Last time you got a bad result!

Now and then you get handed back some work on which the grade written is so awful, it takes you by surprise at just how bad it is.  It could have been graded A, B, or F, depending on what you had expected and, maybe, just how important the subject is to your future.  How rotten did it feel to get that bad result?  Almost sick inside?  You wonder if there is some mistake.  You try to think of excuses, blame something, or someone, for what lies on the desk in front of you.  But, really, the result is down to you.  Remember that you earned it.  That grade has been recorded against your name.  Do not be mistaken by the idea that your teacher gave it to you.  No, your teacher merely added the points up that you gained for the work you submitted.  Most high schools have standards drawn up for each assessment item so that students are graded fairly and with equal chance of excellence. 

There is nothing you can do about it.  You can, however, use that low feeling.  What you need to do is hold that bad feeling  as a constant beacon reminding you that you will deliberately work to avoid such results in the future.  That grade has been indelibly recorded against your name.  There for you to disprove.  Disprove again and again.  Make it a target; a target not to be hit again. 

Did you know in your heart that you really could do much better?  Was there really a good reason for your poor result?  If yes, then you may forgive yourself.  Think very hard before you let yourself off.  Otherwise, begin the repair job right away by thinking deeply about the feelings you had personally on seeing that result.  Plan a bit of time to sit and plan a way for this not to happen again or at least to be less likely to happen again.  Take your time; find time alone, quiet, no ipod, use paper to write or sketch your thoughts.  Doodle, let the ideas flow.  Do not force it, just relax and follow your thoughts.  Be sure to keep them on track.  The time you take will be determined by how relaxed you can get during the process.  Make sure the whole picture is only be about you.  This part cannot be influenced by what happens or has happened around you.  It may be that you felt: frustrated, ill, inadequate, that you let yourself down, stupid, had too little time, not good at studying this subject, you took poor notes or absolutely anything else that comes to mind.  It is well worth spending as much time as you can on this reflective process. 

This is not about beating up on yourself but knowing your how your emotions interact with your results.  A very, very valuable exercise.  Do not rush.  Expect the best from it.  What do you want to get out of it?  A single piece of paper.  It most probably will not be the first draft.  If it is, you need to work a bit longer to make sure everything has been drawn out.  In the end, done with time to relax, the paper will guide you to your next step in the planning process:  'How to prepare better for my next assessment'.  It will reveal some of the flaws in your current strategies.  Put this revealing work somewhere prominent in your study area.  Make sure it holds at least one key to those bad feelings you experienced when you saw that awful grade.  It will be another good prompt for future prevention.  Like an insect spray for bad grades.

Starting with this process will take you beyond individual subject boundaries and gear you for strategies that are useful across the whole academic structure.  So that's the end.  Now to you.  Begin the travel to your future success at school that waits for you with this simple exercise.  Go for it.

Have a great day.  Good luck with your studies.

Taking notes II

Read  the earlier Post about note taking and reviewing. Why is note taking so important? Why is regular review so important? These two very simple processes are absolute key to Success at School. Your high school years are full of maxi and mini events. What you do every day is almost always influenced in some way by the requirements of the school system. They are often tough to fulfil. They are often unclear. They often lead to stress. Getting properly organised for note taking and reviewing can reduce stress to manageable levels and give you a better chance of improved exam grades. If for nothing else, that must make these skills worthwhile.

Surely taking notes is just copying off the board? Get down what the teacher writes on the board. There's even time for a quick chat. No need to listen too hard, it will mostly be there for later reading, usually much later. If you miss a few bits here and there because of distractions, you will have most of it and should be able to fill the rest in later. Not a good plan. The bits you missed? Filling those in will get harder the longer it is left. Get good notes at the time they are given. You're mad if you don't. Your notes are essential to success at high school. Some students seem clearly proud about how scruffy and full of graffiti and other artwork their notebooks are. Scraps of words from the lesson, mixed with scraps of words from another lesson, another subject even; days all mixed up with work put into any available blank space; ripped and crumpled pages all go against good grades. Best use for these notebooks? Starting up the Sunday barbecue. They are next to useless as tools for learning.

Anyone can copy. Anyone. Ask a student from a very early grade, who can basically write and copy shapes, and they could do a reasonable job of copying. They will be a bit slow because they are not familiar with the style and the symbols. Their writing will be a bit more basic but it will be there. Do they understand it? Almost certainly not. You see, the thing about copying is it requires almost no thought if we are familiar with the numbers and symbols. That's the trouble. Too easy to copy. Too easy to think we have it all. Do not kid yourself. Copying without thought is pretty much a useless exercise. Copying has nothing to do with learning unless it is done with thought and commitment.

OK, 'I get it' I hear you say.

We have talked about the importance of a separate notebook for each subject and using few colors of pen. For a ruler, you can use almost any straight edge. Just writing and highlighting, no extra bits. If you like to doodle take a doodle book with you to class and keep the sketching and arty thoughts there. The cleaner the page is to study, the better.

