Strategies to Help a Child Excels in Studies

We know that some children do well in school. They learn
quickly and remember facts and understand concepts well.

At the same time, there are some who don't do so well. They
are having trouble paying attention. Their grades are poor.
Yet they may be as smart as or even smarter than their
successful schoolmates.

Why the difference in performance?

It may not be an issue of I.Q. but of behavior and attitude.

Successful students behave in certain ways:

- they have the right attitude
- they're motivated
- they pay attention
- they're relaxed
- they ignore distractions that might interfere with learning and
- when they need help with their studies, they know how to get it.

The good news is that none of these things are inborn. They
are learnt and can be learned by every student.

There are basically four steps to help your children to excel in
their studies and learning. And these steps are applicable to
children at all levels.

They sound very simple, because they really are. But they
can make a world of difference to your youngsters.

Below are the four steps and parents can teach their children
strategies to help them in the learning process:

1) Paying attention
2) Keeping interested in schoolwork
3) Learning and remembering
4) Studying

Paying Attention

Getting children to pay attention is something that can be
trained. Never threaten or order children to "pay attention" in
school as it won't work!

Here are a few simple techniques that my wife and I use to
help Ethel, our 6-year-old daughter, learns in school and at
home. And they have proven to work well. Hence you may
want to consider applying them in your family.

a) Teach your children to practice positive self-talk and create
positive images in their daily life and activities that they do.

For example, they can tell themselves to keep their eyes on
the white board while the teacher is writing on it to explain a
problem.

You can help them practice positive self-talk at home in
various situations: when playing a game, helping around the
house, or working at a hobby. We personally use this method
many times to encourage and motivate Ethel in her music
piano learning and studies at school.

Help children stop negative self-talk (e.g. "It's just too hard, I
can't do it."). Train them to have a positive mind set, instead
say, "Yes, I can do it."

Also, train your children to have plosive images about
themselves and no more negative picture. Children can and
must learn to see themselves doing well in school and in
anything that they do.

Tell them to picture themselves answering questions correctly
in class and feeling good about knowing the answers. Spend
time talking with them about their successes as well as their
challenges in learning.

b) Asking questions. This helps children focus their attention
while studying. For example, when reading about history of
Singapore, students might ask themselves "Who is Mr. Lee
Kwan Yew?", "What are some of Mr. Lee's biggest
contributions to Singapore?", "Why so people in the world
have such high regards for Mr. Lee?"

You can suggest general questions to your child, such as:
"What is this paragraph about? Who did what and why? Is
the main point true or false?" Asking questions can grab
wandering attention.

c) Setting specific study goals. Your children can set goals
that will help improve attention. Ask them to study a lesson
until they can tell you the main point of the paragraph. Or
solve a specific math problem. Or know specific names,
dates, and places mentioned in the text.

Discuss each goal with your children. Remember that many
small goals, one after another, are better than a single large
one.


Keeping Interested In Schoolwork

Learning is a joint effort. Everyone must help if students are
to learn. Teachers are responsible for teaching and parents
for parenting, but students must realize that no one else can
do their learning for them.

Children must believe that the hours they spend studying
and the effort they put into it make the difference between
success and failure. Some youngsters believe other things
control success/failure-teachers, basic intelligence, or luck.
They ignore their own responsibility.

You can help your children accept the fact that their efforts do
make a difference. The next time they bring home test
results, written comments, or report cards, discuss the
reasons why they did well or poorly. These help them to
understand how their efforts relate to the result.

Whenever your child shows improvement, rewards him.
Reward can be something of material such as treats or trips
or privileges for special achievements. However the best
form of reward is often the simple praise and words of
encouragement. Your praise is music to your child's ears.

Learning And Remembering

A child's success in school is determined not just by
intelligence but by the strategies he or she uses to master
many facts, ideas and concepts.

Understanding a subject doesn't just happen. It takes work.
It requires taking an interest in the topic, and associating
new information to familiar information.

Besides teaching the strategies for paying attention, you can
help your child use various strategies to remember. You can
decide how best to adapt a particular strategy.

Here are some of them:

a) Making inferences. Encourage your children to try to draw
conclusions from the material they are studying. When they
are reading about an invention such as the refrigerator, they
could consider what people would do without refrigerator.

b) Building bridges. It helps children to build a bridge
between the new and the old; between new information and
things they already know. They should look for similarities
between the new and the familiar. For example, a child who
is reading about the computer system could relate how he is
using the computer to help him in his school work and how
computers are being used in various ways to improve the life
of mankind.

c) Finding the main ideas. As students listen or read, they
must frequently ask themselves, "What's the point being
made here?" By constantly looking for the main idea, they
concentrate on learning the important material. This also
helps to keep them actively engaged in studying.

d) Categorizing information. Many school activities involve
learning and remembering large amounts of information.
Sometimes there are long lists of names and dates. When
there are many items of information to learn, students should
group them in categories. Students in beginning music
classes don't try to remember the names and characteristics
of every musical instrument, but group them: percussion,
woodwinds, strings, and brass. Your children should try this
technique in subjects ranging from geography to English to
math.

Studying

Your children need a place to study. Whether you live in a
one-bedroom apartment or a 3-storey landed property, you
can set aside a study area. It can be a desk in a bedroom or
kitchen table. But it must be fairly quiet with good light.

Children also need a time for studying. Help your children
create a time-table for studies. If they set aside time for
chores, work, fun, and study on a weekly basis, they can
make better use of their time. These schedules should be
flexible enough to allow trade-offs and shifts when
necessary. If you have teenage children at home, a good
book to recommend them for reading with regards to the
topic of planning their time is "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective
Teenagers" by Sean Covey.

Previewing material. Encourage children to begin an
assignment by previewing the material-for example, by
reading the introduction to a chapter, the headings, and
summary. This is like looking at a road map. Here they create
a mental "map" of what is ahead. They complete the "map's"
details when they read the chapter.

Reading and thinking. When reading the chapter, they should
try to fit details into their mental "map." This is the time to
use the attention-grabbing strategies-self-talk, positive
images, and questions. It helps if they pause before each
new section to "test" their understanding. Using the
strategies for learning and remembering, they can ask:
"What conclusions can I draw from this? How should I
categorize the information? Do I see analogies? What are the
main ideas?"

Taking notes. Children can't remember everything they read.
It will help them, though, to take notes of the main points.

These notes serve as a summary of the most important
points. The act of taking them and reviewing them will help
the student to categorize the material, understand, and
remember it. And the notes will help in preparing for tests
and exams.

Self-testing. Children should test themselves to see what
they know and don't know. They can then apply their study
time more efficiently to the sections on which they are
weakest. Parents can help by making up test questions. For
example when your child is studying geography of a
particular country, you can ask him questions like "What are
the chief agriculture products of the country being studied?
Why?"

Preparing for Tests. Encourage your children to prepare for
tests by spacing studying over days or weeks. They should
make sure they understand the material and relate it to what
they already know. They should review it more than once.

Cramming" the night before is not a good idea, and it is
important to get a good night's sleep.


by Alvin Poh