Progress reports, report cards. Parent teacher interviews… it’s that time of year for the first formal report of how kids are doing do far this grade.

The first report card can be a stressful time for parents and kids alike.  Maybe there might be a few unpleasant surprises, and maybe a few red flags, which can be stressful enough, but then to add to the stress, it’s also time for parent-teacher interviews.

Here’s the thing: parent–teacher interviews don’t have to be stressful!

Check out these tips for de-stressing the meeting-the-teacher process, and helping your kids get on the path to better grades.

Go to the interview. Even if your kid is pulling in straight A’s, going to the interview is a key part in parental involvement in education.  Studies show that the more parents are involved in their child’s education, the better grades their child gets. So go, meet the teachers that instruct and test your children, even if it’s just to shake hands and say, “nice to meet you.”

Prepare. Read the report card over before going to the interview.  Also, review any returned test or assignments that your child has be given to see if marks on the report card are aligned with marks on homework.  Bring examples of your child’s work with you to the interview if you have specific concerns.

Ask Questions. It’s not enough to just show up; parents should go into the interview informed. Have specific questions in mind in order to gain better insight classroom performance. Not sure what to ask? Asking how your child is performing in relation to the other students in the class is always a good conversation starting point. Try to keep the discussion academic.  It’s nice to hear that your child is the class charmer, but it doesn’t help help him reach his academic goals.

Set Goals.  If your child is getting a C+ and you’d like it to be a B+, then discuss actionable steps that can be taken starting right away to make this goal happen. Take notes, and set the actions in motion immediately—the next report card will be here before you know it! (Need some help setting goals?  Download our Academic Action Plan.)

Keep it Short and Friendly. Teachers and parents are on the same team when it comes to education, so being confrontational benefits no one. Also, keep in mind that the teacher has somewhere between 20 and 30 parents to meet with.  Your time is short, so maximize it!

Call Oxford Learning. Confused by report card jargon? Worried about poor grades? Concerned that your child is not being challenged enough? Call Oxford Learning to schedule a free report card consultation.  We can help you make sense of the report card! And, we’re a valuable part of your child’s academic support team.

Studies show that when parents are engaged in education their children perform better in school. All parents want their kids to be successful in school and sometimes that means rolling up your sleeves and lending a helping hand.

The ultimate aim of education is to have children who are organized, independent thinkers, both responsible and capable of taking academic risks. The majority of children need a little support from Mom and Dad to get to that point.  But how much help is too much?

Somewhere between seeing grades on the report card for the first time and scheduling weekly phone conversations with the teacher is the perfect amount of parental school involvement. Parents should be involved and aware of what is going on at school, but not actively completing work for their kids.

HERE ARE SOME IDEAS TO HELP PARENTS GET INVOLVED IN THEIR CHILD’S EDUCATION

Communicate. Talk to kids about school every day.  Ask specific questions about classes.  Rather than asking, “how was school?” ask, “how was math class?  What did you learn?” Parents should know their kids schedule and teachers’ names, and stay abreast of upcoming projects and assignments.

Don’t Wait for the Report Card. One of the biggest mistakes parents make is waiting too long to correct problems. Rather than waiting for the first report card or progress report to come home, parents should follow up with issues that come up when and if they come up. If there’s a quiz on Friday, ask how it went on Monday. If marks are not what they should be, arrange a talk with the teacher and make a plan. And don’t be afraid to simply call the teacher just to check in and make sure that everything is going smoothly.

Help with Homework. There are a lot of DOs and DON’Ts when it comes to homework help.  It boils down to two basic rules: Help, but don’t do the work for them. Parents should help create a homework-friendly atmosphere where children can focus and get the work done without getting stressed out or losing motivation.

