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Sep 2010 Issue
[photopress:girl_studying_910.jpg,thumb,pp_style] By Lu Ann Brobst Staheli
School starts soon for many students. Some of these kids are excited about meeting their teachers and spending time with their friends.
Others prefer those long lazy days of summer playtime to the regular schedule classes bring. As most adults will admit, school can be wonderful, or it can be boring. Each student’s attitude plays in a huge role in determining what this coming school year will bring. Setting goals will help your children excel and become more involved.
Here are some goals they might consider:
Choose to have a positive attitude about learning. Know that your teachers want you to learn the concepts that will be the most beneficial to you. Look for ways you can apply these things to your life and future learning. Be willing to listen and to give things a try rather than setting up a wall of resistance. Don’t be afraid to ask questions when you don’t understand the material.
Set realistic goals for yourself for the coming year. If your grades have been low in the past, don’t aim for straight A’s right away. Instead, improve each grade by one letter grade each term by doing the following. Read one more book than you did the term before. Spend an extra ten minutes a night reviewing your math problems or history notes.
Demonstrate a science experiment at home for your parents and siblings. Do your homework right away each evening and turn all assignments in on time.
Establish regular study habits. Have a time blocked out each day to study. If you don’t have homework one evening, use the time to read or review anyway. Keep an assignment planner and begin upcoming projects early. Teach someone else what you have learned. It will help you remember the things you read.
Get to know your teacher. Teachers give students lots of clues about what they value, and therefore what types of information will appear on quizzes and tests, what policies will be regarding late work, the kinds of answers they expect on essay questions, and much more. As you get to know your teacher better, he or she will also get to know more about you. This two-way communication helps the teacher and student develop a bond of trust that will only aid in the educational process.
See yourself with the end goal in mind. Athletes go into their game thinking about coming out the winner. Students should do the same when setting goals for school. It isn’t just about reading the history chapter and memorizing facts, but the learning about our nation, the people, and why a battle was so important so we can make wise choices.
A math assignment isn’t just about getting though this page and doing the problems.
The concepts learned on each assignment help build the process and strategies needed to complete the next assignment and the next, leading us to higher levels of competency in the subject. Your freshman year isn’t just about attending high school, going to dances, and meeting new people. It puts you on the path to success in all of your courses in high school, college, and beyond. The true purpose of education is to give you the skills necessary to succeed in whatever course your life may take because you are a life-long learner.
Students who set goals and continually work toward reaching them will find themselves successful more in school and will establish habits that will help them both at home and in the workplace as well. And the improvement in grades doesn’t hurt along the way.
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