely diagnosed until you begin learning to read. Many students can so skillfully work around their dyslexia, that they are not even diagnosed until high school or college!

Dyslexia is diagnosed through something called a “psychoeducational assessment” (often referred to as a “psych-ed” for short). During this assessment, a medical doctor and clinical psychologist will team up to assess a student’s learning style (and general cognitive abilities). by the end of such an assessment, if it is appropriate, the providers will be able to provide a diagnosis of dyslexia.

Dyslexia Symptoms?

If you are considering pursuing a “psych-ed” assessment for yourself (or your student), it is important to consider the common symptoms of dyslexia. The Mayo Clinic offers a comprehensive article explaining a host of dyslexia symptoms at a host of development stages in THIS ARTICLE. Generally speaking, however, the following symptoms are likely evidence that a student might be struggling with dyslexia. 

  • Below Grade-Level Reading or Slow Reading
  • Sequencing Problems (having a hard time remembering the order of things)
  • Spelling Problems
  • Foreign Language Difficulties

The fundamentally different wiring of a dyslexic brain causes many unpleasant symptoms like the ones listed above; however, this unique wiring can also empower dyslexic individuals with a host of strengths. Yale University research shows many students with dyslexia are unusually gifted in the following. 

  • Listening Comprehension 
  • Visuospatial Skills (many of the skills critical for math, architecture, and art) 
  • “Big Picture Skills” (an ability to work with and understand large and complex systems: computer science, engineering, linguistics, etc.) 
  • 3 Dimensional Modeling (unusually strong ability to work in 3rd-dimensional space: engineering models, sculpture, etc.) 
  • Larger than Average Vocabulary 

Cure Dyslexia?

Because dyslexia offers many strengths to complement its many setbacks, having a “cure” for dyslexia is rarely considered the goal. For most, the goal is to find a way of treating and reducing the negative symptoms of dyslexia, allowing the strengths to shine through. 

Fortunately, there are a wide array of very effective interventions for dyslexia! If caught early, most of the negative symptoms of dyslexia can be almost completely erased with the following resources. 

  • Reading Programs (working with a reading specialist trained in the  Orton-Gillingham or the Wilson Reading Program will allow your students a multisensory approach that can fundamentally “re-wire” how his/her brain engages with reading for the better!) 
  • Tutors (Educators with training and experience in dyslexia – like our wonderful educators here at Granite – can help you or your student innovate and create “outside the box” approaches to school) 
  • Screen Readers (Technology that “reads to you” can help people with dyslexia tremendously by allowing them to unlock their very high listening comprehension and avoid their slower reading speeds)
  • Health (Healthy diet and healthy sleeping patterns dramatically reduce the negative effects of dyslexia) 

Who has Dyslexia?

When navigating dyslexia, it is critical to keep in mind all the wonderful people around you who also have dyslexia! 

Albert Einstein, arguably our society’s most ubiquitous genius meme, was dyslexic. Einstein struggled tremendously with learning foreign languages (and school generally) and was even kicked out of University for poor academic performance. Einstein was famous for saying “Words or language, as they are written or spoken, do not seem to play

any role in my mechanism of thought.” (letter, 1945) He also said the following about words “Thoughts did not come in any verbal formulation. I very rarely think in words at all. A thought comes, and I may try to express it in words afterwards.” (interview)

Steven Speilberg, the American screenwriter, director, and producer, is dyslexic. It is easy to see the connection between Speilberg’s unusual ability to visualize and then create fantastic worlds with his dyslexia. Interestingly, Speilberg didn’t discover that he was dyslexic until he was about 60 years old. Watch this incredible interview where Speilberg talks about his Dyslexia. Steven Speilberg Dyslexia Interview.

Kiera Knightly, the British Actress, is dyslexic. Despite her dyslexia, Kiera managed to be top of her class in school. Read all about Kiera’s academic and acting journey HERE. 

Tommy Hilfiger, the American fashion designer, and businessman, discusses his dyslexia in this movie! 

Grantly Neely, (me) the author of this article, I am dyslexic! Despite struggling tremendously with reading in lower and middle school, I was able to graduate as the valedictorian of my high school class. Next, I studied Economics and Studio Art at Dartmouth College (an ‘Ivy League’ university). Currently, I am the founder of the learning center and education technology company Granite! I love making videos to explain math, physics, and economics concepts in “dyslexic friendly” ways! Follow me on YouTube to watch all the videos! Also, follow this link to learn more about all of our wonderful “dyslexic friendly” educators here at Granite.

