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*Quizlet is proud to partner with real students and recent graduates to showcase authentic voices on our blog. This guest post is by Nicolette Kier, who just graduated from the University of Pittsburgh.*

In college, you will run into at least one course where 90% of your grade comes from two midterms and a final exam. For me, it was modern physics. I don’t think any course was ever as stressful as that one.

If I had the chance to take it again, I would have done two things differently. First, I would have taken the class with a different professor. Second, I would have avoided all the mistakes I was still making as a sophomore in college. 

Easy to say, hard to do. So to help you succeed in those stressful test-heavy courses (and to keep myself humble), here are the six study mistakes I made and how to avoid them this semester.

### 1. Just memorized material instead of making meaningful connections between concepts.

My contemporary art exams were split into two parts. First, we were shown images of artwork and asked to name the artist and the date of the work. In the second part of the exam, we had to choose from a few prompts and write an essay.

Of course, we had to do all this within 50 minutes.

For the first exam, I had just memorized names and dates related to each artwork. It was hard to remember meaningless facts and my essays were not very thought-provoking.

For the second exam, I memorized names and dates through thinking critically about what each work meant within the context of history. I also made meaningful connections between works, which helped me remember when works were created and really helped when I had to write comparison essays.

In classes where you have to remember facts like these, don’t just memorize them. Find a way to go deeper into the material so it sticks in your head long-term.

### 2. I failed to learn more about active studying techniques until later on in college.

The worst math requirement for my major was linear algebra (unexpected, I know). I don’t know why, but I struggled so much in that class. Redoing homework problems as a way of studying for the one and only midterm did me no favors.

But by the time I took differential equations, I knew more about [active study strategies](ttps://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.uoregon.edu/dist/9/16585/files/2014/09/Active-studying-strategies_20210318.pdf). For all the exams I had in that class, I:

* created entire practice exams for myself using all the textbook problems;
* studied problems in every single possible format that a professor could even think to put on an exam;
* taught a study partner how to solve different types of problems we might run into on the exam (using a whiteboard, no less); and
* derived formulas or problem-solving methods from fundamental concepts.
 
It was harder to study like this at first. But as I got more involved in my studying, my grades got much better. And honestly, I enjoyed my courses much more when I understood the why behind different formulas and problem-solving strategies, rather than limiting myself to just knowing how to solve problems.

**How to use active studying in all your courses**

Engage with your study material in a way that requires you to bring something to the table. Do challenging problems. Struggle with them instead of looking up the answer. Explain what you’re learning to someone else, even if they don’t really know what you’re talking about. Derive formulas or draw conclusions using only definitions, theorems, laws or givens, for example.
 
Also, I highly recommend only looking back at in-class examples and graded homework when you’re really stuck. 

### 3. I didn’t take the time to consider my optimal study conditions.

I will never, ever forget studying for my first physics exam. It was midnight, I was with a friend who was not in that class, and we took an inordinately long break to eat Chipotle and watch Rick and Morty.

In short, I was a hot mess.

After much trial and error, I know that I study best with someone else in my class or alone. For me, it’s important to get up, get into the gym, get some coffee and a GoMacro bar, and sit myself down to study before 10 a.m. 

(No, this is not a sponsored post. GoMacro bars are simply perfect and I will share this fact with everyone I possibly can.)

**How to figure out your peak study conditions quickly**

* Spend three hours studying for an exam by yourself, then three hours studying with others. Observe how your focus changes.
* Try different foods and keep track of your energy levels, then stick to what’s good for your brain and your taste buds.
* Do work in the early morning, afternoon and evening. Write down when you feel your best, mentally and physically. During test periods, try to arrange your * * * * * 
* schedule so you can study during peak times of focus.

And, of course, find or create your special study space. 

I never made the mistake of studying in my bed, but others have. Whether you’re at home or in a dorm this semester, study at a desk or somewhere outside your room.

### 4. I studied all exam material in equal amounts and in the same order.

This strategy might sound good on the surface, but it was actually counterproductive. I should have spent less time on the material I was comfortable with and more time on the things that tripped me up.

And if you study material in sequential order every time, like students often do with study guides, you can get thrown off when you get questions out of the order you studied them.

To avoid this pitfall and remember exam material with ease, try the interleaving study method. With this method, you retain more information in a shorter amount of time.

