Tips for the Busy Student
Rod, a high school freshman, asks:
“Are teachers out to get me? Why do all my teachers assign assignments at once?”
Mr. Sterling answers:
They aren’t out to get you; teachers just don’t take the time to plan assignments together in high school.
One of the things that struck me when I moved from teaching 7th grade to high school was the fact that high school teachers simply don’t talk to each other. We have monthly meetings, but those are with our subject-area departments and not with the teachers in the other subject areas that share our particular students. In middle school, we would make a concerted effort to get together and make sure our schedules didn’t clash, especially when it came to major projects or tests. We didn’t want to overload the kids. For whatever reason, that simply doesn’t happen in high school.
What does that mean for you? More work, more frequently, and often at the same time. And if you whine that you already have a paper due in Mr. Wright’s class on the same day as my project, depending on the kind of day I’m having, I might just laugh at you.
Chelsea, a sophomore, states:
“I’m completely overwhelmed. I’ve got National Honor Society, track team, and homework in at least four of my classes every night.”
Mr. Sterling responds:
There are things you can do to help yourself when it comes to keeping your work – and your life – straight, and it starts with a planner.
In a parent-teacher conference for a struggling student, the first thing teachers ask a parent is whether their child keeps a planner. We don’t ask that as part of some sort of script. It’s because we’ve seen that all of our successful students already have one and that it really helps the struggling kids get back on track. All of our success stories start with organization.
It doesn’t have to have puppies, Hello Kitty, or a Bugatti Veyron on it. It can just be a simple book with monthly calendars in it. Your bank or some other business may give them out free. At our school, we issue them to every student. For a school that can barely afford copy paper, that’s a big deal. The key is that it separates by the day and helps you keep track of not only what work you have due in the upcoming weeks, but also what happened in class on a particular day. It can also be helpful when organizing the other aspects of your life, like club meetings, sports games, and anniversaries. Boys, trust me; you don’t want to forget an anniversary or you won’t have any more to celebrate.
Devon, a freshman, asks:
“What if I’m completely bogged down? Is there a good way to get a teacher to change a deadline?”
Mr. Sterling responds:
Honesty helps, but having some evidence helps more.
Aside from the obvious organizational benefits of a planner, another value comes up frequently in my classroom. If there’s ever a question about what you were in class for or that you missed a crucial piece of information, I’m much more likely to grant you an extension if you can prove what was going on that day (or that you missed that day completely). Overall, teachers are fair people but we can’t take everyone at their word (have you seen your fellow classmates?). Documentation is key in a dispute with a teacher. Also, if you can prove that a majority of your classmates are just as slammed, that helps. Believe it or not, we want as many kids to be successful in our classes as possible.