The 4 Life Skills Your Teen Needs That Will Help Them Do Anything
We’ll start this essential topic with a little pop quiz. How would you complete ...
We’ll start this essential topic with a little pop quiz. How would you complete ...
Over the last few years, you may have noticed that there are more conversations ...
As Executive Function coaches, we find that many of the people we work with feel...
Jul 05, 2016
Millions of college students are on summer break: scooping ice cream to earn a few bucks, sweating out a coveted internship, or just catching up with hometown buddies. And many, many of these students are also having some tough conversations with their parents about their grades.
“How can it be,” parents say, “that you were an honor roll student in high school yet you are barely scraping by at college?” Could college be all that different from high school?
In a word, yes. College is a vast terra incognita for students - filled with unexpected challenges and unimagined distractions. A trip to Bed Bath & Beyond, a visit to the campus bookstore, and a whirlwind orientation weekend aren’t nearly enough to prepare for a successful transition to college.
Maybe this sounds familiar: “You told me all your classes were going well! How could you not know you were in the D range for two of them?”
This theme is echoing throughout homes this summer. Parents are incredulous at the apparent disconnect their college students have between how they think they’re performing and how they really are doing in their classes. Therein lies one major reason why college students struggle: there are typically no progress reports or other automatic processes to show college students where they stand at any given point in a semester. The onus is on the student to reach out, attend office hours, and actively solicit feedback and advice from professors. That’s a pretty foreign idea to students who are accustomed to the structure of pre-determined check-ins with teachers.
As executive function coaches, we encourage our students to switch tactics and create their own structured plans for check-ins with instructors. Professors always list office hours but too few students take advantage of this time to get feedback. We advise students to put those office hours in as recurring events in their google calendars and to commit to attending on a regular basis throughout the semester. Not sure what to discuss when you show up? Prepare by planning a couple questions: “Am I meeting your expectations for class participation?” “How do you suggest I prepare for the exam in two weeks?” “What could I have done differently on that essay you handed back yesterday?”
Find out many more tips to help your college student bounce back from a rocky semester (or two) in Michael Delman’s recent article for Grown and Flown.
Did your college student have a bumpy transition to self-management? Find out how online coaching supports students and provides peace of mind for parents.
Jackie Stachel is the Director of Communications for Beyond BookSmart. She joined the company in 2010 and is based in our Boston branch. Jackie leads Executive Function presentations for parent groups throughout Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Additionally, Jackie manages our You Tube channel as well as our company blog content through editing submissions, writing articles, and collaborating with professionals from outside Beyond BookSmart to create useful, informative content. Finally, Jackie coaches students supporting them in learning and developing Executive Functioning strategies.
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