The photo above is the bare minimum I use. I like a mechanical pencil because I never have to sharpen it and it doesn't leak ink all in my pocket. Use a soft lead (I use 2B) that will make dark lines which are easy to read when you are tired. Leads harder than this are too light and will cause unnecessary eye strain if you have to read a lot. The small notebook is for incidental information for every part of high school and holds a wonder of information about when stuff is due, if I am running out of things or if I need to remember to do something, graffiti and odd bits of artwork even. This has taken many forms over the years but this one can easily fit into my pocket. As you can see I travel light to class. To highlight, I circle. To emphasise, I double underline. The eraser is there for show. I usually just cross something out if I change my mind about it. This set up has the other advantage of being cheap. Of course, there are smaller books you can get. I recommend a fairly large size to fit any sketches or long bits of information on one page, rather than breaking it up. Remember, one notebook for each subject. Judge the size of the notebook by asking or by last year's volume of work in a subject.

Make sure your notes count. Look at them as you go. If the teacher says something to fill in a bit of information, get it down. They cannot possibly write all they say in a lesson on the board. Make sure you know what is on the page. Put a * next to bits you are not sure of as a signal to get extra information here. Ask a question, if you want. If that is not done in your group; google, other students, the teacher, the library could all help. If you had a bit of difficulty following some reasoning, again add * to go back and fill in more until you are happy with it. The * will also be clues for when you study as you will know you had some difficulty first time going over it and so you can make sure you feel comfortable with these weaker areas. Study is not about what you know but what you had trouble with or are a bit fuzzy on.

A bit of hard work in class will pay back generously when you come to review and study.

Good luck with your exams.

Have a great day

Get the prize of prizes

Throughout our high school experience we watch many award ceremonies; best this, highest that, fastest, most, greatest, top, longest, shortest; on it goes. Awards are a constant reminder for some of us that the passage through high school is filled with evidence that we are not of the highest calibre; that there are always others in front of us. There is no doubt that many of us find school hard. We struggle with math, creating the most basic of essays, writing a science report and understanding the complexities of art. Sometimes, many times, it all seems too much. For those of us not very academically or athletically inclined nor talented, there are twelve or more years of struggle, culminating in years of heartache in high school. How do you keep your head held high under such a repressive system? How do you keep smiling under the constant highlighting of those who are better?

Do not be discouraged. You are worthy of praise and prize. The praise can come from doing your best; the prize is that you give yourself every advantage to take opportunity of further training and improved career prospects that would not ordinarily be available to you. Best not to concern yourself with the flight of the gifted, talented or better supported. It just happens that way. Some are born already advantaged, some are not. Make the best of who you are and where you come from. Focus on what you need to do, what is best for you. Others fade, you must not. Be sure that some of us who struggle the most will rise to high posts in this world.

As early as you can, start to research as many College, University and other training institution entry requirements as you can. This will give you a good idea of what is required and, importantly, how to apply for entry and for scholarships. Practise writing a few applications. Get a teacher or family member of friend to read through it. The more you do this, the better will your applications become. Immersing yourself in this knowledge will also empower your schooling. You will know which subjects you should put more effort into. The further into the system you go, the more importance this information and strategy takes.

Post high school training is not the only path to success. Entrepreneurship, on the job training and experience will also bear fruit. Never, ever get too despondent if one of your strategies for success does not go according to plan. Every successful person will tell you there are many trails to follow on the way to the top; some more direct than others, some easier than others, some more clearly signposted that others. No matter. The trail to your success will be there and will have your own name attached to it. Your task is to find it.

Enjoy the journey, knowing that persistence will get you there. The prize at the end is far more rewarding than those gifted at long and often boring high school ceremonies. What can be better than such prizes of recognition and prestige? The awesome gift you give to yourself and future family; freedom from hunger, a safe home, a secure life.

Enjoy high school with the vision of how it is set up not to praise others but to help you step into a wonderful life.

Have a great day

Help others and help yourself

High school is no different from life. In fact, it is an intimate part of it. You are in it up to your notebook and pen. Just as there are needy people in the community we live in, so there are needy students at school. They are not bold enough to ask for help. You see them struggle. They may always be lacking even the most basic equipment. Their pen is often broken, they are forced to use one scruffy notebook for every subject. What do you do about it? Nothing? Do you comfort yourself with sad feelings of regret for someone who is really in need of a helping hand, rather than your lame guilt-ridden sympathy? Get off your butt. Get a few friends together and see if maybe you could come up with one or two ideas to give a supporting hand. Only needs one or two. It sure does not need a whole book filled with ideas to give someone the lift they need that turns failure into success.

It is those few caring, helping and supporting gestures that really make the difference, not the grandiose waffle of those who talk a lot about how it is a shame that some people are not so fortunate and who have the means to do massive good but content themselves with the ephemeral. Champions of the world and its ills, blown in the dust.

