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ACADEMIC RESOURCE CENTER
ACADEMIC ACADEMIC RESOURCE RESOURCE
CENTER CENTER EQUIPPING STUDENTS WITH THE SKILLS FOR ACADEMIC INDEPENDENCE
Renovations to a portion of Chapman Library this summer may not be noticed by many, but the impact of what is happening behind the new walls will be felt throughout campus in the months and years to come. In August, Wesleyan’s new Academic Resource Center (ARC), a long-held dream by many Wesleyan faculty members, moved into the renovated space on the third floor of Wesley Hall in Chapman Library.
“This space, and what will take place within and from here, has been a labor of love for a long time,” said Ramona Blankenship, associate head of school. “Karyn Vickery and her team have created an academic support program that is exceptional, unique to Wesleyan, and will support our entire student body.”
Academic Support, which began in fall 2019 under the leadership of Karyn Vickery, director of academic support, brings under one umbrella the many ways Wesleyan works to ensure students in kindergarten through 12th grade are being effectively and consistently supported. The program’s goal is to assist students with learning differences in becoming independent learners while successfully meeting the demands of Wesleyan’s academic rigor and standard of excellence. These bright, well-rounded students have met the intellectual and academic criteria to be admitted to Wesleyan, yet they may have a particular challenge that can impact the way they learn. Students with mild to moderate learning differences, such as dyslexia or ADHD, are empowered with self-awareness, self-advocacy, and study strategies, helping them to overcome challenges, develop their God-given strengths, and thrive at Wesleyan.
The ARC is another arm of academic support that has been envisioned by administrators for many years. The program provides a tiered course of service to Wesleyan middle school students with current psycho-educational testing and active learning profiles. Participation in the ARC is optional, based on recommendation by the administration, and offers services to select students in fifth through eighth grade for a supplemental tuition fee.
“Primarily, we focus on executive functioning skills,” said Vickery. “These are a set of skills that everyone is born with and develop over time, into early adulthood. The skills help us to organize and apply what we know and are needed to succeed in life and learning. Individuals develop these skills at different rates. The presence of learning differences can make learning and applying these skills particularly challenging. This has nothing to do with intellectual ability and everything to do with how students organize, manage, and respond to various demands. Our goal in the ARC is to help students identify their executive strengths and challenges and learn to apply strategies and skills that lead to academic independence.”
Learning specialists work with small cohorts of students using their existing coursework as a training ground for the various skills they are teaching throughout the semester. Research indicates that for executive skills to be both mastered and automatic, they cannot be taught in isolation. Rather, they must be taught in tandem with the academic curriculum.
“One great study skill that can be beneficial to many students is known as ‘chunking information,’” said Patti Hallen, one of two learning specialists in the ARC.
“As I was teaching this skill to the fifth grade cohort, we used the U.S. History unit they were learning at the time as an opportunity to practice applying chunking information. When it was time to study for the test, we used that material to demonstrate, and put into practice, what we had been learning. Being able to teach these skills alongside their day to day classes gives students the chance to move from theory to practice very seamlessly.”
For seventh and eighth grade ARC students, Debbie Penso has focused on a variety of learning strategies that help students move from being passive to active learners. “At this age, some students can begin this transition on their own,” said Penso. “However, other students find this more of a challenge. In the ARC, we are working on active learning skills specifically in reading for meaning in all coursework and in notetaking.”
While many students learn to annotate their reading in English class, Penso points out that appropriate annotation in any course’s materials is an excellent way for students to help themselves call attention to and retain important information.
“We are working on ways to use highlighting, writing notes, even drawing symbols in the texts for subjects like science and history,” said Penso. “This is a great foundation for students that is usually taught in English but works really well in other subjects as well.”
Learning to make the transition from teacher-driven classwork to largely student-driven classwork, notetaking can be a challenge for many students in middle school. “We are working on the types of cues a teacher may give during a classroom lecture for students to know what to capture in their class notes,” Penso said.
By folding skills support into the actual school day of ARC students, a connection is made between skills in theory and skills in practice.
“We have known for years that, even in a college preparatory setting like Wesleyan, the number of students in our population with diagnosed learning differences was increasing which was also in line with the national trend,” said Blankenship. “These bright students are such an asset to our community, and helping them in their transition to independent learners is an important aspect of our academic program.”
In addition to working with identified cohorts of students, the ARC team is working with the entire student body in middle school to improve executive functioning. In September, the team led a Flex Time assembly explaining executive skills, and then in Pack Groups, students took executive function surveys to learn their own strengths and weaknesses. Later in the semester, the ARC team worked with students on time management skills. They presented the topic and tips in Flex Time, and then Pack Groups had small group discussions to dive deeper into personal application for each student. The ARC team will continue to meet with the entire middle school student body throughout the year to share additional strategies to support learning for all students.
Another way the program is designed to support all students is through in-class support from the learning specialists. By pushing into middle school classrooms, the learning specialists can help to share study and executive skill strategies with students and teachers. Again, this closes the gap between theory and application, as actual content material is used to teach executive skills to all students. Teachers, in particular, have asked for this type of assistance to help learn strategies to better serve diverse learners.
“The levels of support Wesleyan offers to its students are amazing, and the ARC is just one example of students being served in a truly exceptional way,” said John Creed, sixth grade boys chair. “In the classroom, learning specialists are able to give additional guidance to students, and they provide valuable feedback for individual student needs. We are also able to collaborate and plan effective lessons or strategies for upcoming material. While Wesleyan challenges students to pursue academic excellence, the resources provided through the ARC ensure that all students are put in a position to meet their goals.”
WHAT ARE EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS?
Executive functions are a set of mental skills needed to learn, work, and manage daily life. These skills help to organize, prioritize, and manage tasks, among other things. Developing these skills begins in infancy and continues through early adulthood. Struggles may occur if skills are not welldeveloped to meet the demands of school and life. The eleven different executive
functions include: sustained attention
The ability to maintain focus.
goaL-directed Persistence
The capacity to have a goal and follow through to completion.
organization
The ability to create and maintain systems to keep track of information or materials.
PLanning & Prioritizing
The ability to create a road map to reach a goal.
WorKing memory
The ability to hold information in mind and use it to complete a task.
tasK initiation
The ability to begin projects without procrastination.
resPonse inhibition
The ability to think before you act.
metacognition
The ability to self-monitor and self-evaluate.
emotionaL controL
The ability to manage feelings by thinking about goals.