Organization. Morning, after-school, and evening routines all require organization skills to run smoothly. Whether it’s emptying book bags right after school, picking out school clothes the night before, or enforcing bedtimes, an organized routine teaches kids consistency, which pays off in school.  If disorganization is a problem at home, it’s likely a problem at school.  Kids who demonstrate consistent organization skills at home transfer those skills with them to the classroom. Help kids get organized at home, and you’re helping them be organized in school.

Set Goals Together. Part of the communication process involves setting academic goals for the school year.  Help kids learn to think about long-term outcomes by discussing personal and academic ambitions, big or small.  Be sure to keep goals realistic, achievable, and measurable. Use calendars, planners, agendas, or use our Academic Action Plan to keep goals on-track.

Do you have great tips to share on how you get involved in your child’s education?  We’d love to hear them.  Leave us a comment…and don’t forget follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Is your family up to the challenge of going Internet-free?

How much does your family use technology for entertainment? How many hours are spent killing time surfing the web, playing video games, watching YouTube videos?

Some studies show that kids are using technology up to 7 hours a day.  While this might suggest that kids would be more reluctant than their parents to unplug, a recent “technology abstinence” experiment in a Chicago school showed that 90% of sixth graders chose to go technology-free for the experiment.
The students weren’t completely restricted however—they could access some technology … whatever technology was available in 1983 when their teacher was in 6th grade.

• No smartphones
• No internet
• No laptops
• No Twitter or Facebook
• No iPods
• No handheld devices of any sort

The result?

Both parents and students rediscovered love of technology-free time. They spent more time doing crafts, reading, exercising, and simply engaging in good old-fashioned conversation.

While kids need to be techno-competent for school, they also need time away from technology to engage their brains in different ways. In fact, studies show that technology usage in the hours before bed can disrupt sleep patterns, which in turn can have a negative impact in the ability to learn.

Despite the UN declaring Internet access a basic human right (or maybe because of it), groups are springing up to help people deal with “media addiction.”

The website Good.Is has even issued  a 30-Day Internet-Free Challenge that suggests that families unplug at 8 pm every night.

Will you participate? Let us know!

Thanks to Good.Is for the great idea!

We know that creating hand-written study notes is a surefire way to maximize your study efforts. It turns passively reading over notes into an active endeavor that uses multiple senses and helps to improve recall.

But just how do you create study notes, and what should you look for? The main thing to remember when creating study notes is summarize, summarize, summarize! Study notes are all about the art of condensing.

Here’s how to begin:

1. Grab a pen and paper. To maximize the benefit of studying, study notes should be written out by hand. Studies show that the act of writing is more beneficial than typing study notes on the computer.
2. Write down Key Words. Start by identifying all subject headings/subheadings/bolded words. These are the main ideas of each section and unit, and identify what the section is about.
3. Summarize. Under each heading, summarize the information. Use bullet points. Be brief. The point is to jot down the main ideas, not re-write the chapter.
4. Paraphrase. Read over a sentence and then say it back using your own words. What two or three words stand out as most important? Write those down.
5. Get Messy! These are your study notes, so develop a system that works for you. Colour code. Triple Underline. Sketch. Whatever will help you remember—and understand—is what will make your study notes successful.

As you practice creating study notes, you’ll get better and better at picking out the main messages and the key words to remember. This means that your study notes themselves will condense. The first time you create your own study notes, your might have multiple pages; as time goes one, you’ll be able to summarize your study notes onto on single, easy-to-refer-to page.

Want more information about creating study notes or other study tips? Your local Oxford Learning Centre can answer all your questions, and tell you all about a program that can help make studying and learning easier. Call today!

What do your fingers and hands have to do with how well you remember what you study?

Well, new research is showing that the physical act of handwriting stimulates critical activity in specific areas of the brain that develop a sort of visual memory of words and letters.

In the study, researchers asked two groups to learn an unknown alphabet. One group studied the alphabet by writing the letters out by hand. The other group read solely off computers.

It shouldn’t surprise you that the group who wrote the letters out had better recall and did better on tests of the alphabet.

