Just think, in a couple of days, thousands of students will be back to hitting the books after a well-deserved Christmas break. I don’t think that I’m the only one who notices that students aren’t as focused and ready to work as most teachers and parents would like to see. How can we beat the obvious lag that comes after being away from school for a longer period of time?
Set goals
Goals are a huge part of success. If you have no idea what you’re working towards, there really isn’t a way to gauge if you’ve gotten where you want to be. Set simple goals or guidelines such as, “By the end of today, I want to finish half of the math homework that’s due on Friday.” By setting smaller goals, you’ll feel like you’re getting more done and accomplishing more than you would if you were putting all of your work towards one huge goal. On the contrary, you can also make a large goal and split it into smaller, manageable steps. For example, if you have a big Social Studies project due in a week, split up the work necessary into a logical sequence that will help you stay on track (tip: write it out as a checklist).
Time Manage
If you have no way to manage your time, you are more likely to end up distraught and stressed out over work you never had time to do. I know it sounds like something your pretentious junior high health teacher told you to do, but hold an agenda and plan out your time. This will help you keep track of deadlines, extracurriculars and will help you evaluate your progress based on an entire outcome. I think that the biggest rule for time management is DO NOT PROCRASTINATE. I’m a bit of a hypocrite in this respect. Don’t leave work to the last minute. It’ll end up rushed and of poor quality. Instead, start off by completing small sections of a piece of work or studying reduced parts of a unit so that it seems like less work and you don’t end up leaving it all until the night before your due date/test.
Try not to get distracted
Whether you’re in class listening to a lesson, working in a group or independently at school or at home, distractions will be your kryptonite. Try to listen to your teachers and if you need to take notes in order to be able to focus, do just that. Don’t let your attention drift to something completely inconsequential because you’ll likely miss important details and end up confused anyway. Keeping work to itself and not trying to do something else at the same time is important. If you tend to listen to music while working, try to kick the habit unless it’s something that actually helps you to stay focused. Watching TV and texting or going on Facebook while working won’t get you anywhere either. Your attention will be drifting from one thing to another and you won’t end up really getting anything accomplished.
Just remember, work habits and kicking the back-to-school blues are all about intention. If you are truly wanting to succeed in getting back to a normal routine, you are more likely to get where you want to be.