### 5. My note-taking habits were wack.

I really believe in saving paper, so much that I wrote my notes on any scraps of paper lying around. One time, I wrote notes for my psychology class on the backside of some junk mail.

At the time, I thought I was a hardcore environmentalist. But in hindsight, it was just wack. When I went to study for any kind of exam, I spent a lot of time sifting through random papers to find what I needed. Sometimes, my notes really were mistaken for junk and thrown away.

A lot of my friends also had terrible note-taking habits: bad handwriting, gaps in information, confusing notation, disorganization, throwing away notes after an exam, and more.

You should move away from your notes as you study, but they form a pillar of knowledge to draw from while you are learning the material.
 
**How to take notes effectively**

Write out your notes with a shorthand notation that makes sense to you. Use whatever tools are helpful, like colored pencils or highlighters.

Personally, I write out all notes for all classes (yes, I still learn after college) on loose sheets of paper and transfer them to a three-ring binder later on. I'm left-handed, so spiral notebooks are not for me.

In general, focus more on writing explanations that make sense to you than writing down every single word your instructor says. You just need concepts, not a transcript.

If you have trouble listening and taking notes at the same time, ask your instructor if you can record the lecture to reference later. Alternatively, ask if you can take pictures of the board during or after class. You can also ask to take a picture of a classmate's notes.

Consider transferring your notes to an online format after class. With Quizlet flashcards, you can write notation in any format and upload any diagrams from your in-class notes. Then you can carry your notes with you and study anywhere.

### 6. You wouldn't catch me in a review session.

For a long time, I couldn't make it to a review session or I thought I didn't need to. But review sessions are where instructors give insight into what exactly is going to be on the test (whether they actually mean to do this or not). Plus, other students have the same questions as you, and you can save a lot of time trying to get the answers you need if an instructor just tells you what you need to know.

If you can't make it to a review session, ask a very organized classmate to share notes from the session. You never know what gems of information could be in them.
I suffered from severe test anxiety, and didn’t address it until my junior year of college.
Not everyone struggles with a full-blown anxiety disorder. However, a lot of students who experience test anxiety don't really do anything about it.

Finally, in my junior year of college, after my grades suffered immensely, I made my way to the disability resources office. My disability resources advisor helped me set up testing accommodations.

I also found several other [mental health resources](https://quizlet.com/blog/how-to-find-and-use-mental-health-resources-in-college) in college. They helped me cope with all the stressors of college. And whether you have a diagnosable mental illness or not, these resources can help you too.

Good study practices are necessary for every student. From high school freshman to seniors in college, everyone should avoid the mistakes I made. Now gear up for midterms (or finals, depending on when you're reading this) and stay humble, fellow students.


Avoid these 6 study mistakes this fall

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In a world full of distraction, engaging student interest can be very challenging. But it’s crucial to have some tools in your figurative toolbox that you can use to capture and cultivate classroom engagement. 
 

Teacher Briana Richardson of [@honestteachervibes](https://www.tiktok.com/@honestteachervibes?) has captivated the interest of more than a million TikTok followers. This summer, she joined Quizlet’s Unconference to give her thoughts on how to boost classroom engagement. Here’s what she had to share with us:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/d4Yq-ZOPMYo" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

### Connect learning to the real world
 
To overcome student apathy, show your students that what they’re learning is relevant to their life beyond school. Answer the question, “**When am I going to use this?**”
 
You can do that by using real-life anecdotes from outside the classroom to root your teaching in the real world. For example, a student who plans to join a family roofing business after graduation will need to understand how to read a contract to avoid being taken advantage of.

### More ways to connect
 
* Get current. Incorporating current affairs into the classroom ups the interest factor of a lesson. Students want to talk about what’s happening around them. If the subject is relevant and appropriate, Briana recommends working it into a lesson so they can have a conversation about it.
* Use technology. Phones and other technologies are integral tools in the workplace. Briana believes there’s a time and a place for phone use in the classroom. * * When her students can use their phones to access Quizlet or other educational apps, their engagement level increases tremendously. 
* Encourage group work. When students enter the workforce, they’ll have to know how to work in teams. It’s also important for students to practice collaborating with people they don’t get along with. When they work in a group, students practice putting their ideas into words and hearing different perspectives.

### Capture student interest
 
It’s a fact that students will be more engaged when they are interested in a lesson. As a teacher, you need to learn what is important to them. Once you have established a few interests, use those to engage them. Briana has incorporated Fortnite in her lessons, and allowed her students to debate topics like school uniforms and cell phone usage in school.

