How to School: What I Wish I Knew, and What I Tell My Students
It's almost finals week, and some of my college students have been reaching out to me about their struggles in class. One student, who I know is very capable, hadn't been attending our class sessions and was very behind in her work. When I reached out, she didn't respond to my emails. I thought something might have happened, but just now, she contacted me wanted to have a meeting about class.
When we met, my heart broke. No, she didn't have a tragedy in her life, nor had she been stuck in an elevator.
Her tearful explanation was that she was really trying to stay on top of everything but got burned out at the beginning of the semester. Once she failed to meet the first deadline in my course (and her other courses), she got depressed and avoided the problem. Now she is in a serious pickle. She already dropped two of her courses, but her other professor and I agreed to work with her to salvage her course grade in her remaining two courses.
I wish I could say that this was an unusual case. Often, we assume that capable students don't do well or don't turn in assignments because of apathy. However, for the most part, it comes from having been able to coast for a good portion of their school, that is, until the wall.
The wall is the point where even capable students find that they can't just listen to the lecture and pass the class. This wall can appear when students start middle school, or sometime in high school or college. It can be incredibly overwhelming for the students who hit this wall in college since they are usually off on their own trying to show that they are independent adults.
Sometimes these students figure it out, but many times, they wind up in a situation where they know they need to study but don't know what that looks like.
Students sit down to study for their courses, but they use inefficient study methods such as rereading the textbook. However, this is very time-consuming, usually boring, and doesn't help with knowledge recall. It is no wonder why students get burned out and then depressed that they begin to question their abilities. Worse case senario, they drop out or get kicked out of their programs.
This situation is so common that Ohio State, my undergrad alma mater, had a program called "Freshman Forgiveness." If a student in their first quarter failed a course, they could retake that course without the first F being calculated in their GPA. Ohio State is a competitive school. If a student made it in, he or she is more than capable of passing the courses – with the right system and habits. But sometimes there is an adjustment period.
But here lies the problem, if the students don't figure it out quickly, they find themselves in a daunting situation, and it can be overwhelming to try to figure it out under this pressure.
This is my advice to those students:
- Sometimes it is OK to turn in something you think is trash
Obviously, you shouldn't be aiming for trash or not caring about the assignment criteria, but you have to turn in assignments – even if they are subpar!
• Your teachers & professors can work with you on assignments that weren't successful, but they can't if you don't give them a chance.
• Your project might not be as bad as you think. Sometimes we are very critical of ourselves when it isn't so bad.
• It's much easier to bring up a 50% in the class than a 0%. This is math. If you don't turn in an assignment and get a 0%, but then on your next assignment, get 100%. Guess what? You are still failing the course. If you turn in something and get a 50% and then next assignment you get 100%, with a 75%, you are now passing the course!
2. Learning how to study and putting it into practice is the key.
Probably, you didn't need those study habits early on at school. You could sit through class, and that was good enough. When you did study, there probably wasn't much studying going on but now is the time to change what hasn't been working for you.
Don't worry, though. The techniques needed to study aren't that difficult. Once you understand the process.
3. Make deadlines for yourself.
If you put off all of your assignments until right before they are due, you will run into problems. Unexpected things will always pop up, or your friends invite you out. If you have a lot of work to get done before the deadline, this will not work.
4. Finally, ask for help
I'll give you a little secret. Teachers hate giving poor grades. Grading a paper or an assignment with many mistakes is a lot harder and more time-consuming than grading an A paper. Teachers are more than happy to help you not just because that is the reason that they teach but also because if you understand the assignment and content, then it makes their grading life easier –  you do need to make sure that you try to wrap your head around it first. Your teacher can't do this part for you.
Here is the best part: You aren't alone, you aren't broken, and you are intelligent and capable. No matter what you did in years past, you can succeed in school with the proper support and system.