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3 Ways to Motivate an Unmotivated Student

Test Prep, Tutoring Grantly

3 Ways to Motivate an Unmotivated Student

Parent working to motivate your son

1. Re-define Goals for Motivation.

“you are so smart, if you just worked a little bit you would get an ‘A’”!

One of the main variables that will impact student decision making, goal striving, and motivation is is what psychologists refer to as “self-worth”. Self-worth, in the context of education-psychology, is a person’s judgment of their dignity and/or aptitude. 

When a student receives a low grade on an assignment, after little to no studying, one of the most common responses from parents is “you are so smart, if you just worked a little bit you would get an ‘A’”! 

In this case, most parents are (with a kind-heart) hoping to boost the self-worth of their student. Unfortunately, however, this language could lead the student to develop an unhelpful pattern: “If I do not study and fail, my parents will tell me I’m smart (but lazy)”. Since we as a society value “smart people”, this will only reinforce the pattern. Furthermore, the student may develop a fear: “If I DO study and fail, my parents will think I am dumb!” This further reinforces the student’s inhibitions to study. Since the student receives a “self-worth-reward” for NOT studying and fears shame in the case of studying, the student’s incentives are completely misaligned. 

The best way to avoid the aforementioned problem of “misaligned self-worth rewards” is to re-define our goals for our students and subsequently the language we use to discuss these goals. If our objective is simply for our student to work hard, it is wise to put our goal directly (and EXCLUSIVELY) on hard work. A parent might try saying the following to a student before a test: “As long as I know you studied for 1-hour before the test, I don’t really care what grade you get.” 

By redefining our goals, we can make clear our expectations to our student, AND we can free our student of the toxic notion that working hard yet receiving a low grade is an indication of personal (self-worth) failure. 

2. Promote Internal Attribution for Motivation

“My kid is struggling with the class because his teacher is horrible!’”

It is not uncommon for a student to find themselves in a class with a teacher who they do not like. This lack of connection could be rooted in personal difference, apathy on the part of the educator (or student), or a host of other complex interpersonal variables. The reality is that humans are complicated and not everyone will get along! That said, we run the risk of leading our student to lose motivation when we are publicly dismissive of a teacher. It is not uncommon for parents to say (often CORRECTLY!) “My kid is struggling with the class because his teacher is horrible!” While this could very certainly be the case, verbal expression of the issue will lead a student to feel that “trying isn’t worth it”.

It is not uncommon “in the real world” for someone to have an incompetent boss, an abrasive teammate, or an unpleasant colleague. Still, none of these situations warrant giving up on a goal. It is incredibly valuable to learn how to navigate and thrive in less-than-optimal situations. 

When a student expresses dislike for a teacher, whether, for pedagogical or personal reasons, I give them the following advice: “Get as high of a grade in the class as you can”! This advice hinges on one key reality: If you have not put effort into the class, your criticisms will be dismissed; however, if you work hard people will pay attention!” In other words, if a student with poor class attendance and poor grades criticizes a teacher, most people will not take the criticism seriously; however, if the star student makes the same criticism people will listen! 

Put simply, being dedicated to the class of a teacher you do not like, positions you well to express your discontent with the class! 

3. Work with Mindfulness for Motivation

"The biggest factor influencing student motivation is simply maturity!"

It is no secret that one of the biggest factors influencing student motivation is simply maturity! As adolescents grow, so do critical regions of the brain involved in long-term planning, decision making, and self-concept. While for the most part, these developments just take time, a mindfulness-practice can be an amazing way to nurture all these key regions of the brain. 

Mindfulness will train students to work skillfully with test anxiety, interpersonal struggles, boredom, and stress!

If you are new to mindfulness and don’t know where to begin, consider exploring some of our mindfulness courses. We have a mindfulness-based ACT® course to help students prepare for the college-entrance standardized test. Granite offers a course titled “Mindfulness for Academic Achievement®” which (as the name might suggest) is all about finding academic achievement through mindfulness. Finally, we even have a course that empowers adults to become certified “Mindfulness-Based Educators” (a great opportunity if you – as a parent – want to gain insight on guiding your student to a mindfulness practice).

