Last week, Woodhaven High School had the first parent-teacher conferences of the year. During these conferences, students and parents received progress reports. This year has been a struggle for many people, but it is not too late to turn that around. You still have until January 24th to get your grades up if you fall behind.
As an underclassman, you are new to high school, it’s a lot more work than you’re used to and it becomes very easy to fall into thoughts of “I’ll just do it later” or “I can do it at home.” This may be true if you are a student who can easily go home and do your work, but some people don’t feel motivated to do work at home. Even as seniors, many people feel the same way, but there are many ways upperclassmen have learned to manage their work, even when they feel unmotivated, tired, or busy.
Aarlayn Johnson is a senior at Woodhaven High School who is very busy; she is involved in her church, is on the varsity dance team here at WHS, is a part of the Black Student Alliance here as well as having a job. Although she is involved in all of these things, she still manages to keep up her grades. She says, “A technique I use is thinking about my long-term goal of going to college and going into the medical field, when I think about this goal it pushes me to be like every little thing matters.”
This is a great technique that you could use if you are struggling because many people, especiallu very busy people, tend to be more tired and lack the motivation to do their school work. However, if you have a career that you would like to pursue, or you know what college you want to go to, thinking about those things and knowing that your grades can affect how or when you can achieve them can make you feel like you need and want to do your work.
Aaralyn also says, “Another technique I use is doing the work whenever I think about it.” This works well because it keeps you from stressing about it. When you know you have a due date coming up and you don’t have the work done, you become stressed and for a lot of people, stress makes it harder for them to do assignments because they don’t know where to start.
If you do a little bit of it every time you think about it, you will give yourself more time to do it and you won’t be as stressed because there will be less to do when it is due, and you haven’t even started yet
According to The Jed Foundation, “Stress can also cause health problems such as depression, poor sleep…and anxiety.” Basically, it’s a chain reaction when you are stressed; it can cause issues, such as poor sleep as stated before, and when you aren’t sleeping well you are going to be tired in school, which may lead to sleeping during class, and then you will be stressed all over again because you will have to get your work done at home that you didn’t do in school.
Another thing that can be helpful is, that if you are friends with or related to upperclassmen, they have probably experienced the same things you’re experiencing now, and they have taken most of the same classes you’re taking. This means they could be a great help. If you are confused or feel like you are missing something, they can usually explain it to you in a way that your teacher may not have or suggest a staff member who can help. The school also offers tutoring after school if you need somewhere to do homework, or if you need help, you can go to the media center and get work done.
These are all really great ways the school, your friends, and your family can help you improve your grades in the last couple of months of this semester. A lot of teachers don’t accept late work, however, if you do great on your last couple of tests, get all of your work done and turned in on time, and finally do good on your finals, it is still possible to raise your grades.
