(Monthly Tip) New School Year, New Me: How to Effectively Stay Organized and Focused

Monthly Tip

September 2022

New School Year, New Me:

How to Effectively Stay Organized and Focused

By Aileen Choi

Welcome back to school! Summer has truly flown by, and students are slowly transitioning back into school mode. To start the academic year off on the right foot, it is important for students to be organized and demonstrate strong time management skills. Yet as we know, that is sometimes easier said than done. Many students often struggle to adjust back to school, where they find it challenging to submit work on time, to feel motivated, and to stay focused. Anxiety levels tend to run high, which can lead to a difficult school year. However, there are several steps that your children can take in order to avoid this stress and have a successful school year.

Stay Organized

Staying organized is crucial for success in school. When students are aware of their obligations and budget the appropriate amount of time to complete each task, they can finish their work more efficiently and avoid stress. There are dozens of organizational tools out there, so it is important that your children experiment with a few to see which work best for them.

Use a planner. One way to stay organized and manage time efficiently is to use a planner. This can be either a paper planner or an online calendar/planner, such as Google Calendar and Google Tasks. Writing down upcoming homework, tests, projects, and essays can help your children to recognize when it is the best time to start working on a task.
Implement a homework folder. Many students complete their homework, but then accidentally leave it at home. This can be very discouraging, especially if they spent much time and worked hard on completing an assignment. A homework folder can be a good solution to this challenge, where students use one side of the folder for assigned homework and the other for completed homework. Each night, they should check their homework folder to ensure that all completed assignments have been placed in it so that they can bring it to school the next day.
Make a packing list. Some students often forget to take important items to school, such as a textbook, their homework, or their gym clothes. It can be difficult for parents to drop everything at their job to bring the missing item to their children at school, so one tool that students can use is a checklist. Since they tend to need the same items every day, this master list can be printed out and placed somewhere noticeable, such as on a desk or the fridge. That way, your children can check the list and prepare their backpacks each night, so that they do not have to scramble the next morning.
Create routines. During the summer, many children lack routines. Without the need to wake up early every day for school, students tend to sleep in late, eat at various times, etc. To better transition back to school, students should plan out their routines before and after the school day so that they can make efficient use of their time. For example, they can create a checklist of tasks to complete when they come home, such as in the image below

Stay Focused in Class and at Home

In addition to staying organized, learning how to remain focused both in and out of class is a huge part of being successful in school. It can be challenging for students to give their teachers or their homework their undivided attention, particularly when they are uninterested in the material. If your children struggle to concentrate, there are several methods that they can try using.

Take notes. Many students do not understand the importance of taking notes in class or while reading at home, nor do they know how to do so effectively. Taking notes during class can help them sustain attention to the lesson, while keeping a record for future tests and quizzes. They can use the Cornell note-taking method, the outlining method, or webbing to take notes. When reading at home, they can underline important material, write a 2-3-sentence summary at the end of a chapter in a novel or section in a textbook, or use symbols (e.g., happy face, question mark, star) to showcase their reactions to the text. These active strategies can enable your children to both focus on the material in front of them and better retain it.
Try timers. It can be difficult to focus on homework, especially after a long day of classes, sports, and other after-school activities. To combat this, students can use timers to help focus in smaller chunks of time. For example, they can work on an assignment for 20-25 minutes, take a 5-minute break, work for another 20 minutes, and so on. This will allow them to increase productivity by dividing their work into manageable chunks, while also making the task feel less daunting since they are accomplishing it in smaller steps.
Use apps. In our tech-forward world, there are many applications that can help your children succeed. Some of them include the Flora app, Forest Chrome extension, StayFocusd, Study Bunny, and Tomato Timer. These apps revolve around time management and helping students stay on task for a set amount of time. When your children start their homework, they should experiment with one of these apps to see if it helps them concentrate on their work.

TO BLOG

Transitioning from Summer into the Academic Year

By Madeline Albertine

The school year is officially in full swing! As students transition back into school mode, it can be a time that is both exciting and challenging. Getting to see friends daily, meeting new teachers, and participating in school clubs/sports are all aspects of the school year that can be enjoyable for many students. For students who love their summers, though, it can be hard to get back into the routine of waking up early, going to classes for several hours, and completing homework. Growing up, my family had many traditions that helped make the transition from summer to school more exciting.

The start of a new school year often brings about back-to-school shopping, whether it be clothes, shoes, backpacks, binders, etc. My family held a “fashion show” for us to model all of our new gear, and we absolutely loved it! Some years this consisted of many new outfits that we modeled for the family: cool T-shirts, fancy overalls, and sweet new shoes. In other years, we showed off our new backpacks and all of the new school supplies inside them. I highly recommend trying this out and that you get creative with it – take pictures, play music, put up scorecards, and more!