The Take Away:

There are many ways to go about the process of studying. One of the tried-and-true study techniques is creating study notes using pen and paper.

It may seem an old-fashioned practice given the abundance of personal technology that students have at their fingertips, however, the act of physically writing creates a “motor memory” in the brain that helps both the brain, and the body, remember.

So if you want to maximize your study time, improve recall on tests, and get better grades, grab and pen and paper, open your textbook or notebook, and start making study notes!

Kids forget stuff all of the time. Where they left their book bag. What day the next soccer game is. When Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone.

Before writing kids off as hopelessly forgetful, consider that they may have simply never been taught how to remember.

As the World Memory Champions can tell you, there are tricks—simple tricks—that everybody can use to improve memory abilities.

So what’s the secret?

When it comes to improving your memory, the most important secret is … imagination.

And luckily for forgetful students, kids have a natural abundance of imagination.

Telling stories and visualizing details improves the ability to recall details. That’s because visual memory is larger and stronger than logical memory.

The main memory technique involves making visual associations. This is where imagination comes in. The associations do not have be logical or make sense. They only need to be relevant to the individual.

For students, it might be the only instance where being illogical, nonsensical, and random pays off in school.

Here are some of the best tips that filmmaker Josh Freed learned while filming his documentary
Where Did I Put My…Memory?

1. Numbers: Imagine numbers as shapes or common images. For instance, the number 5 could be a snake, the number 8, a snowman. Then, recall numbers by crafting a story around the numbers. This technique could be very helpful in helping young children remember phone numbers.

2. Placement: Always remember where you left something by imagining it blowing up. Rather than dropping off a book bag in the front hall, pause and visualize it blowing up. Or, maybe a less violent image for younger children—perhaps the image of taking a nap would work.

3. Names: Visualize something about a person’s name. Associate the first letter of the name with an object. For instance, the name Laura could be associated with a shamrock because she was wearing green when you met her, and shamrocks are lucky. Lucky and Laura both start with the letter L.

4. Singing. There has been much success with singing instructions and repeating the chorus. The Alphabet Song has been helping preschoolers learn the alphabet for years, while teacher Alex Kajitani has become known as the Rappin’ Mathematician for using rap to teach math skills to students.

5. Making up stories. Making lists and writing things down is a tried and true way to avoid forgetting, but when these sorts of memory aids are not available, making up stories can not only help people remember important tasks and details, it can actually help make the brain stronger, and less reliant on outside tools to aid recall.

Check out the article The Secrets of Mastering Your Memory for more information and for information about how technology will help memory in the future.

1. Take Envy-Worthy Class Notes. The first step in making homework easier actually begins in class with good note taking. In order to take the kind of class notes that other classmates will ask to borrow, students have to be actively paying attention in class—texting, daydreaming, or crushing on the cutie two rows over might be fun, but certainly doesn’t work in students’ favour when it’s homework time.

2. Use Your Agenda. Schools don’t pass out agendas so that students have a place to doodle—an agenda is actually a very important tool that helps students stay organized. But, it can be used for more than just copying down daily homework assignments: it can help students prioritize their workflow, organize their time, keep track of questions to ask the teacher, and much, much more.

3. Know What Works for You. There’s a lot of differing advice about how to proceed with homework. Start with the hardest subject. Start with their easiest subject. But there is only one piece of advice that students really need: do whatever works for you. Getting the homework done is the name of the game, so whether students like to get math out of the way first, or whether they always read for English while sitting on the couch, the important thing is that they develop a routine that helps them easily get into the homework groove.

4. It’s Homework Time. If there’s one thing that we know about the brain, it’s that it can be easily trained. It’s wired to develop habits and to recognize schedules, like when it’s time to eat, and when it’s time get up. The brain can also be readily programmed to recognize when it’s homework time. In order to do this, students need to work on homework at approximately the same time every day. By being consistent about when they crack open the books, students will find themselves getting into the homework groove regularly and effortlessly.

