It’s never too late for anything– even learning to be a good student
8 Jul
I’ll keep this brief, because I really should be reading four chapters about literacy in the elementary school classroom right now, not distracting myself with a blog post. However, I feel rather passionate about today’s topic.
I’ve never been particularly successful at completing homework–a fact that I’m looking square in the eye as a 52 year old graduate student.
With age, if we are lucky, we get to understand ourselves better. Sometimes someone in our lives helps move the process along. My non-practicing physician husband’s training sometimes rears its head. Early in our recent marriage he pointed out something that now seems terribly obvious. I suffer from heretofore undiagnosed ADHD. I simply cannot remain on task for very long. I get bored. I get anxious. I need to move.
Hmm. That probably explains the homework problem.
Given that I’m a middle-aged adult, I have the skills to proceed, despite my deficits. Slowly--and I mean, glacially–I am learning to adapt. I feel blessed with the insight that homework completely overwhelms me. Won’t that make me a more empathic elementary school teacher?
Here are some of the adaptations that have helped me (and if this sounds nerdy or ridiculous, then so be it. Perhaps my experience will help someone else.) In my second summer of graduate school, I find myself approaching course requirements with an artillery of new habits.
- I highlight and bold text in the electronic form of the syllabus.
- I create a spreadsheet of the reading assignments and class projects and the day they are due.
- I highlight them on the spreadsheet once I’ve completed them, or–more likely–made my best attempt.
That I’m even going public about this is a source of humiliation, but I figure that if it provides new insight to a teacher or a parent or a student, then it’s worth the price.
Are you by nature a good student or is it a skill you’ve had to hone?
I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please post a comment. Dziekuje!
Well, I can give you these thoughts. I had a very easy trajectory in school as I was required to organize more and more work and get it done in the right order. I don’t remember ever learning how to take notes or how to figure out when to do which homework first. But I have a son for whom none of these things come naturally and a daughter who always knew how to study and how to complete big projects side by side with small ones, and another daughter whom I see learning how to study and learn, with effort but without any difficulty. I believe that many people acquire organizational skills, learn how to focus for longer periods of time, and complete more and more complex projects as they mature. But some people are unable to “pick up” these skills or even learn them in a classroom. These people (like my son), have to force themselves into carefully planned routines in order to do complex work. People like my son have ADHD, ADD, or poor executive functioning skills, or other learning disabilities (or a combination thereof) that make organizing and focusing extremely difficult. You should be extremely proud that you have found what helps you get work done. You can add to what you do, change it, and be proud of the simple fact that you have started to figure out how to learn more effectively. Learning how to learn is a huge accomplishment. And remember, anyone who says she/he has done all the reading for a class is definitely lying. I am in the classroom with you in spirit!
Augusta, my summa cum laude, dear friend. Your words make me smile, and I so appreciate them and your friendship. Your students were indeed lucky to have you at the stern.