| Students need to ask for help with their studies, as needed, at the first sign of trouble. The best source for tutoring is always going to be with the teachers of their classes, who know their students' strengths and challenge areas from working with them on a day-to-day basis. Most of our teachers either have set times, before school, at lunchtime, or after school, or they make appointments with individual students to sit down and work through any difficulties. Please see the school webpage for information on other programs in place to assist struggling students. Students must be proactive in finding and following study routines that enhance their understanding and retention of the academic materials they are studying. I suggest that students have a "homework routine," and devote at least 20 minutes of outside study time daily for each academic class in their schedules. Students should use that time for homework, of course, but even if there isn't any homework for a certain class, that time can be used to review the textbook chapter being studied, pre-read the next chapter to be studied, and review and/or re-copy notes taken in class that day. It only takes about five minutes to re-copy class notes -- there is something "magical" about writing it all down again that helps with retention of the information at test time. Students should also consider forming study groups when a test is coming up. This is a very helpful practice common in college that should be more prevalent in middle and high schools. Often different students pick up different elements within a class lecture. By sharing their notes and quizzing each other, the study group tends to get the full picture of the information needed for the test. |