But you can do something. You can easily help with very little cost in either time or other resources. If you do it will strengthen you as a person, it will create a positive ripple around you. There are so many benefits that come with helping someone out. A good feeling accompanies your effort, knowing you can actually improve the life of a fellow student. If you support them with your knowledge by going over material they are unsure of, your capacity to learn will advance in leaps and bounds as your brain explores alternatives within the same content and stretches to boundaries it never knew. Sometimes even a friendly gesture is enough to get people through to the end of the day feeling more positive about their life. Positivity can snowball out from you. It does  not have to change you in any way but if you let it, you will find that increased opportunity and strengthening knowledge are just two of some wonderful benefits.

It doen't have to be much; share a few tips, show them your study planner or time management planner. Could you spare a notebook, pen? Could you help them out after school in the library? Maybe you could give up a burger and buy a notebook you could take along and allow this person to use it. That would be awesome, giving up a small pleasure to help someone out. They will be grateful. The help will always be remembered in a world where too many are too focused on self.

Those who do give back a little in this way will tell you they get back tenfold what they selflessly give out. Give it a go and improve the life of someone who is within your sphere; enjoy the consequences.

Good luck with your studies and enjoy a successful future
Have a great day

Measuring your success. School report suck? Really?

Can you run 100m in under 10 seconds, swim 100m in less than 50 seconds, jump higher than 2.4 meters? Me neither. Most of the world cannot even achieve one of these, certainly not all three. So why at school do we insist on similar comparisons? We are not all world record holders, we are not all 'A' students in every subject we study. Should we be? Can we be? No. How we reflect on our success at school should be an internal measurement. Measured against our own potential, how well are we doing? If we are really honest with ourselves, how well does our school report really reflect how well we have done? Does it represent me working at or near my potential? This is what you think about to discover your real measure of success.

Some subjects just click, some never do. Some students are devastated if their usual A+ appears as an 'A', others celebrate with all the bells and whistles when they earn a barely passing grade. So reading a 'C' in History next to your name can be an event worth celebrating and making public or one that requires significant disaster control. Being honest with yourself is one of the keys to your Success at School. Don't kid yourself that you have worked hard or studied adequately when, in fact, you have clearly missed your targets. Study needs a structure to support it. It is not something you just pile on right before exams and hope for the best. Some sort of plan becomes more and more necessary the further you are through your education. Establish good habits early in life, the earlier the better.

Be kind to yourself, as well as a little strict. More importantly be determined, backed up by your vision to be a Success at School as part of a better future. Do not excuse your poor work habits by blaming anyone else or your environment, do not accept marks below your potential either; pointing at teachers, the school, facilities, resources and so on. Take your success seriously and tackle it with energy. We do live in tough times and sometimes we have to suffer less than ideal conditions; conditions which influence and, in some way, direct our learning. If you listen, dozens of people, texts and videos will bore (inspire?) you with stories of hardship overcome. Heard a few of those? Hmmm.

You do not have to leap tall buildings or commit to the training regime of a world record-holding athlete. You do have to set up a scheme that both suits you and works for you. One that gradually improves your current grades, one that gradually makes your future a better place to be. Hold those thoughts as your results turn upwards, as comments improve, as study and exams become more doable, as homework is done well within time as your Success at School becomes more certain.

Good luck with your high school studies. Have a great day

Sit near the front for more Success at School

Why sit near the front? Why will I do better and improve my grades if I sit near the front? In some classroom situations this may be hard to do. Some students may harass those who sit near the front. They may be teased as nerdy or trying to be the teacher's pet. It can be a fine and risky balance. Is it worth the risk? Sit as close to the front as possible; even if you move one row forward or one seat closer to the centre of the classroom. If your class is already underway, maybe you have to wait until the start of the next semester to claim your seat. The move will be worth it.
Why move? Next time you go into your classroom, if you do not sit at the back or far away from the teacher's desk, imagine yourself in one of those seats. Note some of the barriers to a smooth learning curve. The things to look out for? Anything that would distract a clear focus on the learning situation. Picture you from the back and the impact of mini events like:

• The person on your right throws some paper over their shoulder
• Diagonally to the left is a conversation going on as soon as the teacher turns away
• Right in front of you is someone signalling another across the room
• Further to the front is someone drawing on their desk
• I'm sure you can add loads more

All these just slightly distract clear thought patterns. So at, or near, the front? Well, you are closer to the action and tend to get a bit more involved both in the real purpose of the lesson and with what you do to record the academic truth of the lesson. The teacher often sees students close to them as their support group and may rely on them that way for input to the discussion and for feedback on the lesson.

If you become a friendly face, even by the default that being involved gives, you are more likely to get favours determined by the de facto relationship due to seating. This may take the face of sympathy for awarding those marginal marks, more generous extension to due dates, even the chance of the reference that teachers are reluctant to give.

That aside, the main advantage is the academic advantage you gain. You may hear more tips than those further back in the buzz zone of the class where there is often more distracting activity going on. Teacher infill comment may help you with your notes, you do not miss the spoken information, especially that inferred by work going up on the board with short anecdotes revealed as the content is delivered. You steer clear of the distractions while maintaining your valued connections with all class members. A teacher who is roaming to see if students need some help or guidance, will stop first with those closest. This is good because you do not have to stand out from the crowd by signalling that you need help. All good. All advantageous. All promote Success at School.

