“Could you have done your homework” is a vastly different question than “Should you have done your homework?”
Anger is love?
Parents get angry with children because they are scared. Children get angry with parents because they don’t want to disappoint.
The cause of both is love.
When enforcing parent expectations, we need to remind ourselves of that, for we easily get lost in the emotions of the moment and forget that it’s our love that drives our emotions and not the events that are upsetting us. Continue reading →
Phew! So you got it in. Was it as good as it could have been?
Procrastination isn’t just about getting to things late. It’s also about getting them done fully and properly.
Any harm caused by delay or deferment is procrastination. Just because you turned it in on time doesn’t mean that you couldn’t have done better had you given yourself more time, or had you not given up in the middle and just mailed in the rest.
Complete completion, or just kinda done?
As a teacher I all-too frequently received unfinished or sloppily completed last minute work. But, heh, it was in on time! Sorry, return to sender. Continue reading →
Well, yeah, students cheat. Schools look upon it as a horrible violation of civic rules, a sure sign of a life of failure ahead, and they threaten dire consequences for it. Frankly, it’s more like a speeding violation than the theft that it is: cheaters rarely get caught, and usually just for the big things (call it “reckless cheating”).
As with speeding, treating cheating as an offense against mankind won’t stop it. Like all things in schools, the snap of the finger just doesn’t magically transform children into little angels and prodigies. So they cheat. Continue reading →
It just is. Lost in the middle of a long year, things get tough. You just got through midterms and the end of the 2nd quarter, you had a nice winter break, then, bam! School is back, and hard.
In Q3 teachers are off their game, too. They’re either panicked for having gotten off track from their pacing and lesson plans, overwhelmed from grading and making new plans, or distressed that students aren’t where they should be. Worse, administrators are having their own panic and are throwing meetings and putting more demands on teachers, worsening the load for everyone. Continue reading →
While it is best to retain information through a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter at hand,
sometimes that’s asking too much.
Particularly for young students who cannot yet choose their field of study, passing a test might call for some rigorous and effective memorization. The A+ Club from School4Schools.com LLChelps students learn the executive function skills many lack through our online tutoring and mentoring programs in a variety of subjects. Expert educators also offer advice and strategies, such as the following memorization tips, to help students help themselves.
Check out some of The A+ Club’s tips for retaining information: Continue reading →
Real solutions for procrastination from Dr. Timothy A. Pychyl, part 2
Student Success Podcast No. 14, Jan. 22, 2014, recorded Jan 15, 2014
Today’s Guest: Timothy A. Pychyl, Ph.D.
Dr. Pychyl shares his incredible knowledge, experience, research, and insight into the nature of procrastination and how to overcome it. Dedicated to bettering people’s lives, he uniquely applies academic concepts in a way we can all understand and appreciate.
This is part 2 of 2 segments we are publishing on the Student Success Podcast. Tim has also published his own version of the interview on his “iProcrastinate” podcast. Continue reading →
Here’s the problem: your mood won’t match your work, and the less work you do, the less your mood will guide you towards doing your work. The only way you’ll get to it now is through Procrastinator’s Panic, which isn’t the best thing.
Research proves that last minute work is less effective, less thorough, and more stressful than work completed on time and with consistent effort. It comes down to control: if you rely on the “cram” or the last-minute surge, you’re letting the work control you, not the other way around. Continue reading →
How to avoid procrastination: building self-awareness & specific steps to avoid procrastination.
You really can do something about procrastination.
If you think you “work best under pressure,” or if you think that “getting it done in the last minute” are good strategies, we beg you to think again. By definition, procrastination is any delay that causes harm. Last-minute work almost always could have been better with planning and earlier start.
Clarity and purpose, hard to find and easy to dismiss, now assemble at the last minute. Focus arrives, hard work ensues, and the job gets done.
That urgency at the last minute invigorates and inspires procrastinators. It’s almost exhilarating — and it is, because you’re getting the same brain-chemical reactions from “procrastinator’s panic” as you do from getting startled. Scientists call it ” CRF,” and it is a brain drug that is released at the panic of a deadline.
So what’s the problem? Well… every procrastinator knows it: you should have gotten that feeling of urgency a little sooner. Sometimes “last minute” means by the deadline. All too often, it’s after the deadline passed and turned into a “drop dead deadline.” But you got it done, so what’s the problem? Continue reading →
Helping middle & high school students and parents find academic success: tutoring, coaching & mentoring from the A+ Club
Woulda, coulda, shoulda…