### Provide choices
 
Briana’s students love to have choices. This makes them feel like they have a say in their education. 

### PIG strategy
 
One way she does this is by using the “PIG” strategy. In this strategy, she allows them to decide whether they will work with a partner, individually, or in a group. 
 
The strategy comes with a caveat: If you misbehave, you’re going back to your seat. Her students know the consequences, so they monitor each other’s behavior.

Other choices you can offer
 
* **Flexible seating.** During independent reading time, Briana’s students can choose where to sit. This might be under a desk, in the corner, lying on the floor, next to a friend, or even in a fort built out of testing dividers. This helps make the classroom feel welcoming and peaceful, an environment conducive to learning and creativity.
* **Choice of reading material.** Briana’s students can choose their own books during independent reading. Allowing them to choose shifts them from the role of passive consumer to that of active learner.
 
### Get active
 
Getting students moving shakes off the fog and helps them remember things better. But pulling kids out of their seats in the classroom can be a recipe for chaos. Here are a few ways to get active in a productive way.
 
* Have students come to the front for whiteboard work.
* Rotate students through different stations around the room.
* Have students move from one side of the room to another to indicate their opinion on an issue.
*  Create a gallery walk: Put up images and let them walk around and take notes.
*  Think-pair-share. Ask a question and have students think of their answer, find a partner to pair with, and share their thoughts.
*  Turn and talk. Have students pick an answer and then turn and talk to the person sitting next to them. This is a good option when you have students you don’t want out of their seats.
*  Four corners. For multiple choice questions, designate the four corners of the room as A, B, C and D. Then ask a question and have students go to the corner that corresponds to their answer.
 
These are just a few ways you can engage your students in the classroom. So pick a new-to-you strategy to try this year and see how it works. Let us know in the comments!
 
*This information is from a session of Quizlet’s 2021 Unconference, a free professional development opportunity for teachers. This year’s Unconference was all about empowering teachers to look to the future with confidence. If you missed it, you can view this session’s recording [here](<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/d4Yq-ZOPMYo" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>).
*

How teachers can boost classroom engagement this fall 

![AdobeStock_58978340 (1).jpeg](https://img.quizlet.com/YuPFH-o.jpg)

*Quizlet is proud to partner with teachers to showcase authentic voices on our blog. This guest post is by Kai Rush.*

National Hispanic American Heritage Month is here, and here at Quizlet, we want to celebrate all the great pioneers and achievements of the Hispanic-American community.

### The history of Hispanic American Heritage Month

The United States is a diverse nation, home to many different ethnic groups. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the Hispanic-American population accounts for 18.7% of the total U.S. population, making it the second-largest ethnic or racial group in the country.  

Unlike many national month-long observances, Hispanic American Heritage Month does not comprise a full calendar month, instead starting in the middle of September and ending in the middle of October. There is a reason for these specific dates. Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua all declared their independence from Spain on September 15, 1821. Mexico’s independence day is September 16, and Chile and Belize also celebrate their independence during the second half of that month. 

The observance began as Hispanic Heritage Week, which was first recognized by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1969. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan recognized Hispanic Heritage Month

Since that time, the month has been recognized every year. It’s a great time to learn more about the history, culture and contributions of the Hispanic-American community. In this post, we’ll look at 10 Hispanic-American pioneers who broke down doors in America.

### Cesar Chavez (1927-1993)

One of the most celebrated Hispanic-American pioneers is Cesar Chavez. He was born in Yuma, Arizona, but his family moved to California after losing their homestead during the Great Depression. Forced to earn money for his family, Chavez dropped out of school in the 8th grade. Cesar joined the Navy in 1946. After receiving an honorable discharge two years later, he returned to the same fields he had worked on as a kid. 

As a laborer, Chavez saw the injustices and the abuses that many farm workers faced and he co-founded the United Farm Workers Union with another Hispanic-American pioneer, Dolores Huerta. Learning from Gandhi's teaching of nonviolent tactics, he was able to gain farm laborers more rights, higher pay and the right to unionize. One tactic that Chavez used was boycotts of grapes, lettuce and other crops farm laborers harvested.
	