Good luck with your studies.
Have a great day

Someone is stealing your future

While you sit in class and daydream or chat to the student near you; as you wander through the mall looking at potential partners, new electronics; as you watch a movie for the zillionth time, saying the words as the actors do; think. Someone is stealing your future. It may be the good looking shop assistant you fancied, or the most valued player in the game you watch, or the surfer at the beach. You will never know. Not just one, but many people will be stealing your future in your idle time. The future you have laid out as a result of planning and commitment to do well is being eroded by people your age all over the country; probably the world these days.

OMG

Who are these people and what can you do about it? These people are students just like you. They listen to the same music, wear the same clothes and sit on the same beach. You cannot pick them out. In the future, you will be able to find them easily. Go to the top of a company; find leading entrepreneurs; look for champions of just causes; watch the news and hear inspirational politicians and researchers announcing cures for endemic diseases. You will find their names attached to fabulous artworks, literature and architecture. Didn't you want your name in there somewhere? Can't happen. Can't happen unless you act now to stop it.

While you goof off, there are students everywhere reading, listening, analysing, drawing, organising notes. They have their gameplan and are sticking to it. You are losing the race if you do not do the same. While we are young, even when older but less so, we are in a series of queues. Queues for jobs, training, University or College entrance, fast food. For most young people your position in each queue is determined by your Success at School. You are not competing with just the others you see in your classes at school. Every student across the State/Country in similar classrooms, gazing out from similar windows, is competing for the same things.

This is where you now have the advantage. For every one person you get ahead of in your classes, there may be thousands you get ahead of in the life queues; those really important queues you plan to be near the front of after you leave school and enter your future as a successful applicant to all you set your mind to. So listen to what is going on. Apply yourself at every opportunity. Relax and enjoy your youth, but beware of the challenge. Everyone you pass in the results of your classes is equivalent to hundreds, even thousands, of places in those important post-school queues.

Good luck with your studies
Have a great day

Don't let a question stop Success at School

Here's the scene. Your teacher is going over new work or may be reviewing past lessons, when you come across a point you do not understand. 'Understand' means you could explain it to a friend clearly enough that they could understand it too. What do you do? Put up your hand to indicate you need a better or fuller explanation? Not a cool thing to do? I wonder if that bit of information is the difference between getting a higher grade and staying where you are; worse still, going down. Do you find that you often have time left in exams; time where you could add a few valuable lines to your paper? Was that the piece of information you could have asked about?

Sometimes it takes courage to put up your hand in a class of students who are too cool to put up their hand. Academic courage is not trained or taught. School systems push us in one end and out the other, over a decade later. Do we learn enough on the way? Some care, others do not. Take heart, you are not alone. There are other ways around this problem.

Be a leader. Someone has to take control. Try to talk to some friends who may be willing, on a signal, to put up their hands, giving strength to others to do the same. Even approach the teacher to see if they will join in your scheme. Most teachers would love to have more students asking questions. Two things happen. Firstly, it makes them feel good and secondly, it's always good to have an ally in the staffroom. That can be useful to you. This 'ally' will feel more inclined to spend a bit of time extra with you to help out.

Take careful notes and hope that between you and your friends you can eventually sort it out. Maybe someone has an older brother or sister who is good at the subject. You can see plan two has a few time constraints that will eat into the time you have slotted into your schedule as 'spare', 'play', 'shopping' and so on.

Even more risky is you could just wait and hope that before next week's test the teacher revisits the topic and you actually understand it. Youtube, Google, Answers and other online sources are other time consuming ways that may give you the answer. The library? Where's that? How about you make an appointment with the teacher to meet with them for help during a break? Lots of ways to get sorted that do not take up too much valuable time.

Read Sun Tzu's Art of War. It's full of strategy that all manner of professions take from the battlefield for which it was written to their own interactions with associates and competition. That may help.

Mostly, get the itch fixed. A small point can make all the difference. At this point, not learning, not finding out is not an option. No one's worry but yours. Get stuck in and do something. Email me if it's a real emergency but do something. Your Success at School is the most important thing to get out of school, right alongside some wonderful lifelong friends.

Get that point clarified as early as you can. These small points are the ones that form really effective stops to further learning in a topic even though, in themselves, they may only need a minor explanation. They create roadblocks to assimilating new knowledge and confuse thought patterns as your brain tries to work its way around what it sees as corrupt information.

Make a plan and carry it through. Tomorrow you'll feel good about it.

Get the most from school. Have a great day.

Stop procrastinating. Sure, later.

Have you read many posts from this blog? Have you thought about what you read? Do you agree or disagree with it? Maybe a bit of both, hey? Let's say you are feeling down in the dumps about school. It could be for stacks of reasons that we all experience at some time or another. Hmmm. Wasn't sure of where the expression 'down in the dumps' came from so I just spent five minutes googling to find out. It comes from old words meaning melancholy or depression, so that seems to fit how we use it. How easy it is to procrastinate. Back to writing. Think I'll have a drink first. That's better. Now where was I?

