Bowe School

Summer School Week 1: Communication (How to Effectively Communicate)

• Be a good listener - pay attention to the person speaking to you, eliminate all distractions, and ask questions if you don't understand.
• Body language matters - maintain eye contact and unfold your arms.
• Know your audience - you can't speak to everyone the same way.
• Check before sending/think before speaking - make sure you are saying what you want to say and don't use social media to vent
• Write things down - this helps with listening and remembering things for later
• Be positive - when you are positive, people respond to you better.

Summer School Week 2: Problem-Solving (Effective Problem-Solving Strategies)

• Trial and error - keep trying solutions until you find one that works
• Hueristics - using equations and algorithms to find an approximate solution
• Gut instincts - using your own insight to solve a problem
• Working backward - start with the solution and find steps to get to that solution
• Means-end analysis - consider the obstacles/consequences that could be in your way

Summer School Week 3: Teamwork (Factors of Good Teamwork)

• Trust - each participant has to believe that the others are doing their part and working for the betterment of the group
• Tolerance - each participant has to understand that everyone has different strengths and weaknesses and the group has to learn how to use them effectively
• Self-awareness - each participant has to see that their participation or lack of participation affects the group

Summer School Week 4: Time Management (How to Best Manage Your Time)

• Prioritize your tasks - avoid wasting time on unnecessary activities; use a system
• Spend the right amount of time on tasks - don't spend too much or too little; you don't want to burn out or get lazy.
• Be disciplined about how you spend your time - you can build in time for relaxing activities, but not when you are supposed to be productive.