Cesar also championed other causes. He protested against the Vietnam War in the 1960s and was an early vocal supporter of gay rights in the 1970s. After his death, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 

### U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor (1954-)

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is the first Hispanic man or woman to serve on the nation’s highest court. Sotomayor was born in New York City to parents of Puerto Rican descent. She has said that, while she came from a life of poverty, her mother taught her that education was very important. With that motivation, Sotomayor received her undergraduate degree from Princeton University, and her law degree from Yale. She was a founder of Princeton’s Latino Student Organization. 
	
She began her career in 1979 as assistant district attorney in New York City. In 1991, President George H.W. Bush nominated her to the U.S. District Court. Then in 1997, President Bill Clinton appointed her to the U.S. Court of Appeals of the Second Circuit. At the same time, she taught at New York University and Columbia University. 

In 1994, a ruling by Sotomayor helped end a baseball strike that had stopped the last six weeks of the regular baseball season. President Obama noted when he nominated her to the Supreme Court in 2009 that some people credited her as having “saved baseball.”   
 
Sotomayor has stated that her philosophy as a justice is “fidelity to the law.”

### Dr. Ellen Ochoa (1958-)

Dr. Ellen Ochoa is a pioneer in many different areas of space exploration. She was the first Hispanic woman in space and the first Hispanic director of the Johnson Space Center. 

Dr. Ochoa was born in California and quickly earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees as well as a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University. In 1990, while working as a research engineer at the Ames Research Center, she was selected to be an astronaut at the Johnson Space Center. She became the first Hispanic woman in space on the space shuttle Discovery in 1993. The mission’s official name was STS-56. She went to space on three additional missions: STS-66, STS-96 and STS-110. She logged over 1,000 hours in orbit before becoming the director of the Johnson Space Center. Dr. Ochoa is also an inventor and has three patents on her inventions.

Dr. Ochoa has been recognized with NASA's highest award, the Distinguished Service Medal, for her lifetime achievements in space and on earth. 

### Roberto Clemente (1934-1972)

Baseball is a very popular sport across the Americas, including the United States, the Caribbean and Latin American countries. In 2017, nearly one-third of the players in the National Baseball League were of Hispanic descent. But it wasn’t always that way.

Roberto Clemente, one of the first pioneers to open doors for Hispanic American players in baseball, was born in Carolina, Puerto Rico in 1934. He helped his family in the sugar canes field to make ends meet. 
	
Clemente joined the baseball team in high school and went on to play in the Puerto Rican Baseball League, where he signed with the Santurce Crabbers, a winter league team. 
	
In 1954, he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers, and was famously ”stolen” by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1955. In 1958, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves and served for six years.
	
Jackie Robinson had become the first person of color to play in the National Baseball League in 1947, and there was still resistance to minority participation in the sport. Clemente also faced racism during his career. 

Clemente won 12 National League Gold Glove awards as well as the league’s Most Valuable Player award in 1966. In 1960, he helped the Pittsburgh Pirates win the World Series. He was the first Hispanic-American player to play in and win the World Series. 

On the baseball field, he was known for his accuracy and hitting power. Off the field, he was known for his charity in his home country of Puerto Rico.

Sadly, Clemente died in a plane crash on December 31, 1972 off the coast of Puerto Rico. He was the first Hispanic American baseball player to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame and was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor in 1973. His number, 21, has been retired by the Pittsburgh Pirates. 

He is recognized in the U.S. through the many schools and parks that have been named after him. His legacy also lives on through all the Hispanic-American players who play major league baseball today.

### Dr. Luis von Ahn (1978-)

Have you ever visited a website and been asked to pick pictures of roads to identify yourself as a human over a computer? That technology, known as reCAPTCHA, was invented by Dr. Luis von Ahn, a Guatemalan American pioneer in the technology community.

Von Ahn is also considered a pioneer of crowdsourcing or human computation, a way to gather a bunch of experts or people online to complete a big task. 

But that’s not all he has done.  Von Ahn was also inspired by his humble upbringing in Guatemala to invent a new technology, now used by millions of people around the world.

He noticed that people who spoke both Spanish and English could raise themselves out of poverty. So in 2011, von Ahn created Duolingo, a free language education system people can use to learn almost any language. He wanted to make learning English affordable and created a Duolingo English Test in 2014, which has been accepted by Duke University, UCLA, Columbia University and many institutions.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, millions of people around the world have joined the Duolingo language platform. Some school districts have adopted it as their official language learning program. Dr. von Ahn has won many awards and was named one of the “50 best brains in science” by Discover Magazine. 