Procrastination and this blog. Oh yes now I remember. How easy it is to get off task with things that are more appealing and more enjoyable. Like many, I have the attention span of a crazy puppy.

The school experience can be somewhat insidious, often stressful and always very busy. When it comes to school work, procrastination can slay the outcomes like you wouldn't believe. Or maybe you would, having been there. Many a time did you say? The art of procrastination is so well developed in most that it seems to be almost genetic. You may not put off intense training sessions the way others do because you like the endorphin buzz you get from the physical output but where is the buzz in four hours of English assignment you grumble. No argument here. I think we all have procrastination skills, just depends on the task and how we see it and what we envisage we'll get out of it.

What comes out of a four hour assignment blitz? Boredom? Drudgery? Stiff back? Maybe missed opportunity with that interesting and good looking new neighbour? Grrrr. Sometimes it is really hard to measure a positive anywhere in a task. True, true. Strategy? For those really absolutely awful and pointless pieces of work (let's hope they are few and far between at your school), your joy may be just that you have one less to do when it's done. Make it quality and those around you who fall by the wayside on such tasks will fall behind you in the race to secure the futures generated by Success at School. Just as in the workplace some things just have to be done. Don't put such tasks off. The longer they sit there, the more time you have to think about it and the worse you feel about doing it. Jump right in and get started. You'll have a huge chunk of it done before you know it and be well on the way to finishing when your friends are still bemoaning the fact that they are still to start. Try it, it works.

So back to my opening. Have you been reading the bits in this blog? They are written to maybe help you across the line that society draws in the sand; the line that is the 'Success at School' requirement for progress to an interesting and fruitful future. A future less filled with boring and meaningless tasks like those we are discussing here. Start to organise yourself right now. Log off Facebook, turn off your phone for say 1 hour, turn off television for that same hour. Find peace in your head, knowing that starting right now puts you on track for a better future. Pick out a couple of postings to read. Act on them.

Please get started. We need smart young people to graduate into the world and build better futures for all of us. If I can help you, let me know.
Have a go. It can't be worse than progress and situations you are not happy with.
Good luck. Have a great day

Develop a system for taking notes and reviewing II

Let's suppose you read 'Develop a system for taking notes and reviewing I' and now have a notebook for each subject. You have numbered the pages; each day you put a day, date and topic; at the back you have started to diarise important information such as topics covered, location of reference material, clues the teacher may give you as to what is required for exams or assigned tasks; lists of homework due dates; and any other important key bits of information.

What else? You want this book to help you. Why else would you go out and get it? Don't let it get all scruffy, ripped, disorganised. That's how study from it will turn out. Horrible, hard, indigestible. Write the main body of text in blue or black for ease of reading and underline or highlight in another dark color such as dark orange, purple. Don't fill your book with all colors. Again that just sends confusing signals when it comes time to study or review. Make it easier for your brain to follow what was done and find the bits it is not sure of quickly. Once found and highlighted, these fewer topics can become the center of your focus as you begin the exam process. You can easily judge where to spend more time.

If you must doodle on your page, set aside an area at the bottom or side of the page for doing this. Don't let it get all over your work. It may look creative and fun. It has no place in among serious notes. It will interrupt your thoughts as your mind drifts away to interpreting the artwork, rather that the more serious business of the notes on your page.

To let revision of your work flow smoothly put a very brief phrase or two on the top of each page, telling you what is on that page. You may forget in a couple of months' time what you have covered and this can serve as quick triggers to target the revision and study process and make it more efficient. Making better use of your time is one of the most important goals in your ambition for Success at School.

If you remember some time ago I said that we do not want to fill every waking moment with study, study, study. Yukk! If your time is used well, then you will find that you have time for breaks. Those breaks will be enjoyed more because in the back of your mind is not the worry of unfinished, even unknown tasks; you have it all under control. Proper use of time when you are young will transfer to adulthood so you will still have fun knowing that all you need to do is under control. Worry free play. Yeah to that!

Good luck with your studies
Have a great day

Prepare, for Success At School

As you slide into your chair in class, are you ready for what's coming up next? Biro, paper, text, paint brush, calculator. Do you have what you need to make a good record of what is going on? Is your brain switched on to gathering as much information as possible? Are you willing to ask questions if you are stuck? Have you pre-read anything or quickly reviewed the notes from the last lesson? No? Well, the more of these you can tick off, the more ready you will be for Success At School, the easier it will come.

If you are working at a building site, you are not much help if you turn up to work and you don't have the right tools or the required safety gear. Have you prepared the materials you need; maybe you had to order paint or bricks or roof trusses. It they are not on site, the building can't go ahead. You lose money. What if you do not have the knowledge to complete the task in a successful fashion? The tasks ahead may prove insurmountable. Not good for the boss's opinion of you. Not good for your Success At Work.

