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Teachable Moments
Know! The Key
Skills for Your Child's Academic Success
Academic success is a team effort that includes an individual student,
his or her teachers, and the child’s parents. In order to be the best
team possible, we encourage you to share the following information with
your parent network.
PARENTS: As the new school year begins, you have the opportunity to
help your students start strong and stay on track toward academic
success. We all know the importance of academic achievement in shaping
the minds of our children, giving them a competitive edge to further
their education and to better prepare them for future careers. In
addition, research shows there are health benefits as well—as young
people who achieve higher grades in the classroom also don’t use drugs.
A past national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) showed that students
with higher grades were significantly less likely to drink, smoke
marijuana, or abuse prescription drugs. This association doesn’t prove
causation, but it certainly provides families even greater motivation
to make academic achievement a priority as it further sets young people
up for success later in life.
With that in mind, let’s kick off this school year right by helping our
students strengthen and maintain these 5 Key Skills for Academic
Success:
1. Organization: Sometimes academic challenges have
more to do with organization than with intellect. Help your child get
organized with these simple tips:
Have them make a checklist of what they need to bring to and from
school each day, then post it on whatever door they head out of each
morning.
Help them develop a system of keeping track of and organizing in-school
and at-home assignments.
2. Time Management: This is the classic, “wait until
the night before an assignment is due to begin working on it, even
though they’ve had weeks to complete it” syndrome. Every student has
likely been there at some point, but we want to guide our children
toward better time management:
Have them track assignments on a monthly calendar and teach them to
work backwards from the due date to break it down into smaller, nightly
tasks.
Work with your child to figure out how much time is being spent on
homework weekly and help them divide that time into manageable chunks.
With your child’s input, choose a specific time block each afternoon or
evening for studying and homework, and help your child stick to it.
3. Prioritization: Mounting piles of homework can
become overwhelming. Without knowing where to begin, a student can
easily fall behind and get off track for turning in assignments. Teach
your child how to prioritize with these tips:
Have your child write down all the things he or she needs to get done,
including non-school-related items and activities.
Ask your child to label each task from 1 to 3, with 1 being the most
important.
If your child is labeling all social activities as 1, you’ll need to
help them refocus and readjust their list to better prioritize for
academic success.
Have your teen then rearrange the list so that the 1s are at the top.
Be sure they check the items off the list as they complete them—it
feels good and is a real motivator to keep going!
4. Concentration: Designate an area for homework and
studying that is free from interruptions and distractions, which
typically means no phone, no TV, no playing games or checking social
media on the computer, and—depending on your household—it may also mean
keeping siblings out of this workspace as well.
5. Motivation: No matter what a person is trying to
achieve, motivation is a key factor. A child may sincerely want to do
well in school but may not have the drive to put in the work to make it
happen. Help them find their motivation by tapping into their interests:
If your son is learning about percentages, ask him to figure out the
price of a discounted pair of Jordan or Huarache shoes. If your
daughter is passionate about music, give her books about musicians and
help her learn the connections between music and foreign languages.
It’s about finding the drive to accomplish a goal.
Give your child control and choices. With guidance, let them be the one
to determine their study hours and organizing system.
Encourage your child to share their expertise. It is motivating for
them to be able to teach you something.
Be sure to hand out plenty of praise, give them pats on the back, and
sincerely celebrate their successes!
It takes a combination of skills—organization, time management,
prioritization, concentration and motivation—to achieve academic
success. You know your child better than anyone. Work with them to
identify problem areas, focus on the skills that need strengthened, and
strive to help your son or daughter maintain the ones they’ve mastered.
With your support and guidance, your child will be better prepared to
start the school year off strong and remain on the road to success,
both in and out of the classroom.
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