### Chef Aarón Sánchez (1976-)

Being a chef runs in Aarón Sánchez’ family. He was born in El Paso, Texas, to pioneering Mexican American Chef Zarela Martinez. He grew up working in her kitchens, learning to prepare authentic Mexican food. 

Chef Sánchez studied culinary arts at Johnson and Wales University before beginning his career as a chef at Erizo Latino in 1996. He was given his first head chef position by future business partner, Chef Alex Garcia.

Since opening his first restaurant, Johnny Sánchez in New Orleans, Chef Sánchez has become an award-winning chef and a familiar American TV personality. He has been a host chef on Chopped, Chopped Jr. and MasterChef. Through the Aarón Sánchez Scholarship Fund, he helps young aspiring chefs from Hispanic communities in America follow their passion into culinary arts.

### Dr. Maria Contreras- Sweet (1955-)

Dr. Maria Contreras-Sweet was born in Guadalajara, Mexico and arrived in the United States when she was five years old. Like many of our other pioneers, she learned the value of hard work from her mother and to value education. Sweet went to community college and then attended California State University for her bachelor’s degree. 

She became an entrepreneur, working in the public and private sectors, for companies like 7-Up and for the U.S. Census Bureau. She became a pioneer when she was appointed as secretary of the California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency in 1999—the first Hispanic American woman to hold a cabinet position in California. 

In 2014, President Barack Obama selected Contreras-Sweet to be the administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration. Her main agenda item was to push for initiatives to help members of the underrepresented communities and American women start their own small businesses.

After finishing her term as administrator, she founded the first-ever Hispanic American-owned bank in Los Angeles, ProAmérica Bank. This pivotal move provided financing to small businesses that might have seemed too risky to bigger institutions. Her alma mater awarded her an honorary doctorate for opening doors in corporate America, in recognition of her life’s work.
  
### Former Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (1952-)
	
Long before U.S. Senator Mario Rubio or U.S. Representative Alexandra Ocasia-Cortez were making headlines,  Ileana Ros-Lehtinen made history as the first Hispanic woman elected to the U.S. Congress. 

Ros-Lehtinen and her family escaped from oppression in Fidel Castro’s communist Cuba and started a new life in Miami, Florida. Like many of our pioneers, Ros-Lehtinen grew up in a home that prized education. She took that teaching to heart and earned a master’s degree in education. 

As an educator, she found herself being a liaison and advocate for immigrant parents. Her advocacy led her to run for the Florida House of Representatives in 1982. Only four years later, she was elected to the Florida senate, where she served three years before winning a U.S. House of Representatives seat. 

Ros-Lehtinen served for 30 years in the U.S. House of Representatives and retired in 2019. She spent most of her tenure on the Foreign Affairs Committee, where worked tirelessly to recognize the contributions of women veterans of World War II and fought for policies to oppose Fidel Castro’s regime in Cuba. Today, thanks in part to the trail blazed by Ros-Lehtinen, there are 40 members of Hispanic descent serving in the U.S. House of Representatives.   

### Selena Quintanilla-Perez (1971-1995)

Joan Baez, Gloria Estefan,  Selena Quintanilla-Perez. All of these Hispanic-American women made names for themselves in the music industry, working the Spanish language and/or Latin beats into American folk and pop music. Selena’s tragic murder thrust Hispanic artists into the limelight. Hispanic-American singer Jennifer Lopez starred in a movie about her life, and Selena’s death is considered to have opened the door to Hispanic superstars like Lopez and Ricky Martin.  

Selena was born in Texas to Mexican American parents on April 16, 1971. Her father noticed her singing talent when she was six years old. After losing the family restaurant and being evicted from their house during the recession in the 1980s, Selena’s father formed a family band, with Selena as lead singer. The band was named Selena y Los Dinos.
 
As Selena’s popularity grew, her father refurbished an old bus and took the band on the road. The first few years were very hard on the family, but in 1984, Selena recorded her first album. Selena grew up speaking English, but her father taught her to sing in Spanish to connect with the Hispanic community. As a result, she was the first mainstream artist to record a Spanish-language album before an English-language album, which didn’t come until years later. 

Selena quickly gained popularity and became known as the “Queen of Tejano music” and “Mexican Madonna.” Some music producers considered Selena the Mexican version of Gloria Estefan, who was of Cuban descent.