You are that worker. Get everything ready, be ready and success will be drawn to you. Do you just copy notes straight off the board or are you cleverer than that? Do you add your own personal comments and phrases to clarify what is discussed? Makes revision much easier, so doing this prepares yourself a bit more for important exams or builds stronger notes for future reference.

Be kind to yourself. Reduce stress created by bothersome teachers harassing you because you are ill-equipped for the job. Come prepared, be comforable, be assured that success will attach itself to someone like you who works for it, plans for it and is prepared to make it happen. You will be able to work efficiently and effectively, readily absorbing new materials and seeking help to fill any gaps as they happen.

Get to know what works for your learning. Don't kid yourself about what you do now. Be prepared. Be ready for Success At School.

As you can see most of what we need to do for Success At School is not about hours of study, swotting in the library, being an obnoxious nerd. It is about being serious in what we do and thinking about where we want to be in a few years and then aiming for it. Good luck. Have a great day

Participate in school for better school marks

Participating in school will be one of the big obstacles to overcome in your search for better school marks. It may take significant planning and risk, depending on the school and the area it is in. If you do not get negative feedback from classmates try participating in class with questions, answers, suggestions. It will keep you awake and focussed and, more importantly, it will encourage others to join in in a positive manner. What can happen? Well, you could learn more, the teachers would be more helpful when you needed guidance or assistance, you may get leadership approval from your peers. Many positives are there for your taking, not to mention that key of higher grades.

Sometimes you may need to seek approval from some people first if that will help. See if some of your friends may be encouraged to support you with the occasional answer or question, or even some homework done on time. Anything that may improve the learning environment will benefit.

Is it possible to start a study circle. This gives you the opportunity to be a leader, meet new and valuable school contacts, and have more sources of help and interaction. These can be small groups of peers who you can rely on. Meet on or off campus. The relationships formed in these groups are often long lasting, threading way into the future. You can use each others notes and ideas to advantage. Be reliable. Be useful. Be that leader. Make sure everyone's input is valued. Make sure everone has a turn. Make sure there are no put downs, even in fun because you never know how the other person may take it. The individuals in study circles tend to grow rapidly in maturity.

If the classroom is out of the question as a place to stand out, even a little, try putting something back into your community by offering to do a small extra job around campus. It might be that only a few notice at first. It seems that if you put a positive spin into something, the universe in some way rewards your actions. So once you feel a bit more confident about your power, take it into the classroom and work on your academic capability. Do not go for nerd of the week. Go for the likeable all rounder. This is a better target. You are looking for a more comfortable and more enjoyable learning place, that's all.

School too easy? Make your own rules

Complacency can happen when we find the "challenge" of school not a challenge at all. Since a young age you may have found it easy to learn new tasks, methods, skills and content; too easy. No wonder you find school boring and think of it as barely useful; a time consuming stepping stone in the years of your career. Your friends and others in your circle such as family think you are doing OK and often reinforce that with you. Most people see success as passing tests or reaching certain grade levels. That certainly is part of the picture but the real image is formed by considering the background, ability and potential of each individual.

How close are your grade levels to your real potential or to a potential stretched by your imagination? Passing and this grade may be a long way apart. So you get that gap that creates some discomfort for you when you receive congratulatory comment on your results. In your heart and mind you may not be totally satisfied. Great. What you need to do here is find your limits, if you have any, and write them down. Think of them always as intermediate and fluid, changeable at any point you care to choose. The changes may occur of their own accord with regular assessment of challenges and targets. Plan to promote your future premier choices for further study or employment and training. Do this by improving the marks you are awarded and the comments written about you by people in school. In this case, you can begin to analyse your capabilities, write them down, target new levels, and know that you need that challenge.

Positions in the queue for employment, training, or student acceptance at College are often pre-set by those institutions. Your best grades and fine comments will move you further to the front of any queue. Where do you want to put yourself? As far up front as possible, naturally. The choices then becomes yours, not to be cut off because you did not reach the necessary pre-ordained numbers set by employers, Colleges and Universities.

The teacher picks on me

I often wonder if people should think about this one a bit more and come to the conclusion that in most cases, this is a good thing. Think about this one. Firstly, is your behaviour reflecting that of a good student? Do you, perhaps, talk a little too much, write a little too little, look around vacantly often? Don't say "Everyne else does", because we are looking at you.

Most teachers want the best for their students, whether you like that teacher or not. They stay in their job hoping to be able to influence one or two people in a positive manner along the way so they become successful in the future. Teachers may annoy you but most of what they do is driven by outside influences. The content of classroom lessons is prescribed by State or other central bodies, so what they teach you is usually not of their choosing. They are just trying to lead you through it as best as they can. Their interactions with you is also governed by School Boards, parent groups, lobby groups, and Government legislation. Often they have a dress code just as the student body does. Often they do not like aspects of the dress code too. As you can imagine often the poor teacher is retricted and feels confined and frustrated by over regulation just like you do.

