Can You Teach Study Skills in 5 Days? | Catherine Pacilio

Catherine Pacilio, an executive function and academic coach and founder of Pacilio Coaching, joins Gretchen to unpack what happened when she and fellow Anti-Boring Learning Lab member Robin turned the science of learning into a five-day summer study skills intensive for middle and high school students. Catherine shares what worked, what students responded to, and what surprised her about teaching study skills online — including the differences she noticed between middle and high schoolers, and between running small groups versus one-on-one sessions. We also dig into the challenge of balancing how much to teach with how much students can actually absorb and use. Together, Gretchen and Catherine explore what this experiment revealed about building a study skills toolkit that can carry students into the school year.You'll Hear Us Talk AboutHow Catherine and fellow lab member Robin designed a collaborative five-day study skills intensive — one built for online delivery, the other for in-personUsing retrieval practice and movement to make quizzing more active, including a physical-challenge game that had students doing wall pushups and star jumps for wrong answersBackwards learning, the Study Cycle, and Quizzable Study Tools from the Anti-Boring Toolkit, and how Catherine trimmed and paced mini lessons for a condensed formatWhat Catherine noticed about teaching the same content to middle schoolers versus high schoolers — from session length to how much structure each age group wantedWhy one-on-one coaching surprised Catherine by feeling especially effective, even as she saw real value in the group dynamic and peer normalizationThe difference between teaching a strategy and helping a student actually use it once school starts — and how Catherine is building in a follow-up coaching session each October to bridge that gapAbout Catherine PacilioCatherine Pacilio is an executive function and academic coach for adolescents and the founder of Pacilio Coaching. She brings 17 years of experience in education, a master's degree in Special Education, and certification as an Academic and Executive Function Coach through the Anti-Boring Learning Lab. Catherine works with middle and high school students to build practical, personalized systems that support confidence and independence.Links + ResourcesPacilio Coaching: https://www.paciliocoaching.comInstagram: @paciliocoaching.comLearn More About the Anti-Boring Learning LabFree Toolkit: https://antiboringlearninglab.com/resourcesGretchen's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gretchen-wegnerWatch the video version of this episode on our YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/iTR_fL4_voI