School will begin soon enough. For Wellington County students who said goodbye to elementary school earlier this year, this fall represents the start of a critical transition to high school.
High school means new beginnings, experiences and challenges. And while these changes – new friends, new teachers and new school environment – can be exciting, they also can be a bit unnerving for new high school students.
“The transition can be exhilarating and full of promise, but it also can cause some measure of anxiety,” said Richard E. Bavaria, Ph.D., senior vice president of education outreach for Sylvan Learning.
“Research and common sense tell us that the first year in high school is critical,” Bavaria said.
During this single year, a new high school student must assimilate, make new friends, set goals, establish habits and attitudes, select courses, discover talents and interests, learn new skills, and begin to build confidence in this new environment. Making sure a student handles this year well should be an important goal for parents.
In fact, a primary indicator of a successful high school experience is a positive transition from elementary school. And the key to that positive transition is good preparation.
Here are some of the most daunting changes local students will encounter during this first year of high school and some tips from Sylvan Learning on how to work through them successfully.
Negotiating the new environment
The locker scare: One of the biggest concerns incoming high school students have is the locker. Instead of lugging their stuff around in one bag, students now have a place to store everything safely.
The best part about the locker is being able to personalize it with photos, drawings, magazine clippings, and anything else that makes it feel comfortable.
Ease locker fears by purchasing a combination lock and practice before school starts.
New school
If your student has to go to an entirely new school, it may seem overwhelming at first. Explore the school’s website with your child or, better yet, explore the new school. The better your child understands the school layout and rules, the more at ease they will feel on the first day.
Ask the school if there are any tours or orientations available to parents and incoming students. Get a map of the school and take your child to explore. Be sure to check in with the school office to get approval for your explorations.
New schedule
With different classes in different rooms on different days, high school schedules can seem confusing during the first few weeks.
Before school begins, check with your school to see when schedules are ready so that your child can have some time to get comfortable with the new routine.
If your student needs help finding something or keeping track of where he has to be, encourage him to ask a teacher or other school staff for help.
Acquiring new academic tools
Work together on a schedule and develop an organizational system with your student.
Acknowledge and make allowances for anxiety; at first, your student may need to carry everything for all classes all the time in order to feel prepared.
General skills preparation
Summarizing, paraphrasing and identifying main or important ideas and details are three skills that are essential in all content areas.
After reading a book or watching a show/movie, have kids summarize what happened orally. Or have them recount the most important events.
Note-taking
The workload and pace really pick up in high school, so note taking is going to be critical for them to keep up.
Start encouraging your child to develop a method of shorthand to prepare for note-taking.
Writing grocery lists and directions are simple ways for kids to practice.
Show them your own writing shortcuts. Note-taking is not automatic; the more examples kids see, the quicker they‚ll acquire the skill.
Go ahead and argue
The provincial curriculum outlines the knowledge and skills K-12 students need to acquire for post secondary school success.
As a parent, you can do your part to help a student acquire these key behaviors and attitudes of constructing viable arguments, critiquing others‚ arguments, and paying attention to precision.
Encourage perseverance by having your child work through problems rather than you stepping in to fix them.
Encourage your child to formulate opinions and back them up with sound reasoning. Encourage your child to do things correctly rather than just finish them.
Addressing social concerns
One crucial area of worry for high school students is the social scene. You can help ease their trepidation by opening lines of communication and providing a sympathetic ear.
Kids’ worries and concerns about fitting in and making friends may seem trivial to adults, but for kids, these worries often trump worries about academics.
Listen to their concerns and advise them on basic social skills. Encourage your child to join group conversations. Discuss how to join in without interrupting, to add something relevant to conversation in progress, etc.
Socializing online
Online use of social media will ramp up during high school. In fact, the average teenager sends over 3,000 text messages a month.
Make sure your kids understand that what they say and do online may come back to hurt them or hurt others. Be aware of and set guidelines for use of social media on both computers and hand-held devices.
Make sure you are able to regularly monitor your child’s access to text messaging and social media sites like Facebook. Increased awareness allows parents to step in and talk to their children before issues spiral out of control.
By starting now, you can help your rising elementary student prepare for these key challenges before they transition into high school.
Helping them know what to expect in terms of the social, academic and physical dynamics of high school and how to deal with this new environment will do a lot to ease the anxiety every kid feels approaching high school.
For additional resources, visit www.sylvanlearning.com or call 1-800-31-SUCCESS.