So, look at it a different way if a teacher says something to you and don't put yourself into a basket of talkers or non-homework doers or others like that just so you feel better because you have an excuse. Maybe the teacher  has your needs at heart and wants you to do well and just wants to remind you what you should be doing. If you get annoyed at that, of course they get annoyed too. Wouldn't you get a bit annoyed if you thought you were trying to help someone and they said something smart or angry back at you? You should actually, usually, be pleased because they may be more interested in your success than some others. They want you to be on task for success and try to keep you on track. Maybe they can see a lot more potential in your ability than you are showing. Your welfare and success is often at the top of their consideration. The more you work with them the easier school gets and the more likely you are to reach your success goals. Try it.

There are no "Ten Best Rules" for success

I am sorry to inform you that there is not a set of "ten best rules". Many sites give you a list that appears to be a cure all for all people in all situations, forgetting how individual we are and forgetting to say: "Here is a list of ten points that may help you gain Better School Marks, the list is nowhere near complete." Already in these support pages, you may be getting the idea that there are dozens and dozens of ideas that can be used to help people improve. Some will suit you, some won't. As you read with us, try some, reject some, go back to others, and then make up your own to share with friends. Once you start to form your own you can really give yourself just cause for celebration. You have then fully taken control of your own future prospects.

"Ten Best Rules" is too tempting. Do not get sucked into thinking that: "If I do all these, I am sure to be successful." What if none of the hints suit your style? What if none of the hints refers to the learning expected of you? What if you take a lot of time to put the idea into place and find that it's nothing like you wanted? Be cautious.

Do not be put off looking for ideas but approach with caution anything that offers to fix all your problems. Find new thinking that you are comfortable with. Do not try to implement ten new things at once or you will be swamped with too much to change, making the process of renewal and road to Better School Marks a winding, rocky road with few signposts, driven mostly in the dark. Small changes with a great probability of reaching each goal should be the start point. These then form the foundation and strength to make larger changes and more ambitious plans for targets that really stretch you.

The planning will become easier once you get going. Targets will be easier to come up with. Time estimates will be more realistic. Please, at this early stage of renewal, don't put too much expectation on yourself. The entire focus is on improvement at a sustainable level. A level that is a measure made up entirely of steps toward sealing greater opportunity in your future. Step up and enjoy the feeling that success brings.

De-clutter at home

Home is often set up as the worst place to study and to prepare and get on with the plan for Better School Marks. Remember we are looking to set you up so you give yourself as much chance as possible of driving a successful future. Sometimes, especially at the start, things seem a bit tough. If they are, just email, and we'll try to sort it out. Somehow you need to allocate study space. If that solution is not immediately obvious, how about you find a spot around the school where there will be the peace to study. Note, not "try to find" but "find". Don't let yourself have excuses in such important matters. Could you use the local library?

Home is best because you can leave your stuff out without it getting stolen when you go for a break. You do need quiet. You do need calm.

Get rid of the ipod, phone, tv. Do not be tempted by the buzz of unanswered texts or the chance to listen to the latest song or by your favourite program or a possible facebook comment. Plan around all this. They can all wait until you are ready to consider them. They are not as important as you and your future. In this future you will much more likely be the rule maker. So, plan around all this. Did I already say "Plan around all this'? Well, if you are serious, do it.

What you are looking for, as much as possible, is for one signal to be going into your head and that is why the peace is so important. No tv, no phone, no friends over, no music, no facebook. Try to make a dedicated space in your room. It does not have to be showy. Flat top for desk, comfortable chair you can sit in for about 2h at a time, a lamp would be good as would be a specific spot to store your important notes. If your school uses computers a lot, then the space for this would also come in. But it is far more important to have book and pen space.

Get the equipment ready and lay it out. Get your head into focus. That may mean you have to bully yourself a little at first, until you start to notice the difference. Sit in that space, zone out to the rest of the world. This is the time that is dedicated to your success. Be very selfish about it.

How do you know if you are successful

So, we have written what we want down? Maybe that is proving to be harder than we thought. What sort of record should we keep? Get a notebook. Not large, say A5 size, and certainly not expensive.

It's a nice feeling to put pen to paper for a plan. So you may find your plan grows outside of school to become the way you look at life and its future. Oh, yeah. Now you're getting to the exciting part. Dream your future and then plan how to get there and then do it.

You know you are successful if you reach clearly defined goals. So you can be successful often. As many times as you reach a goal, however small, that is a success. Fill your life full of successes.

What sort of things would you define as being where you are at now? This can be somewhat overwhelming to answer. You do not have to put everything down. The more detail you have, the easier the task of future planning becomes. Notes can be added at any stage as you decide to include information. You might start with the grades you received over the last few exam and test sessions, grades for assignments, even how much you have in the bank. It all forms part of the picture of your growth.

Since we are about Better School Marks how about figuring out things like: how much actual study you do each day; how much homework you do each day (yes they are different and each important in its own way); a description of the place where you do learning work, including writing materials; how you learn best; when (time of day and day) you study; when you do other stuff like sport, chores, part time work; your satisfaction with each of these current situations. You can see this part is really important but also can be done in sections.