Mindfulness-Based ACT® Test Prep Course
Mindfulness for Academic Achievement®
Mindfulness-Based Educator (certificate program)

Sources:

Understanding student motivation

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Top Test Prep Company in Nashville

Nashville's Top Test Prep Companies

Preparing for the ACT®, SAT®, or AP® exams can be difficult, time consuming, and expensive. That said, finding the best test prep can make the process exciting, empowering, and affordable! Recently, a student told me a story about the test prep center he had attended before coming to GRANITE®. Namely, the student’s previous testing center (it shall remain un-named) had paired the student with a fellow high-schooler who had scored LOWER on the ACT® than he had! Needless to say, their working relationship was not going to be fruitful. I was so shocked by this center’s practice, I wanted to create a list of the best test prep centers in Nashville. Clearly, I would rather EVERYONE learn with us at GRANITE®. However, should that not be “in the cards”, I want you to know the alternatives in town that have a great track record for success! Below are the lists of centers with professional test prep educators who are determined to help their students thrive. Additionally, i’ve added “Google Star Ratings” as an objective measure of the top test prep companies in Nashville! 

#1 GRANITE®

20 Google Reviews (5.0 stars)
5/5
What people are saying:

"I HIGHLY recommend this service for anyone trying to improve their score."

"We would refer him and his company to anyone preparing to take the ACT."

Clearly we are just a bit biased here at GRANITE®! But how could we not be; we truly believe that our mindfulness-centric approach to education: Mindfulness for Academic AChievement®. Allows us to empower students like no other test center in the world! All that said, there is no one better to focus on than the happy families who have worked with GRANITE® educators! For example, one high scoring student said: “I’ve used Granite test prep, and my score went up 4 points from a 30 to a 34!!! I HIGHLY recommend this service for anyone trying to improve their score. Thank you so much!!!” A happy parent had this to say about their family’s experience with GRANITE “…helped our son prepare well beyond what he had imagined, and the results far exceeded our expectations. We would refer him and his company to anyone preparing to take the ACT. He is professional, courteous, accommodating, and knows how to customize the learning process for each individual student.” Even school educators are talking about the GRANITE® classes, programs, and software offered at their schools! “I highly recommend Grantly Neely of Granite Test Prep. He worked with a group of students at the school where I work and provided excellent tutoring. Despite it being a large group, he provided individual feedback and encouragement.”

#2 ACT® Help

27 Google Reviews (5.0 stars)
5/5
What people are saying:

Best ACT prep I’ve ever done! Thank you so much Mr. Joseph !

"Highly recommend ACT HELP Tutoring."

It is hard to argue with 27 perfect 5.0-star reviews! Needless to say, Joseph students love his teaching style, methodology, and results. An excited high scorer had this to say “I’ve been in his class for about 3 years and I’m now acing my honors math class, and also been able to score a 32 in the PSAT Math. He is an amazing teacher and can guarantee you a 36 on your ACT.” Guaranteeing a 36 – that is an impressive guarantee no doubt! It seems, however, that many students attending ACT® HELP are scoring a 36! Just look at this feedback “Superior, Talented, Smart, Awesome, Fantastic, Amazing Teacher! If you’re a serious student looking to score a 36, take Joseph. As long as you attend the class and do flashcards and study, you get a perfect score.”

#3 Ngenius

33 Google Reviews (4.9 stars)
4.9/5
What people are saying:

"My daughter had an amazing experience with doing ACT Prep with Ngenius."

"Highly recommend their services."

Based in Franklin, TN, “Ngenius” could be a perfect choice for families in Williamson county looking for a neighborhood option. Ngenius is incredibly well-reviewed with an average star rating of 4.9 stars!  One family had this to say about the amazing convenience of working with Ngenius “My son went for tutoring for ACT. They were positive and very easy to work with on scheduling. My son increased his ACT score by 4 points due to their tutoring. Benny is great. We can’t say thank you enough.” Another family was incredibly excited at how QUICKLY they saw results “After ONE session with Benny, his ACT score went up four points. After five sessions, his composite score broke 30!” Needless to say Ngenius is helping alot of families achieve their ACT® dreams!

#4 Mary Lee Bunch Associates, L.L.C.

5 Google Reviews (5.0 stars)
5/5
What people are saying:

I would definitely recommend this class to any student looking to improve their score!

Scott Sherman tutored both my children for ACT Prep. He is the best! Scott is professional and experienced. Mary Lee Bunch and Associates are a well kept secret.

Located in Brentwood, TN, and therefore convenient for both Davidson and Williamson County residents, Mary Lee Bunch Associates, L.L.C. has consistently been an iconic force in the middle Tennessee test prep scene. A student had this to say “I took a class to study for the ACT here and it was very helpful. I had a score of 33 on my practice test, and after being tutored here for a month I got a 35 on the actual test! They are also all really nice here and will help you learn in a comfortable environment.” Everyone knows that tests can be stressful and anxiety-inducing, therefore, we love how Mary Lee Bunch manages to help students feel comfortable.

