Throughout my many years of teaching, I’ve come across parent after parent who wants desperately to be part of their child’s success in school. They want to help but have no idea how or where to start. Ultimately, they end up doing nothing out of pure frustration. Being a former teacher, and a mom myself, I felt the need to share my knowledge and create this series, 5 Ways to Organize Your Student for Success. My hope with this series is that I can help guide parents to set their children up for a successful future!
5 Ways to Organize Your Student for Success
- Get to know your child’s teacher/teachers *Part One in the Series
- Become familiar with your child’s classroom procedures and policies * Part Two in the Series
- Study *Part Three in the Series
Today we will conclude this series by talking about the final ways to organize your student for success.
4. Stay on top of your child’s grades and assignments
5. Teach your child to self-advocate
Let’s begin!
- Stay on top of your child’s grades and assignments
Number 4 is a huge one, folks! I can’t stress enough how important it is to stay on top of your child’s grades and assignments. Take it from me. I didn’t do such a great job of this with Zach this past quarter and his grades suffered. Had I been more on top of his assignments, I would’ve never believed the millions of times he told me he had no homework…GRRR!! 😡
Pay attention! What I am about to say here is very important. There is a very fine line when it comes to checking your child’s grades and assignments that you don’t want to cross. I’m not telling you as the parent to take all the responsibility of doing this and letting your child off the hook. What I am telling you, however, is to be aware of your child’s grades and assignments in order to hold them more accountable. When they know that you are aware of their grades and assignments, they are less likely to pull any funny-business with you.
Make sure you and your child sit down each evening and go through their backpack. You want to look at any graded assignments and discuss them with your child. Doing this allows you to see how your child is doing in class and if there is a need for you to provide additional support for them. When looking in your child’s backpack you can also look for any flyers or papers for upcoming projects or assignments. If your child has a paper planner you can look inside as well for this information.
Personally, technology has made this so much easier for me as both a mom and a teacher. Starting in middle school, teachers in my school district are able to put all their grades online. As the parent, I have access to Zach’s grades at any moment. Plus, his teachers use online platforms for communication and posting assignments which allows me even more access to what Zach is doing in school. If you aren’t sure how your child’s teacher/teachers are communicating, check their classroom procedures or shoot the teacher an email. This has really been a lifesaver for me in terms of communicating! I feel that way as both a teacher and a parent.
- Teach your child to self-advocate
Finally, the last way to organize your student for success is to teach them to be a self-advocate.
Why is self-advocacy so important?
For starters, it teaches children to vocalize their needs. Teachers are very smart and have a great understanding of your child’s strength and weaknesses but they are also human and might miss something. Teaching your child to speak up when they need help is a sure way to set them up for success. Explain to your child that the teacher is there to help them and it’s their responsibility to speak to them if they aren’t understanding something being taught in class. If you start teaching this at a young age, your child will become more and more comfortable with doing this.
Self-advocacy is also important to teach your child because it fosters independence. As a parent, we always want to step in and save our children. It’s human nature. I do it. You do it. I challenge you to allow your child to express their needs first and take a step back initially. Will they still possibly need your help from time to time? Of course they will, but the goal is to help mold them into adults who can work through their own problems in a healthy way.
The key to self-advocacy is teaching your child the importance of doing it in a respectful way. Role play with them or talk them through a situation demonstrating the proper way to speak to an adult. You want them to know the right way to ask for something they need.
Raising a child has to be the hardest job on the planet. My biggest goal in life is to create a human being that is loving, caring and a productive citizen in our society. My 5 Ways to Organize Your Student for Success have been a way for me to try and accomplish this. My hope is that you will find something useful for this to use with your own child.
Now go ahead and parent like the Rock Star you are!
👎🏼 If you missed any part of the series click below:
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