How to succeed in school?

The purpose of this column is to make you aware that you require to succeed in school. Therefore, the column includes the following information.

Information about things that you can do at home and at school which will contribute to your school success;

Activities that you can do to acquire the skills to succeed in school;

Answers to often-prompted questions that come up in your mind about how to work with teachers and schools; and

May be you think, school is a very important place when you go ahead with your studies. However, it does not really take up very much of your time. In Sri Lanka, the school year averages more or less 180 days which almost similar to the number of days available in the United States, but in some other nations, the school year lasts up to 240 days and students are often in school more hours per day than Sri Lankan students. Clearly, the hours and days that a child is not in school are important for learning, too. Here are some things that you can do to help yourself to make the most of that time:

Encourage yourself to read

In an earlier article too, I have explained the importance of reading. As the reading is a never ending process, how much we write about reading, to my knowledge it would not be sufficient. Without reading, you cannot learn effectively. You need to become a strong reader which is the single most important thing that you can do to help yourself as a child or student to succeed in school—and in life. The importance of reading simply cannot be overstated. Reading helps students in all school subjects. More important, it is the key to lifelong learning which is why I said that it is a never ending process.

In this case, parents could also do something very important to get the children to become good readers. The first thing is that “Start early.”When your child is still a baby, readings aloud to him should become a part of your daily routine. At first, read for no more than a few minutes at a time, several times a day. As your child grows older, you should be able to tell if he wants you to read for longer periods. As you read, talk with your child. Encourage him to ask questions and to talk about the story. Ask him to predict what will come next.

When your child begins to read, ask him to read to you from books or magazines that he enjoys. Some families even enjoy reading aloud to each other, with each family member choosing a book, story, poem or article to read to the others.

I know a certain father who had a habit of reading at least page per day from the famous book titled AMMA of Maxim Gorki to his six year old child. Ultimately this particular child did excellently well in literature subject of his mother tongue.

Make sure that your home has lots of reading materials that are appropriate for you. Keep books, magazines and newspapers in the house which you like to read. When I was a student, I always bought a copy of the ‘Ceylon Daily News’ and had a habit of reading the editorial daily, the result of which is self-explanatory. I have now become a columnist of the same paper.

Reading materials do not have to be new or expensive. You often can find good books and magazines at book exhibitions and sales. Ask family members and friends to consider giving you books and magazine subscriptions as gifts for birthdays or other special occasions.

Whenever they come with chocolates and some kind of sweets, politely tell them you would have been happier if they bring some reading materials. You need to set aside quiet time for reading.

Get help if you have a reading problem. When you experience reading difficulties, the reason might be simple to understand and deal with. For example, you might have trouble seeing and need glasses or you may require more help with reading skills.

If you think that you need extra help, ask your teachers about special services, such as after-school or some other reading programmes. I know it is very difficult to find teachers of such caliber in helping students in such a way, but try; sometimes your attempt might work.

If they are unable to help yourself personally, ask teachers or your local librarian for names of community organizations and local literacy volunteer groups that offer tutoring services. The good news is that no matter how long it takes; most of you can learn to read. Parents, teachers and other professionals can work together to determine if a child has a learning disability or other problem and then provide the right help as soon as possible.

When you get such help, chances are very good that you will develop the skills you need to succeed in school and in life.

Nothing is more important than you receive the support from your parents as you go through school. Make sure you receive extra help you need as soon as possible.

Talk with your parents

According to my knowledge, talking with parents play a major role in your school career. As per the finding of certain researches, it is through hearing parents and family members talk and through responding to that talk that young children begin to pick up the language skills they will need if they are to do well.

For example, children who do not hear a lot of talk and who are not encouraged to talk themselves often have problems learning to read, which can lead to other school problems. In addition, children who have not learned to listen carefully often have trouble following directions and paying attention in class.

Find time to talk any place, for example: As you walk with your parents or ride with them in a car or on a bus, talk with them about what you are doing at school. Good disciplined children do always tell parents about what took place in school without hiding anything.

Point out and talk about things that you see as you walk-funny signs, new cars, and interesting people. As you shop in a store, talk with your parents about prices, differences in brands and how to pick out good vegetables and fruits. My friend Aruna whenever he goes to the weekly fare (“Sathi Pola”) gives his child a chance to purchase items like vegetables, fish and fruits etc.; All what Aruna does is to show the child the direction about where to find certain items.

Below is another area where parents could help the children to develop themselves on their own.

1. As you fix dinner, ask your child to help you to follow the steps in a recipe. Talk with him about what can happen if you miss a step or leave out an ingredient. When I was a child of 10 years, my mother taught me how to cook. While teaching me the cooking methods, she did always tell that she was making this attempt as I might come across a situation where I need to cook by myself in future.

As she predicted very correctly, when I was working in overseas, I remember I was forced to cook for myself. Every time I cooked for myself, I remembered what my mother told me about three decades ago.

2. As you fix a sink or repair a broken table, ask your child to hand you the tools that you name. Talk with him about each step you take to complete the repair. Tell him what you are doing and why you are doing it. Ask him for suggestions about how you should do something.

