| Middle School Survival Skills
It is my job to provide you with opportunities to improve your skills. This
is an essential guide to skills you can use to improve your overall school
experience. These are guidelines, not rules, and they can be changed to fit
you and your learning style! This is not about getting straight A’s, but
about reducing stress, learning, and having fun (seriously)! But to improve,
you must try…simple as that.
1. Get organized. Your locker, your backpack, your binders, and your
brain. Each of these things is an ally in your pursuit of learning at MSK.
2. Take good notes. To do this you must be prepared for class and pay
attention. Show up with your stuff: pencil, pen, binder. If you do this,
your teacher and your classmates will know that you are serious about
learning.
3. Be responsible for your learning. Who is responsible for your
homework, your test scores, and your attitude? It is not your friend or
boyfriend, girlfriend, coach, parent or grandparent, dog or even your
teacher to some extent. It is you.
4. Establish a system that works. This may even mean using a planner
(yikes) to record homework and long term assignments. This may mean cleaning
your locker out ever week, or staying once a week for extra-help sessions.
It will be different for each student based on their unique needs.
5. Create a home base. This is a place where you study, practice, and
review. It may be at home or at school. But it should be a place where there
are few distractions (turn the phone, TV, video games, and IM off. Kick your
little brother out!). Make sure there is good lighting and it is calm. If
you cannot find such a space, talk to a trusted teacher and they can help.
6. Prioritize your work. There is a tendency to wait until the last
minute to complete assignments. Break large assignments up into smaller
manageable chunks. Challenge yourself to prioritize your work and all of the
other things you do in such a way that everything gets done. I assure you I
would rather play Frisbee and Snowboard than anything else on earth, but
showing up for work is important.
7. Identify support. Find the teachers, family members, and friends
that can help you get your work done. Find people who will help you, not do
it for you.
8. Communicate. Ask questions, seek clarification. Utilize your
resources (email, after school help, study halls, and a planner).
9. Make time. Not easy in the busy world of the teenager. Each of us
has a time of day when these work tasks are more likely to get done and done
well. It could be in the morning, afternoon, or night time. Find your time
and make the best of it.
10. Manage your stress. We all experience stress. To reduce stress it is
important to develop a healthy lifestyle. Eat well, get enough rest,
exercise, and laugh a lot. Reward yourself with breaks from studying, but
challenge yourself to move around and do strange and exciting things. Anyone
can turn on a tv.
Check out this online survey from Virginia Tech
http://www.ucc.vt.edu/studyskills/aassaform.htm
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