Selena had seven number one hits. While traveling around the country, Selena found time to design her own outfits and had ambitions to be a fashion designer, as well as a singer.
 

In 1995, Selena was shot by the president of her fan club over a monetary dispute. Selena accomplished so much in her short 23 years, but her legacy will live for centuries through the Hispanic American entertainers for whom she paved the way.

### Linda Alvarado (1951-)

The American construction industry isn’t known for its high concentration of women, but Linda Alvarado is a pioneer in two American industries: construction and sports. 

Linda was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico and attended Pomona College in 1969, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in economics. Upon entering the male-dominated construction world, she encountered bias and thought about quitting many times. But she persevered, and in 1974, she borrowed $2,500 from her parents to start Alvarado Construction, Inc. 

She started off obtaining small jobs and then she put in a bid to renovate a hotel. Alvarado has said that admitted that many people were rooting for her to fail, but her company succeeded, growing into a multi-million dollar business that has built over 60 high profile buildings across America today.

In 1992, she became co-owner of the Colorado Rockies, becoming the first Hispanic-American owner of a major league team. In recognition of her accomplishments, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame and the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame. She is an inspirational pioneer to many young women in construction and sports.

These are just 10 of the incredible and inspiring Hispanic pioneers shaking things up in the world. Take the time this Hispanic Heritage Month to honor the individuals who have worked and are working to shape the world into a better place. To read more about women making things happen, check out History’s 15 Influential Hispanic Americans Who Made History.



10 Hispanic American pioneers who changed the world

![Hispanic Heritage Month 1.png](https://img.quizlet.com/xUbYK-o.jpg)

*Quizlet is proud to partner with teachers to showcase authentic voices on our blog. This guest post is by Katherine Spitzmiller.*

Eight-year-old Sylvia Mendez wanted to go to the “beautiful school.” But public-school officials in her town of Westminster, California would not admit her because the school was only for white children. Sylvia, the child of a Mexican father and Puerto Rican mother, was told to enroll in the “Mexican school” instead, an institution consisting of two wooden shacks in the middle of the town’s Hispanic neighborhood. 
 
According to Sylvia, who later described her experience to The Los Angeles Times, the Mexican school had run-down desks, second-hand books, and a different educational goal than the white school. While the white children of Westminster were learning reading and math skills and experiencing various stimulating programs, Hispanic children in the same town were being trained for work in manual labor and housekeeping jobs. Girls like Sylvia were taught knitting and sewing skills rather than academic subjects.
 
Sylvia’s father Gonzalo sought help from David Marcus, an attorney who specialized in civil rights cases. Together with four additional Hispanic families, Gonzalo Mendez and David Marcus filed a lawsuit in federal court that would eventually become Mendez v. Westminster.
 
In 1947, seven years before the case of Brown v. Board of Education resulted in school segregation being declared unconstitutional nationwide, Mendez v. Westminster began the successful desegregation of public schools in California. In a 2016 interview with The Los Angeles Times, Sylvia said, “Mendez isn’t just about Mexicans. It’s about everybody coming together. If you start fighting for justice, then people of all ethnicities will become involved.”
 
Stories such as Sylvia’s are celebrated every year during National Hispanic Heritage Month. While undeniably groundbreaking, Brown v. Board of Education was not the beginning of the fight for school desegregation in the United States. That fight began with a third-grade girl of Mexican-Puerto Rican heritage; a Hispanic child who very few non-Hispanic Americans have heard of despite her adult work as a civil rights activist and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom award in 2011. 
 
National Hispanic Heritage Month brings stories like Sylvia’s into the collective American conversation and celebrates the culture, history, experiences, accomplishments, contributions, and legacies of Hispanic and Latinx Americans.
 
In the United States, the term “Hispanic” is used to describe a person who is either from, or is a descendent of someone who is from, a Spanish-speaking country. For this reason, the U.S. census bureau uses the term “Hispanic” to identify a person’s ethnicity, or shared cultural history, but not their race. “Race,” in the United States generally refers to a category of people who have shared inherited traits, such as skin color, facial features, and hair texture. These unique physical features are usually “associated with large, geographically separated populations.” Two people of different races may speak Spanish as their native language. Despite differences in their appearances, these individuals are both Hispanic.
 
However, a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2015 found that two-thirds of people who self-identify as Hispanic consider their Hispanic background to be part of their racial background. This, according to the Pew Research Center, “suggests that Hispanics have a unique view of race that doesn’t necessarily fit within the official U.S. definitions.”
 
