Off to a Good Start

by Ty Hilton | Jan 11, 2016 | Math, Teaching and Learning

Off to a Good Start!

Having a break from school is a good thing. You have a chance to catch up with family and friends and to catch up on sleep. However, being away from school for multiple weeks can take you out of the right mindset and put you in an unproductive mood. It can be difficult to get back into the swing of things and if you don’t adjust fast enough, it can negatively affect your grades. If you mess up on the first couple of assignments or the first test, it definitely won’t be good for your overall average in the class. However, that is not all of the damage that it will do. It could also make you less confident in your ability to succeed in the class, which could discourage you and potentially lead to additional bad grades in the class. Also, if you fail your first test, you probably did not learn enough of the material. In subjects such as math and science, the new material builds off of previous material. Therefore this could hinder you on future assignments and tests. Plus, most finals are cumulative, so if you didn’t do so hot on the first test, then you might lose some points when you encounter the same material from the first test on the final. So, I’ve just ranted on to warn you about the terrors of slacking off at the start of school.

Now let me give you some advice on how to start this next semester and year off with a bang.

1. Goal setting​: Having goals is important because it gives you something to work on and to aspire to. If setting goals isn’t your thing or you are having trouble developing some, that’s ok, because we got you covered. For the start of the semester, here at MaThCliX, we are working with students to develop three S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time­bound) goals for the semester. So if you haven’t already, try to come by in the next week or so, and we’ll make sure to set you up with goals that will keep you focused and on track throughout the semester.

2. Enough sleep​: Not getting enough sleep can cause problems with our mood and ability to function. Because of this, I would say sleep is a crucial factor when it comes to functioning at school. It’s not an easy task to go to bed early every night. Today in our modern society we have a lot of fancy devices that get our attention before bed. However, whether this coming week is your second week of high school or first week of college, try to put away your smartphone and go to bed at a decent hour. You will find yourself with more energy throughout the day which will hopefully take you out of denial that the holiday break has ended. Furthermore, by seeing the positive effects of going to bed earlier, you might find yourself more inclined to not stay up really late in the future, and going to bed early might formulate into a good habit.

3. Priorities​: Setting your priorities straight is pretty important to say the least. What I would advise you to do is to make a list of activities that you do during your week (whether hobbies, school assignments, etc.) and rate them from 1­-10, first on importance, then based on how urgent each activity is. For example, playing video games is not that important and isn’t urgent. So I would give it a 2 for importance and a 1 for urgency. However, having a test tomorrow is, so I would give it a 10 for importance and a 10 for urgency. If you do this for every activity you do in a week (or month, you can set whatever time interval you need), it will give you a pretty good idea what you should focus your attention on and what you can save for later.

In conclusion, if you set goals that you can pursue, get enough sleep, and set your priorities straight, then you will be setting yourself up to succeed.