August 13, 2016June 3, 2017 jathan

4 Simple Routines that Improve Your Child’s School Performance

Parenting

Getting the Most out of this Year:
Having an effective school year is not as complicated as you might think. Sure, there are those years when life is hit by a tsunami and your child’s school year is collateral damage. There are also those times during which your child is just unreachable not matter what you try. For those years, survival is a win.

Far too often, however, I see student performance suffer needlessly. And that’s a shame. This article is about returning to a few simple fundamentals that still make a huge difference in performance.

Fundamental #1: Teacher Communication
This first routine is for parents. This little trick that can keep small problems from snowballing. Here’s my suggestion:

Send a quick email to your child’s teachers that goes something like this:

Mr. John Doe,

I’m so glad to be partnering with you in my child’s educational experience. I simply wanted to write to open lines of communication between teacher and parent. Should you have any concerns, problems, or wins, don’t hesitate to contact me.

All the Best,

            Mary Lou Parent

Not only have you showed the teacher good faith, you’ve also provided your email address conveniently into their inbox. Here’s why this is a big deal.

The quicker a parent can get their fingers on your contact information, the more likely they will keep you abreast of mounting concerns. It’s a matter of convenience. When Tommy Talker’s teacher see’s that he’s getting off track in class they are able to drop you a few lines in two clicks of a mouse.

Conversely, the teacher is more likely to put off communication a bit longer if he or she has to find your info, call you, get your voicemail, etc. This is not to say that a good teacher will not contact you, it just might be later on in the process when things have worsened a bit.

I’ve been able to mitigate problems on more than one occasion by walking over to my computer during class and spending 30 seconds contacting a parent about what had just happened with their child.

P.S. Put your child’s name in the SUBJECT. This makes the email easier to find later.

 

Routine #2: Organization
I do not believe that being organized is the be-all-end-all to a person’s success or failure. But I can assure you, your child’s grades will suffer if they are not organized to an appropriate degree.

Most teachers have a way that they want your child to be organized for their class throughout the year. Find out what that is and help your child align with it. Make sure you’ve got the correct type of binder, tabs, writing utensils, etc. If not your child’s performance will suffer.

Here are the two main by-products of disorganization:

1.      Your Child Gets Behind in Classwork: Instructional minutes are precious. Teachers must constantly be on the move. I, therefore, can’t wait for Sloppy Sally to find her graphic organizer before I start instruction. Waiting also isn’t fair that the other 80% of the students who are ready to go. Your child needs to be able to put their hands on their materials right away.

2.   Your Child Gets Poor Grades for LOST Assignments: It doesn’t matter that a student did brilliant work on a paper if they can’t find it when it’s time to turn it in. I would love to give them an “A”, but I’ve got no proof. Your child needs to be able to put their hands on their materials when it’s time to turn them in.

Routine #3: Sleep
Last year on of my students started falling asleep in class. She was a sweet girl who sat on the front row and had never given me any problems. I knew something was up. I asked her what I always ask my sleeping students, “What time did you go to bed last night?” She said “Four- thirty.”

Even I was pretty shocked at that one. I asked, “What on earth are you doing that kept you up until 4:30 a.m.!” She said, “I was watching a Vampire Diaries marathon on my phone.” 

Netflix marathons can be a barrel of fun. But not in the wee hours of the morning on a school night!

There are mountains of evidence proving that sleep deprivation has a direct, negative effect on performance. The lack of sleep negatively impacts your child’s performance in school just like it does for you and me on our jobs. If you let them have their phone when they go to bed, there is no telling what time they’re actually going to sleep. Find out what time your child is going to sleep, not what time they closed their bedroom door and said “good night.”

Routine #4: Food
Who has time to cook breakfast anymore before leaving the house? Not me. Not my wife. But there has to be something better than Cheetos and Skittles to fuel your child’s brain for the day.

Just as I’m always amazed at the number of students that come to school sleep deprived, I’m also amazed at those that come to class with a nutritional deficit. Just like sleep, nutrition has a direct impact on performance. Tanking up on junk food before class is a double whammy – the sugar rush and sugar crash. Both are toxic in the classroom.

If teachers report your child falling asleep, being hyperactive, not completing classwork, check their diet. It’s very possible that larger issues might be afoot, but it could be that they’re choking down too many Doritos and not enough bananas.

Tune-Up Time:
Sometimes we need to take the car to the mechanic and let him give it a good tune-up. The same goes for your child’s school engine. Every now and then it’s good to do a once-over of certain fundamentals that, while basic, are imperative for success.  

These principles escape more students and parents than you would think. Who knows, maybe they’re escaping you. Are they really sleeping when you think they are? Are they really eating what you think they are? You might be surprised at what you find. You also might be surprised at the spike in performance that returning to them will bring.