The term “Latino/x” refers to someone who is themselves from a country in Latin America or is a descendent of someone from a Latin American country. Latin America includes the islands in the Caribbean where Romance languages are spoken, such as Spanish-speaking Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic, as well as Mexico and most of Central and South America. Territories that are excluded from the regional category of “Latin America” include predominantly Dutch speaking Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire in the Caribbean, predominately English speaking Belize in Central America, and Suriname, a former Dutch colony in South America that maintains Dutch as its official language.
 
Today, Hispanic Heritage Month spans four weeks, from September 15th to October 15th. However, it began as just one week. 
 
On June 11, 1968, a congressman from California named George E. Brown and nineteen congressional co-sponsors introduced a resolution to the House that authorized the President of the United States to proclaim “National Hispanic Heritage Week” every year. Two of the Representatives who worked with Brown on the resolution were Hispanic, Edward R. Roybal of California and Henry B. Gonzales of Texas. Representative Brown’s own district included a significant part of East Los Angeles, an area with a population that was largely Hispanic and Latinx.
 
The second paragraph of House Joint Resolution 1299 states, “It is in the tradition of our country to recognize, cherish and conserve the many cultural contributions of the people who have helped achieve the greatness of our Nation.” Representative Robert B. Price, in a statement about the resolution he helped sponsor, added: “It is high time that our immigrants and their descendants from Latin nations, as well as those citizens whose Spanish heritage and lineage within the current boundaries of the United States dates back to [pre-pilgrim] days, were honored in the same manner.”
 
On September 17, 1968, Congress passed Public Law 90-48 authorizing the president—beginning with then-president Lyndon Johnson—to declare National Hispanic Heritage Week each year and request that “people of the United States, especially the educational community…observe such week with appropriate ceremonies and activities.” 

Nineteen years later, in 1987, U.S. Representative Esteban Torres of California introduced a bill to expand National Hispanic Heritage Week to a full month. Torres stated that the legislation’s Hispanic supporters “want the public to know that we share a legacy with the rest of the country, a legacy that includes artists, writers, Olympic champions, and leaders in business, government, cinema, and science.”

Representative Torres’s 1987 bill never made it through the committees necessary to move on to the Senate. However, in May of 1988, an intern to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Robert Lopez, accepted the task of working on a similar bill that would amend the original 1968 law by expanding the official observation of Hispanic heritage to one month.

Lopez later told CNN that he was excited about the opportunity and thought getting the necessary number of congressional supporters would be “a slam dunk.” Instead, he encountered resistance. 

According to Lopez:

“People just didn’t want to support commemorative legislation. People said things like, ‘Well, why would we do that? Aren’t we all American? That’s not a thing we want to support’…I was a bit naive at the time and didn’t know what to do, so I asked the Black Caucus [for] help.”

To bolster his case with hesitant members of Congress, Lopez asked the Library of Congress for a list of Hispanic American achievements. He was shocked by the amount of history the researchers uncovered. 

Lopez was a third-generation Mexican-American whose parents grew up in a part of California where speaking Spanish led to punishment by white authorities. The American society of his parents’ youth required Hispanic individuals to assimilate and “be American.” Lopez recalls that when he was in high school in California, there were no Latino or Chicano Studies courses available.

The 1988 bill, Lopez said, “became a lot about self-discovery.”

The new bill’s sponsor in the House was again Representative Torres. Amended in the Senate by Senator Paul Simon and passed in August 1988, the bill was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan. On September 14, 1989, the first National Hispanic Heritage Month was proclaimed by President George H.W. Bush.

The following year, Representative Dale Kildee spoke on the House Floor honoring Hispanic-American constituents in his Michigan district. He stated that during Hispanic Heritage Month, Americans were celebrating the contributions of the Hispanic community and “also commemorating the growth of our Nation’s culture, vastly broadened and enriched by its Hispanic citizens.”
 
September 15th was originally chosen as the first day of Hispanic Heritage Week because five Hispanic countries--Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Costa Rica—celebrate the date as the anniversary of their independence from Spain in 1821. In the following weeks, Mexico and Chile also celebrate independence days. 

Robert Lopez told CNN, “I hope Hispanic Heritage Month helps people learn the things I didn’t know growing up, the importance of Latinos in our history, and the contributions they’ve made. [It’s] a good way to celebrate our own culture, but also for non-Latinos to be exposed. You can’t really understand American history without understanding Latino history.”