3. As you watch TV together, talk with your child about the programmes. If you are watching one of his favorite programmes, encourage him to tell you about the background of the characters, which ones he likes and dislikes and who the actors are. Compare the programme to a programme that you liked when you were his age.

4. As you read a book with your child, pause occasionally to talk to him about what is happening in the book. Help him to relate the events in the book to events in his life: “Look at that tall building! Did n’t we see that when we were in Singapore?” Ask him to tell in his own words what the book was about. Ask him about new words in a book and help him to figure out what they mean. It is also important for you to show your child that you are interested in what he has to say. Demonstrate for him how to be a good listener:

5. When your child talks to you, stop what you are doing and pay attention. Look at him and ask questions to let him know that you have heard what he said.

6. When your child tells you about something, occasionally repeat what he says to let him know that you are listening closely: “The school bus broke down twice!”

Monitor homework

Remembering you that education is much more important than anything and so homework has to be done. Here are some ways to help you with homework:

Have a special place for you to study. The homework area does not have to be fancy. A desk in the bedroom is nice, but for many of you, the kitchen table or a corner of the living room works just fine. The area should have good lighting and it should be fairly quiet. You need to have all resources before sitting down for home work. Otherwise, you will be prompted to go in search of all requisites such as eraser, foot-ruler and pen etc. So before starting your homework, have available pencils, pens, erasers, writing paper and a dictionary. Other supplies that might be helpful include a stapler, paper clips, maps, a calculator, a pencil sharpener, tape, glue, paste, scissors, a ruler, index cards, a thesaurus and a calendar. If possible, keep these items together in one place

Set a regular time for homework. Having a regular time to do homework helps you to finish assignments. Of course, a good schedule depends in part on your age, as well as your specific needs. Sometimes, you will need to work with your parents to develop a schedule.

If you are studying for the Ordinary Level or higher level examinations, you should be able to make up a schedule independently-ask the parents to closely watch to make sure that it is a workable one. It is very important to put it in a place where you will see it often, such as in front of your book table or sleeping bed.

Remove distractions. Turn off the TV and get yourself discouraged from making and receiving social telephone calls during homework time. (A call to a classmate about an assignment, however, may be helpful.) If you live in a small or noisy household, try having all family members take part in a quiet activity during homework time. Get the help of the parents to take a noisy toddler outside or into another room to play. If distractions cannot be avoided, you may want to complete assignments in a public library.

For the attention of parents

You may be reluctant to help your child with homework because you feel that you do not know the subject well enough or because you do not speak or read English as well as your child. But helping with homework does not mean doing the homework. It is not about solving the problems for your child; it is about supporting him to do his best.

You may not know enough about a subject such as calculus to help your child with a specific assignment, but you can help nonetheless by showing that you are interested, helping him get organised, providing a place the materials he needs to work, monitoring his work to see that he completes it and praising his efforts.

Monitor TV viewing and video game playing

You may surprise when I announce that our children on average spend far more time watching TV or playing video games than they do completing homework or other school-related activities.

Here are some suggestions for helping you to use TV and video games wisely: Here again I would like to stress one important point that is education is most important thing for you to gather. There is nothing else.

1. Limit the time that you watch TV. Too much television cuts into important activities in your life, such as reading, playing with friends and talking with family members.

2. Model good TV viewing habits. Do not follow other family members. It is a known fact that children often imitate their parents’ behaviour. Children who live in homes in which parents and other family members watch a lot of TV is likely to spend their time in the same way. Children who live in homes in which parents and other family members have “quiet” time away from the TV when they read (either alone to each other), talk to each other, play games or engage in other activities tend to do the same.

3. Watch TV with your parent when you can. Talk with them about what you see. Try to get answers to your questions. Try to point out the things in TV programmes that are like your everyday life.

4. When you cannot watch TV with your parents, use your intelligence to select the best TV programmes to watch. At the end of the programme, try to analyse what excited you and what troubles you. Find out what you did learn and remembered.

5. Go to the library and find books that explore the themes of the TV shows that you would like to watch.

6. Limit the amount of time you spend playing video games. As with TV programmes, be aware of the games you like to play and discuss with yourself about your choices.

Encourage yourself to use the library

Libraries are places of learning and discovery for everyone. Get the assistance of your parents to find out good libraries and one thing is for sure that libraries will set you on the road to being an independent learner. Someone could argue with me when you have the internet facility at home, why you want to go to libraries. As I explained before, reading a book is much more educational than trying to access to the correct websites in the internet. Surfing websites takes a lot of time. You are a student. You need to get direct and quick access to your reading materials.

Here are some suggestions for how to help in this regard for parents.

1. Introduce your child to the library as early as possible. Even when your child is a toddler, take him along on weekly trips to the library. If you work during the day or have other obligations, remember that many libraries are open in the evening.

If your child can print his name, it is likely that your library will issue him a library card if you will also sign for him. See that your child gets his own library card as soon as possible so that he can check out his own books.