How to get the Hope Scholarship in Tennessee:

College Planning Grantly, , ,
Students having tons of fun preparing for college

How to get the Hope Scholarship in Tennessee:

Grantly
October 21, 2019
Every year the Tennessee State Government pays out millions of dollars in funding for students to attend college — here’s how to make the most of it in 3 easy steps!

#1 Qualify for the Hope Scholarship:

Few people realize, but the hope scholarship isn’t just one scholarship, it’s actually a suite of merit and need based scholarships with a range of academic and demographic benchmarks. The tables below will tell you what you need to do to qualify for each type of scholarship.

Non-Demographic Based:

Scholarship Amount/year ACT or SAT GPA Notes
Hope Basic $4,000 21 ACT / 1080 SAT 3.0 Available to all who meet requirements
Ned McWherter Scholars Program $6,000 29 ACT / 1300 SAT 3.5 Application based.
General Assembly Merit $4,000 29 ACT / 1300 SAT 3.75 Application based.

Demographic Based:

Scholarship Amount/year ACT or SAT GPA Demographic Notes
Helping Heroes $2,000 None None Veteran Honorably discharged active duty.
ASPIRE $1,500 21 ACT / 1080 SAT 3.0 Low Income Family or individual income below $36,000 annually.
HOPE Access Grant $3,000 18 ACT / 940 SAT 2.75 Low Income Family or individual income below $36,000 annually.
TSAA $4,000 None None Low Income EFC sub $2,100.
Consider how you can maximize the amount of money you receive, for some students this means studying for the ACT or finding a way to boost her/his GPA. Once a student has established all that she/he is possibly qualified for the next step is applying! If you are struggling with test taking a Granite Prep tutor can always help.

#2 Fill out FAFSA:

Before you can apply for any of these scholarships you must fill out the “Free Application for Federal Student Aid”. This is a form where students and families disclose their tax information to the federal government. The form can take a while to fill out, but it can mean being awarded “Pell Grants” (a.k.a more free money for college) so it’s definitely worth the time spent. Below is a link to FAFSA:

FAFSA LINK

#3 Choose Your Scholarships on the TSAC Portal:

Our third and final step in the process is to make an account on the TSAC portal. TSAC (Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation), is the third party who is responsible for hosting and processing all the HOPE scholarship applications. In other words, this is where you go to apply for all the HOPE scholarships. Creating an account on the portal is easy, just follow the link below and fill out your information and apply to any scholarship you wish!

TSAC LINK

Summary:

  1. Determine what you qualify for
  2. Complete FAFSA
  3. Apply with TSAC
If you have any additional questions please leave a comment and we will respond as well as we can! If you still feel a little confused and you would like to make an appointment with a Granite Prep college counselor reach out at:

contact@granitetestprep.com

or learn more at:

GraniteTestPrep.com

Author

Grantly Neely is a certified mindfulness teacher and founder of Granite Prep a company dedicated to helping it’s students achieve their ambitions while building resilient minds.

How Much is 1-Point on the ACT Worth in Dollars?

Test Prep Grantly, , ,

How Much is 1-Point on the ACT Worth in Dollars?

