Term 1 Reflections in the Secondary

How did it go? And how can I improve?

Term 1 is over, reports went out, and now is time to reflect on your child’s progress. Are they meeting expectations? Are they below expectations in certain subjects? Talk to your son/daughter about why this may be and what s/he can do about it. Here are some ideas:

1. ATL Club on Thursdays from 3:00-4:00 PM with Ms. Bates in Room 4. The goal of this club is to help students with their ATL skills (Approaches to Learning) such as organization, planning, time management, etc. It also provides a quiet space for students to get some work done with the possibility of teacher support.
2. Math Support on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays after school from 3:00-4:00 PM. Students can visit Math teachers on these given days for some extra help.
   1. Monday – Room 15 – Mr. Fuell
   2. Wednesday – Room 6 – Mr. McCormick
   3. Thursday – Room 1 – Mr. Sareen
   4. Friday – Room 9 – Ms. Wood
3. Dealing with Social Media distractions. One of the biggest problems of many of our students is managing their time effectively while doing homework. Social Media is constantly distracting them as they try to study. Last year I gave a presentation to students about this topic which I will share with you again. The solution is not to ban social media altogether; that is impossible and your child would never forgive you. The key is to separate work from play and not try to do both at the same time. Have your daughter/son create a study schedule. For example 50 minutes study – 10 minutes relax – 50 minutes study – 10 minutes relax. During the “relax” time, they can get up, eat a snack and get on social media. But as soon as the time is up, they are back at their work. To help student stay on schedule apps are available to make certain web-pages inaccessible.

• For Mac: http://selfcontrolapp.com/
• For Windows: GetColdTurkey.com
• Chrome extension: Productivityowl.com