Once this picture starts to emerge, then you have something to compare with. Now you need to start picturing what it means to you to be successful. Be nice to yourself. Think about each of the above and add to them as you come up with new ideas. Draw up a table with five columns headed: "What" (Pick some of the things you want to target); "Current" (Your current position); "Next" (Put where you want to take this in the next stage of your growth. This allows for future changes, so some of these statements can be that you are OK with where you are now); "Timing" (How long you expect it to take. This can be things like: "by the end of this month I will be ..."; or "in the next examination period ..."; or "When I finish school ..."); "Feeling/thoughts" (what you think it will be like to be at this point or how you will feel about achieving this).

Again you can do things bit at a time. Early targets should be easily doable, creating lots of early successes. Make the commitment to yourself. A few moments now will hugely increase your chance of Better School Marks and hence a higher probability of a more secure future.

Measuring success with better school marks

What is success? There are a myriad measures of success and discussions (just look at tv, gossip magazines, blogs, twitter, facebook, msn ...) about who is/isn't successful or famous. Who is/isn't successful in $$'s, lifestyle, happiness, looks, skill, power .... How can we define and who defines our success? Yes, our success. There are just hundreds of ways to define what is "successful" and matching hundreds of experts willing to tell us what we should and shouldn't do to be considered successful. However the particular "successful" we are exploring is "better school marks".

What do we mean by "better school marks". This will be one of your measures of success so we must know what we mean by it. What will your "better school marks" be? What we are looking for here is a way for you to check if you have reached a level appropriate to your inbuilt ability. Yes, your ability. So, who needs all the experts when the success we are playing with here is very personal. It belongs to a single person. A single person who is able to declare that a pinnacle has been reached. The definer is YOU.

Make your own decision about your personal "better school marks". Take a long, careful look at where you are now. Write it down somewhere that you will keep as a record. It may be a long term record in which you put down thoughts, plans, successes along the way but make sure you can prove to yourself what has been done, what has been achieved, and what's next. Set a realistic (but not low target) mission. Aim high. If you miss high you may get reasonable for the first few shots. Don't worry about that, especially if success has been hard to come by in the past. The build to success may be a bit slow at first if this is the case. But, if you aim low to start with, the best you can get is low.

Remember, be selfish about this. It is for you. Who cares what others say. Once we reach a target we can stabilise and maintain that or go on to a higher plateau. Do not limit yourself under outside influence. Satisfy your own personal goals. Dream a bit. What sort of future do you want? What do you need to do to get there? Who will you be? Take your time to answer all these questions. Be sure to write it all down. Draw diagrams. Make up "what if ..." scenarios. Enjoy the thought of being successful now and in the future.

So, you wanna be a rock star

Or is it "movie star" or "sports star" or "famous artist" (performance or production) of some sort? Don't be fooled by the hype. Consider, quietly and clearly, just how many people you know would love to be a famous (and of course sickeningly well paid) identity and multiply that by how many communities there are like yours in your town, country, the world. Yes, world. All the above are international jobs. How many stars actually are right at the top? How many people want to be there? How many have the connections you don't (i.e. those with famous relatives willing to help out family)? How many have the financial support you don't? How many have "good luck"?

Extras in movies, local bar bands, local team players do not make much money. Most people in the arts area who have made it will tell you the best training in the arts world is bar work. You'll likely make more money doing that.

Always have a dream destination. The caution is that the odds of success in such competitive industries, with so few highly paid participants, are very low. Be realistic.

So, back to the success at school (where "school" is any formalized structure of learning) notion (not the easier "fail" path). Vomit? Sux? Nerdy? Wimpy? Oh, no. These people (successful at school) have the easier path to a dream lifestyle, whichever way you look at it. The idea of success at school is to have a good backup plan if plan A (being a fabulously wealthy and famous "____ star") does not quite happen. Qualified professionals, entrepreneurs and highly experienced people in most industries can be very well paid and live extraordinary lifestyles. And, there are hundreds of thousands more jobs like these. So plan B looks great too. Success, you will find, is a magnet for excitement and fun.

If you cover plan A and plan B as well as you can, surely your future has loads more potential fun.

How easy it is to fail at school

Too easy! Read the last post and look for even more reasons to fail than those offered there. Then do nothing about it.

It is easy to find blame in your school, the teachers, the courses on offer, your parents or friends or brothers or sisters or step mum or step dad or blah blah blah, part time work, amount of homework, discipline, being picked on by teachers, transport, Osama bin Laden or Obama or Islam or Christianity. Man the list is endless. It's easy to fail. There are just so many things and people to blame for it.

"I'm so tough I don't care if I fail. The world owes me because I breathe so I'll take my failure out on the world"

WIMP!! PUSSY!! Nobody really thinks failure is cool. If you go to school, get the most advantage you can out of it. Get over the blame thing and look to yourself. If you are at school, use the opportunity to line yourself up with a more secure future. Do something for yourself while you are there. Why go to school and be a waste of time, resources, space? Leave!

If you don't leave school or college, join us. Ignore the rubbish spouted by wimps too scared, too weak to do well. Join us here and we will help you out.