| Commonly Asked Questions and Answers about How to be Successful in School
Commonly Asked Questions and Answers about How to be Successful in School
- Q. What does my child need to be successful in school?
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A. I've had lots of opportunity to "kid-watch" during my years as a parent,
teacher, and principal and have come up with my own version of "the seven
habits" that characterize kids who do well in school, no matter what their
age. Whether your child is entering kindergarten, high school, college, or
graduate school, these traits or habits are important, so begin early. Here
are my top seven: curiosity; organization; common sense; resiliency; study
skills; persistence; and parental backup.
- Curiosity - Effective students are curious. They ask questions; they look for answers
and explanations; they want to learn. Curious kids can drive parents and
teachers crazy. They rarely accept "just because" as an answer and they
want the world to make sense. Curious kids get interested in a subject and
want to read everything they can about it. Curious kids are learning not
just because someone else wants them to, but because they have an
insatiable need to find out things for themselves. Encourage curiosity with
trips to the library, museums, attendance at special classes, or at-home
building or collecting projects.
- Organization - It's hard to be an effective student in a formal school setting without
some organizational skills. If your child wasn't born with a built-in need
for organization, then get to work on teaching and developing those skills.
Assignment notebooks, backpacks, keeping track of things, and having a
regular place to study are all important aspects of being organized.
Organization is a habit that developed early and practiced well will help
your child be a better student.
- Common Sense - I don't care what your IQ is, to be an effective student you have to have
some common sense and problem solving skills. When you encounter a problem
in daily life, demonstrate for your children how to talk your way through
it and come up with solutions. Common sense doesn't emerge full-blown in
children; it needs to be taught and practiced.
- Resiliency - My children have learned as much from their failures as their successes.
Your children will fail. The effective student has coping skills and is
resilient enough to figure out what went wrong and how to make sure it
doesn't happen again. The resilient student doesn't look for excuses and
other people to blame for his failures but accepts responsibility and
marches forward. Help your child develop a sense of personal accountability
and the ability to bounce back from setbacks.
- Study Skills - There's no getting around it. To be a successful student you do have to
crack the books once in awhile. Knowing how to read, write, study for
tests, and complete assignments is essential to being an effective student.
If your child is having difficulty with these important skills, get help
for him or her immediately.
- Persistence - Effective students don't give up when the work is difficult. They set goals
and keep trying. I'm afraid that many of us as parents are so eager for our
children to experience success that we do all we can to look for short-cuts
for our kids. We care more about the grade or the rank then we do about the
lessons learned in getting to the goal. At some point in your child's life
he/she will hit a wall that you won't be able to help them climb. That's when
he/she will need to be persistent.
- Parental Backup - The final trait of an effective student has to do with his/her parents.
Almost every effective student has a powerful backup team at home, someone
to give advice, encouragement, and to hold expectations for success. Be
there for your kids during this school year.
- Q. How can I encourage my child to like learning?
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A. The favorite buzz-words in education today are "life-long learning."
Schools want to graduate students who won't stop learning once they
graduate; teachers want to give students the skills and curiosity that will
keep them reading, studying, and growing intellectually throughout their
entire lives. But schools and teachers can't do this job alone. It's up to
parents to create a learning environment and a quest for knowledge at home.
If you're a couch potato who never opens a book or talks about ideas,
chances are your child may follow in your well-worn rut. Here are
ten things you can do at your house to raise a life-long learner (and
become one yourself).
- Read books, newspapers, and magazines yourself. Talk about what you read
with your children.
- Read aloud to your children every day. Even when your kids get older,
keep reading aloud. Read biographies, historical fiction, and mysteries the
family can solve together.
- Encourage your children to develop an interest or area of special
knowledge. Check out and buy books. Collect things. Develop a unique
skill.
- Pursue a degree as an adult. If you don't have your high school diploma,
earn your GED. You'll inspire your kids. If you've always wanted a degree
in engineering, go back to school and get it. It will be hard work, but you
will be modeling life-long learning--not just talking about it.
- Take your kids to the public library. Take a field trip to a college or university library and
just wander through the stacks. Give your kids a sense
of how much there is to learn and that learning doesn't just take place within
the four walls of a classroom.
- Fill in the branches of your family tree and write your family history.
History will come alive if you flesh it out with stories about members of
your own family.
- Encourage your child to enter competitions (art, music, writing,
inventing, athletic). Competing against others his/her own age will expand
your child's world and expose him/her to other children who are life-long
learners.
- Don't wait until tomorrow to do something you've always wanted to do.
Model risk-taking and excitement about new horizons for your child.
- Take mini-field trips to out-of the way places. Interview people about
unusual jobs.
- Hang out at a used book store and buy some books about something you
know nothing about. READ THEM.
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