Study Skills at the middle level involve time management, homework completion, communication, self advocacy and knowledge about skills. Learning time management means judging how much time is needed for an assignment, how much is possible to do at school and what makes sense to do at home or the library. Many students will find study skills, time management and self advocacy a challenge during the sixth and seventh grades. This is normal! From time to time, homework seems complicated, boring, challenging, exciting. When students are involved in homework as a part of a group, the challenge is how and when to speak up when one person feels the effort is not equal between group members. Understanding what is required is an essential first step. For daily work, noting the assignment in the planner is the best practice. For longer term projects, each teacher provides what is called a "Product Descriptor" or "Project Rubric" to describe what components are due and when. When students or parents feel that a lagging skill is making homework frustrating or challenging, it's time to meet with the House teachers and counselor to assess where a skill is lacking and what can be done. When parents or a student feel homework has lost meaning or is boring because it is too "easy" or not challenging enough, this too is a signal to get together with the House teachers, the counselor, our school Teaching Strategist, Kathleen Ball, or / and our Chapter 104 consultants to collaborate about how best to step-it-up while maintaining classroom continuity. At the middle level, school absences can compound study skill development. Many skills are taught while the classroom material is being presented. Missing school means not only missing instruction but the study skill that is embedded in the instruction that can help a student feel confidence about mastering the concept. Counselors can provide support and teach study skills through group work and individual sessions for students who feel challenged with organization, time management, self advocacy or skill assessment. Studies have also demonstrated that when parents are involved with the homework by knowing what is expected and when - students achieve a better result. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How can parents be involved with study skill development? 1. Check the planner from time to time. Ask how your child handles writing the homework while also getting ready to move on to the next class. This may lead to a great discussion about the struggles and natural solutions of time management, multi-tasking. 2. Known that homework is assigned every day of the week. • If your child reports that there is no homework, ask about specific classes. Usually this brings up a memory that yes there is some homework afterall. If no homework remains the answer, assign your child a routine of one hour's reading per night whenever there is no homework. You may find your child remembers homework! After all this, if you are concerned, or your child is concerned that there is frequently no homework, ask for a meeting with teachers or contact the counselor or homeroom teacher for a conference.
3. Create a home routine that includes homework time and a regular homework place. • The best case for homework is practice of skills learned at school. If your child is confident that the practice is not needed, provide a structure that reading can be done instead. If your child needs to relax, have fun, or practice after school before homework, then establish a routine such as an hour before dinner at the dining room table is homework time, or an hour in the living room reading while dinner is cooking.
4. Talk about your own organization strategies • Discuss your own tricks of the trade. The wipe-off board near the phone, the calendar on your desk at work. Discuss how these tools are like your child's binders or planners. Help them set up binders with clear and clean markings about subject matter.
5. Add a stress-free routine of prep before bed. • Suggest a place to put papers, homework, binders, backpack (even lunch!) before bed so mornings are stress-free (or at least a little less stressed). Participate in the preparation for a while with gentle reminders or designating a family place for your child's backpack. This shows your child's organization is important to you too.
6. Middle School follow-up when absent is crucial. • Middle School is far and away different from elementary school when it comes to missed work during an absence. The responsibility is on your child to check with the teacher about what was missed in class. Many students or parents erroneously believe that if a teacher does not tell them or remind them about something they missed, then they have no work to do for that class. This can lead to costly misunderstandings and missing assignments and a cascading effect on grades. Best practice is to encourage and double check that your child checks in with any teacher whose class he or she missed.
7. Maintain perspective: Middle School is about the whole child - homework is part of it, but not all of it. Be proactive….talk with teachers, your child, your child's counselor. Show that skill development and academic success are a part of also becoming an honest, compassionate, caring human being. |