2. When you take your child to the library, introduce yourself and your child to the librarian. Ask the librarian to show you around the library and tell you about the services it has to offer. For example, in addition to all kinds of books, your library most likely will have magazines of interest to both your child and to you. Your library also might have books in languages other than English or programmes to help adults improve their English reading skills. Ask the librarian to tell your child about special programmes that he might participate in, such as good reading books and new arrivals.

3. Let your child know that he must follow the library’s rules of behaviour. Libraries want children to use their materials and services. However, they generally have rules such as the following that your child needs to know and obey:

Library materials must be handled carefully.

Materials that are borrowed must be returned on time. Your child needs to learn how long he can keep materials and what the fine will be for materials that are returned late.

All library users need to be considerate of each other. Shouting, running and being disruptive are not appropriate library behaviours.

Help your child learn to use the internet properly and effectively

I said in a different place in this column that the Internet is a time-wasting tool if you do really not know the exact website to locate. However, by saying so, we cannot throw away the benefits you could get from proper usage of internet.

The Internet/World Wide WEB-a network of computers that connects people and information all around the world-has become an important part of how we learn and of how we interact with others. For children to succeed today, they must be able to use the Internet. Here are some suggestions for helping you to learn to do so properly and effectively: If you are smart a child who do not have anything bad in your back of your mind, you could easily get the assistance of the parents whenever you need to go on-line in search of some important sites.

1. Spend time online with your child. If you do not have a computer at home, ask your librarian if the library has computers that you and your child may use. Learn along with your child. If you are not familiar with computers or with the Internet, ask the librarian if and when someone is available at the library to help you and your child learn together to use them. If your child knows about computers, let him teach you without feeling shy.

2. Ask him to explain what he is doing and why. Ask him to show you his favourite Web sites and to tell you what he likes about them. This will help him build self confidence and pride in his abilities.

3. Help your child to locate appropriate Internet Web sites. At the same time, make sure that he understands what you think are appropriate Web sites for him to visit. Point him in the direction of sites that can help him with homework or that relate to his interests.

4. Pay attention to any games he might download or copy from the Internet. Some games are violent or contain sexual or other content that is inappropriate for children.

5. You might consider using “filters” to block your child from accessing sites that may be inappropriate. These filters include software programmes that you can install on your computer.

In addition, many Internet service providers offer filters (often for free) that restrict the sites that children can visit. Of course, these filters are not always completely effective-and children can find ways around them. The best safeguard is your supervision and involvement.

6. Monitor the amount of time that your child spends online. Internet surfing can be just as time consuming as watching TV. Do not let it take over your child’s life. Have him place a clock near the computer and keep track of how much time he is spending online. Remember, many commercial online services charge for the amount of time the service is used. These charges can mount up quickly!

7. Teach your child rules for using the Internet safely. Let him know that he should never do the following:

tell anyone-including his friends-his computer password;

use bad language or send cruel, threatening or untrue e-mail messages;

give out any personal information, including his name or the names of family members, home address, phone number, age, school name; or arrange to meet a stranger that he has “talked” with in an online “chat room.”

Encourage your child to be responsible and to work independently

Taking responsibility and working independently are important qualities for school success. Here are some suggestions for helping you to develop these qualities:

1. Establish rules. Every home needs reasonable rules that parents have set and you must know them and should depend on them. Help the parents to set rules, and then make sure that you follow the rules consistently. Please be noted that these rules are set only for your own good.

2. Make sure that you have to take responsibility for what you do, both at home and at school. For example, do not automatically defend yourself if your teacher tells you that you are often late to class or is disruptive when you are in class. Analyse your side of the story independently. If a charge is true, face the consequences. Do a root-cause analysis to find out as to why you are getting late to school and then take corrective and preventive action. In this regard, you have to take the assistance of the parents.

3. Try to work out with the assistance of the parents a reasonable, consistent schedule of jobs to do around the house. List them on a calendar. If you are young, you could help set the table or put away their toys and clothes. Older ones can help prepare meals and clean up afterwards.

4. When the parents show you how to break a job down into small steps, then to do the job one step at a time. This works for everything—getting dressed, cleaning a room or doing a big homework assignment.

5. Take the responsibility for getting ready to go to school each morning—getting up on time, making sure that you have everything you need for the school day and so forth. If necessary, make a checklist to help you remember what you have to do.

6. Get the help of the parents to monitor what you do after school, in the evenings and on weekends. If your parents are not at home when you get back home, take a phone call to discuss your plans.

A special advice to parents - Encourage active learning

Children need active learning as well as quiet learning such as reading and doing homework. Active learning involves asking and answering questions, solving problems and exploring interests. Active learning also can take place when your child plays sports, spends time with friends, acts in a school play, plays a musical instrument or visits museums and bookstores.

To promote active learning, listen to your child’s ideas and respond to them. Let him jump in with questions and opinions when you read books together. When you encourage this type of give-and-take at home, your child’s participation and interest in school is likely to increase.