5. Homework Habitat. The idea of having a set place to do homework and to study is not new. What is new, however, is research that says that different study locations can help students actually experience better recall. If getting up and moving around, or exploring different locations to crack open the books helps students beat the study blahs and improve recall, they should go for it! (See tip three: Know What Works For You) However, having a place where students can dump their bookbags and keep their school supplies is still a great idea—it helps them get organized, eliminates time-wasting activities such as searching for that calculator or pencil sharpener, and goes a long way to helping establish a groovy homework routine.

6. Remove Distractions. TVs. Cellphones. iPods, Computers: when it comes to homework procrastination, these are all tried-and-true tools of the trade. A student sits down to do homework and on the second question needs to Google something. Suddenly it’s an hour later and question three hasn’t been started. It’s a scenario that all students—young and old alike—are more than familiar with. If getting the homework done quickly and correctly is the name of the game, then removing distractions is key. Turn the TV off. Take the earbuds out. Step away from the laptop. If certain questions require online support, save them until the rest of the homework has been completed.

That being said, if students work better with a little background noise, then put the radio on at a low volume, (see Tip 3) and be sure that any rockin’ out isn’t distracting from the task at hand.

Report cards are stressful. Report cards can be confusing. And, like it or not, they will be here before you know it.

Now that families everywhere have settled back into their school year routine, it’s time to start thinking about report cards. Too often, after the back-to-school rush is over, families relax into the school groove. Then the first report card arrives, and BLAM! Bad news: things are not going as smoothly as they should be.

Luckily, there are plenty of stay-in-the-loop tricks that parents can use to prevent a report card sneak attack.

5 Easy Tips to Take The ‘Uh-Oh’ Out of Report Cards:

1. Take five minutes to communicate with the teacher every week, via phone, email, or in person to ask how your child is doing in math/ reading/spelling/ listening, etc.

2. Go online. The Internet is a wonderful tool to keep informed. If your child’s class has a web page, log on and get involved.

3. Review past report cards. Chances are that school issues from last year will re-appear, so review previous report cards and keep your eye out for repeat problems.

4. Follow up when tests and assignments are returned to your child. How did it go? Were the results what you were expecting?

5. Don’t wait. If there are any issues, seek help as soon as you learn of them. The earlier that problems are addressed, the easier it becomes to fix those problems for the whole year through.

Parents don’t need a report card to know how their child is doing in school—staying involved every step of the way helps avoid report card stress, and gets school problems taken care of before they get out of hand.

After all, the only thing that should surprise you about report cards is how quickly they arrive.

Report cards aren’t always easy. You probably wouldn’t be reading this if they were. I probably wouldn’t be writing this if they were!

The one thing that can make the whole report card experience worse is getting yelled at by a parent about your grades.

Speaking from experience, getting yelled at or grounded never helped me get better grades. It only makes me angry and not want to talk at all.

The only thing that has ever helped me to get better grades is getting organized.

So parents, instead of getting angry at your child for getting a bad mark on their report card, try to talk to them about their grades. Don’t get mad. Don’t yell. Be calm.

Talk to teens calmly, and hopefully they’ll open up and discuss grades with you. That’s the easiest way to make a plan.

Ask them if they learned anything new or difficult today. If they did, offer to help them out a bit. Work together.

So, next time your child gets an okay mark on their report card, remember to come back to this page for help. And, be sure to tell me about your family’s report card experiences!

About me: Hi! My name is Dylan and I am 15 years old. I have recently been asked to write a few guest posts on the topic Teens: Why Do We Do What We Do?
About me: I go to South Secondary School in London, ON and I have two younger siblings. I have always been a movie guy. In the summer I love to bike with my friends down to the Thames River and ride along the trails. The sights and the entire ride are always beautiful. I also like to bake and listen to old music. I hope that you enjoy my posts! Remember to leave feedback! ~Dylan.