Grantly
October 18, 2019
As the founder of Granite Test Prep, a Nashville, TN based education center, I spend a lot of time working with students and families on increasing ACT scores, finding colleges based on these ACT scores, and finally using these ACT scores to pursue merit scholarships and financial aid to make college a little more affordable!
I recently had a family ask me a great question: “how much is one point on the ACT worth in dollars?”
I recently had a family ask me a great question: “how much is one point on the ACT worth in dollars?” At the time, I didn’t have a direct answer for them; however, I was curious and I wanted to find a more exciting answer than “it depends on what you and your family values etc…”
I was curious and I wanted to find a more exciting answer than “it depends on what you and your family values etc…”
Finding an answer to the value of a single ACT point began with seeing what other experts in the field had recorded. College admissions blog “The College Solution” claims that a one point increase in ACT score (given certain situations) could equal as much as $24,000 for students applying to The University of Indiana. While this figure is certainly interesting, at Granite we wanted to know more! We didn’t want to know simply what a 27 to a 28 meant at Indiana, or what a 35 to a 36 meant at Alabama, we wanted to know ON AVERAGE how much a one point increase starting at ANY SCORE meant for ANY SCHOOL.
To calculate the average dollar amount value of a single point increase on the ACT, we went out and built a list of ALL the ACT scholarships we could find, their dollar values, and their ACT cutoff thresholds and we let the statistics magic begin
Without anyone on the internet giving an absolute value for “the value of a single point on the ACT”, I went about using some tricks I learned in my economics degree and began building a data set! Our set began with the college readiness blog “Prep Scholar”. Their fascinating article “Guaranteed Scholarships Based on SAT/ACT Scores” outlined many of the ACT-based scholarships available to college applicants. Still we needed more data, so we went school by school and studied their scholarship and financial aid pages. To calculate the average dollar amount value of a single point increase on the ACT, we went out and built a list of ALL the ACT scholarships we could find, their dollar values, and their ACT cutoff thresholds and we let the statistics magic begin (see the bottom of the article for a description of the “statistics magic”).
Ultimately we calculated that a single point increase on the ACT was worth $8,451 over four years.
Ultimately we calculated that a single point increase on the ACT was worth $8,451 over four years. That means that for ANY score and ANY school we would expect and AVERAGE increase in scholarship of $8,451 for every single point you get on the ACT. Below is a graph of some of the schools we included in our calculations. Along the bottom of the graph are ACT scores, and for every ACT score you can see how many dollars that score would be worth after 4-years.
It should be acknowledged that not all schools give money for ACT scores. Ivy League schools for example (and other “highly selective institutions” like Stanford or MIT), don’t offer any merit scholarships for academics or athletics. These schools prefer to give all of their scholarship money in the form of financial-aid, a package of grants, student work options, and sometimes loans that make these (otherwise very expensive schools) often very affordable. Since these schools typically have acceptance rates in the single digits, the value of an additional ACT point is in your percent chance of being accepted. Look for our next article which will be “Acceptance Rates and the Value of the Marginal ACT Point”.
These schools prefer to give all of their scholarship money in the form of financial-aid, a package of grants, student work options, and sometimes loans that make these (otherwise very expensive schools) often very affordable.
If you are interested in how much more money you could get in scholarships given a certain school and your specific profile please feel free to contact us at: contact@granitetestprep.com. We spend all day helping students and families like you figure out how to raise ACT scores and then how to use these ACT scores most efficiently in the college application process.

Stats Corner:

For our friends who love statistics, want to learn about statistics, or are simply wary of random figures posted in blogs, here are the calculations and methods we used to get our numbers and graphs! If you DON’T like statistics don’t worry! This section just explains how we got to the number of $8,451.

Our data set was an aggregated list of merit scholarship amounts and their corresponding ACT threshold. Merit scholarships were only included if they depended solely on ACT score (so as to reduce risk of bias from unobserved variables like “student GPA” or “student achievement”.)
Our equation was modeled as follows: Dollars= ß1(Score) + C
Regression Results are shown below:
R-squared: 0.634
ß1 T-Stat: 9.174 (p>0.000)

Math Geniuses Don’t Exist.

Test Prep, Tutoring Grantly, , ,

Math Geniuses Don’t Exist.

Grantly
October 15, 2019
For many students, math (or another “math-heavy field” like computer science, physics, accounting, economics etc.) can be the most intimidating subject in school.

For many students, math (or another “math-heavy field” like computer science, physics, accounting, economics etc.) can be the most intimidating subject in school. Statements like “I’m not some math genius” or “I can’t possibly take that class” can be heard echoing down high school and college hallways alike, when math class is mentioned. 

“I can’t possibly take that class”

Parents and students typically attribute these mathematical challenges to “not being a math person” or “the class being just too hard”. After tutoring countless students in math, physics, economics, statistics and other quantitative classes that elicit stress in those with “numerical anxiety”, at GRANITE we think something different is going on. 

Math is different from history or english largely in the way it is expressed.

Math is different from history or english largely in the way it is expressed. English and history use words. While words can be long and complicated, ultimately they are still words. Words are comfortable; we use them to text our friends, read our favorite blogs, and follow the subtitles in foreign films. Accordingly, when an english or history teacher gives us a uniquely hard article, primary source, or novel, we can feel reassured that at the end of the day this challenging academic obstacle is still made up of words. Math by contrast is not built on words but on “notation”: symbols used to count, categorize, and estimate.

Words are comfortable; we use them to text our friends, read our favorite blogs, and follow the subtitles in foreign films.

It is not uncommon for a student to come across a math problem and leave the question blank, in spite of having all the skills needed. When reviewing the problem, the student will often say “I didn’t know that symbol, so I panicked and just skipped it”. This, of course, is not the fault of the student at all. Our mainstream cultural dialogue and academic systems consistently reinforce the idea that math is something extremely difficult reserved for “math geniuses”, and the resulting panic students feel is just a self fulfilling prophecy. 

…consistently reinforce the idea that math is something extremely difficult rese

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