Understanding the history and origins of Hispanic Heritage Month

![Managing_Time_B (2).png](https://img.quizlet.com/kgqKa-o.jpg)

Did you know that food can impact your concentration, productivity, and performance? Whether you want to improve your nutrition for the new school year or stay focused during your study sessions, paying attention to your diet is a smart move. Stock up on these brain-fueling items before your next study session. 

### 1. Nuts
Walnuts and almonds make excellent study fuel. The fats in the nuts are tied to healthy brain cell reproduction. 

### 2. Berries 
Berries are rich in brain-friendly antioxidants. Put some blueberries in a sandwich bag and freeze them for a refreshing snack when your mind gets weary.

### 3. Grains
Healthy carbs like oatmeal or whole-grain bread are associated with increased serotonin, a neurotransmitter that helps you relax and focus.

### 4. Fish
When you need a quick dose of serious fuel, open a can of tuna or salmon. The acids in fatty fish are connected to stronger brain activity and brighter moods.

### 5. Peppermint candy
Peppermint is linked to recall. Pair a peppermint candy or cup of tea with Quizlet’s Learn mode, which is designed for active recall. With that combo, you can get even the most slippery concepts to stick.  

What are some of your favorite foods that help you with school? Leave your thoughts in the comments below. 

5 foods you need to fuel your brainpower

I would like to print a test like the older version allowed us to. I can no longer do so that way. Is there a way I can print a test without all the lines and pages given with the new version?

Dear support team could you allow the old way of printing tests. When I have one word o translate I use loads of paper as now it gives 3 lines.. I wish it was much more economical, even more then before. 

What do you mean about ? I don’t understand what is it writing .

I would like to display the list of set along with the audio reading the term and sentences flip from one side of the flashcard to the other (unassisted and onto the next word).  With the old Quizlet version I was ale to do this.  With the new Quizlet version  I am unable to do so.  We must click on the laptop or the touchscreen to process from one word to the next                                     

I would like to print a quiz like the old quizlet format did.  Makes my job as a teacher more difficult.  That was a fantastic feature that AI used a lot.  Please change it back!

i tryed to use quizlet for math it did not work make it workable.


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<div class="photo"><img src="https://img.quizlet.com/TTP2z-o.jpg" alt="Screen Shot 2021-11-17 at 10.29.34 AM.png" /></div>
<h3>Thank you for attending the Quizlet Checkpoint launch party.</h3>
<p>To make getting your PD certificate much easier, we are now allowing teachers to download it. </p>
<p>Here are easy steps to get your certificate:</p>
<ol>
<li>Click <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nURRgwQ5h7eaLvPlVWkgexRfi9kxC5kE/view?usp=sharing">here</a> to get the PD certificate</li>
<li>Download/Save the image</li>
<li>Open the image on your device and print it</li>
<li>Fill in your name</li>
<li>Share with administrator</li>
</ol>
<p>If you have any questions, please feel free to <a href="https://help.quizlet.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?solvvy=false">contact us.</a></p>
<p>Thanks,</p>
<p>The Quizlet Team</p>
<hr />
<p><strong>Reminder:</strong> <em>it is up to each individual school and administrator to accept these professional development hours. Quizlet cannot verify specific attendance and/or sign additional paperwork.<br />
</em></p>

![Screen Shot 2021-11-17 at 10.29.34 AM.png](https://img.quizlet.com/TTP2z-o.jpg)

###Thank you for attending the Quizlet Checkpoint launch party.  

To make getting your PD certificate much easier, we are now allowing teachers to download it. 

Here are easy steps to get your certificate:
1. Click [here](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nURRgwQ5h7eaLvPlVWkgexRfi9kxC5kE/view?usp=sharing) to get the PD certificate
2. Download/Save the image
3. Open the image on your device and print it
4. Fill in your name
5. Share with administrator

If you have any questions, please feel free to [contact us.](https://help.quizlet.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?solvvy=false)


Thanks,

The Quizlet Team

---

**Reminder:** *it is up to each individual school and administrator to accept these professional development hours. Quizlet cannot verify specific attendance and/or sign additional paperwork.
*



Download now: Quizlet Checkpoint launch party PD certificate

Download now: Quizlet Checkpoint launch party PD certificate

Thank you for attending the Quizlet Checkpoint launch party.

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