Wow what a bitch of an assignment. I've played piano since I was 4, and various other instruments along the way. I've been able to read notes for as long as I can remember, but I still have some trouble with above and below staff lines. I suppose you've been taught the tricks for the actualy staff lines such as E,G,B,D,F (Every Good Boy/Band Deserves Fudge/Fans) and stuff like that. I don't really have any tips for you Shink unfortunately, which kind of makes my post here useless I suppose. The only input I can give you is literally try to memorize visually the way it looks. Like when I see an "A" above the staff line, for some reason I can identify it immediately. I suppose the reason he's assigning you this is so you do exactly that, recognize it as soon as you see it.