ACADEMIC MODULE
Academic Coaching teaches students how to work more efficiently and become better Learners. The OPENMIND Life Coach helps design and implements a Focused Learning Framework tailored to each mind. This process incorporates strategies that work best with the way each individual brain processes information. Confidential input from associates, family and professionals combined with the Learner’s own appraisal provides a holistic portrait of the individual. OPENMIND translates the data addressing learning diversity into insights and understanding. A Focused Learning Framework is created and used as a guide. Instruction remains relevant to both personal and professional life, while simultaneously maintaining the level and pace of the Learner.
OPENMIND helps K-12, college and young adults identify and understand how they learn. Students acquire the knowledge to identify their strengths and educational needs. Students gain the necessary skills to become intentional Learners and successful in their coursework. OPENMIND provides personalized assistance through individual and small group sessions helping strengthen student’s emotional intelligence and personal leadership alongside a traditional curriculum. The mission of OPENMIND Academic Life Coaching is to give students the knowledge and self-navigation skills to ultimately lead effective fulfilled adult lives.
“The ability to receive, store, process and serve information submitted through the User’s Browser is one of the most powerful tools of the Mind.”
OM Architect
Academic Coach - Homework Education Therapist - Clinician
Neither a traditional tutor nor a straight-up therapist, Marty is a mixture of the two. “Homework therapists,” as she is sometimes called, administer academic help and emotional support as needed. A tutor helps with one subject or multiple subjects. Tutoring focuses on subject matter, and the goal is to improve the student’s grades.
Educational homework therapists take a more holistic approach, with the goals of both improving a student’s academic performance and helping the student reach psycho-educational and social-emotional goals. With these goals in mind, an educational therapist evaluates the student’s strengths and weaknesses, helps the student understand these strengths and weaknesses, develops certain learning and social-emotional strategies, and teaches the student how to advocate for himself/herself. Educational therapists also communicate with parents, teachers, and tutors, working together to help a student reach his or her goals. This is accomplished via Zoom, email, texting and one-on-one sessions.
Marty has extensive training in learning disabilities as well as understanding the psychology of learning, and intervention strategies that address the cognitive, social and emotional aspects that impact learning. She has years of experience and training in education, psychology, learning differences, and how to work with students who have learning challenges. As a homework therapist she helps students get ahead or stay on pace with their course work. OPENMIND Academic Coaching can help prepare for gifted and talented tests, subject exams, SAT-ACT prep, and writing college essays.
Today it’s all about calming people down. The focus on student’s emotional health is part of a larger movement in education. Marty helps calm anxious students and steer them back to the path of achievement. Marty is trained in social-emotional development and understands the correlation between how closely cognition and emotions are linked.
Growth OPENMIND Set
OPENMIND emphasizes “growth-mind-set”– the importance of believing that you can learn, change and gain the ability to overcome setbacks. Its philosophy is centered on the belief that parents and educators can increase student’s motivation and goal setting with the right techniques.
School administrators are witnessing a notable uptick in the number of students who arrive each school year with neurological evaluations, a costly but extensive set of tests, often used to determine why a student is struggling to perform. The results include specific data reference learning variances, like attention deficit and dyslexia, but also a student’s emotional state.
This new breed of clinician/coaches is finding a footing in areas where pressure on students to succeed is high and “therapy isn’t stigmatized.” A Homework Therapist not only helps a struggling student with study skills and confidence, they can also put a plan in place to help them to become fully functioning independent adults.
Educational Homework Therapy
OPENMIND strengthens academic skills through cognitive skills strategy training. This integration of education and neuroscience focuses on lifelong learning. It helps Learners of all ages and abilities acquire the strategies to help them manage their learning or thinking differences, improve their schoolwork and perform at their fullest potential level.
• Self-Creating and Goal Setting
• Memory Stick and Power Note-Taking
• Re-Charge and Time Management
• Crossed Wires, Focused Attention and ADDvice
• iBalance and Study Skills
• Plugged In and Executive Function
• Sound Off, Active Listening Buds and Focused Attention
All students have the ability to learn and each has a unique set of learning differences. The OPENMIND Coach designs a focused framework that incorporates these unique qualities to help the Learner improve focus, working memory, processing speed, visual processing, auditory processing and much more.
Skills
Possessing a strong set of academic skills and mastering course subject matter are key components for success.
Executive functioning has to do with a set of complex cognitive processes. These mental processes permit individuals to access information, determine solutions and implement those conceptions. Academic success is dependent on a Learner's ability to prioritize, organize and plan information. When these processes work together smoothly, Learner's are better able to set and achieve goals. Executive functioning can affect students with attention deficits, learning disabilities, or even those with no diagnosable disorder. These cognitive processes are not related to intelligence or academic proficiency and can greatly impact an individual's grades and success. Many intelligent and talented people struggle in this area. Weak executive skills are often the reason gifted learners begin to struggle with school success. When these skills are underdeveloped, a gap between grades and the student's academic potential begins to surface.
Strategies
Effective study strategies are the gateway to school success, graduation, college entry, and job advancement. Poor study habits can impede even bright students from many important opportunities that would otherwise enable them to realize their potential. For many students that have learning and/or attention difficulties, studying can be an overwhelming challenge. Students may not know what to study or how to approach studying. They may have difficulty remembering information and expressing what they know (especially in essays). These types of struggles are not unique. A majority of students grapple to some extent in one or more of these areas.
From late elementary school to college, problems with studying and test taking represent a major hurdle for many students. These difficulties are often identified only after discrepancies are discovered between a student’s high grades in class work and their low scores on standardized tests. Their test scores frequently do not reflect their strong conceptual understanding or their level of ability. Personalized academic training is crucial to the full understanding and eventual mastery of any subject.
“Individual Entry Only”
OM Architect
• Cross-Curricular Single Subject Focus
• Grade Point Average and Transcript Management
• Writing Composition
• Test and Entry Exam Preparation
• Fine Tuning Scores
• Self-Empowerment Learning
• Study and Organization Skills