In a recent email conversation, a mum told me how her daughter was a little disappointed with her recent English mark. BUT, as her mum, she could see just how far her daughter’s come and doesn’t want her to feel disheartened.
This is a common situation in Term 1 because those assignments and assessments that have just been completed
are being judged on the criteria for your teen’s new year group,
BUT with only having had only one term of teaching at that level!
So, here’s a practical action that can help alleviate the frustration that may arise when your teen feels like they aren’t progressing as they’d like, or are falling victim to the new criteria and demands of a higher year group.
Quick Analogy: Do you have an analogue watch or clock nearby that you can look at?
If you do, then just quickly note the time right now and then watch that minute hand.
Can you see it moving?
Nope…
(unless you have super-power eyesight!)
But, we know it is, right?!
I’m Katie Price – Grade Transformation Expert and in a moment I’ll explain what this means for your teen.
Because I wanna talk about an issue from a recent email conversation I had with a mum, who told me how her daughter was a little disappointed with her recent English mark BUT, that as a mum, she can see just how far her daughter’s come and doesn’t want her to feel disheartened.
This is a significant observation, especially at the start of a new academic year.
Term 1 assignments and assessments that have just been completed are being judged on the criteria for your teen’s new Year group, BUT with only having had one term’s worth of teaching at that level.
So it can be tough sometimes to even maintain the same grades as the previous year, let alone continue to improve on them.
I discussed this issue back in my blog ‘What got you here, won’t get you there’,
so if this resonates with you, then go check that out after finishing this one 🙂
Because what I really wanna share with you is a practical action that can help alleviate any disappointment or frustration that may arise when your teen feels like they aren’t progressing as they’d like, or are falling victim to the new criteria and demands of a higher year group. Especially, like I said, from their results in Term 1.
Well, here it is…
Think back to the work your teen was producing 3 years ago.
It would look and sound quite different to what they are producing now.
And what about comparing the questions they were tackling or how they were writing and performing two or even just one year ago?
For example :
– The complexity of the music script they are now learning for an instrument will be more intricate than this time last year.
– The quality of their artwork will be higher,
– The vocabulary and sentence structures in their writing will be more sophisticated,
– The creativity in their design or ideas will be more interesting,
and
– The difficulty of the maths questions they’re now tackling will be greater.
I’m pretty sure that if they did this, they’d see and think something along the lines of either:
“Gee – that felt like quite a challenge back then, it looks kinda easy now”.
Or…
“Wow – I was really proud of that when I did it, thought it was pretty darn brilliant. But hmmm… it doesn’t look or sound so great now”…
It can be a great way for them to see the hard evidence of their progress and new levels they’re operating at.
So collect, or photograph, or digitally save a few work samples from your teen at yearly intervals.
Then you’ll have something to pull out and remind them of how far they’ve come if they ever need a reminder or some proof.
Keep a copy of an English assignment, a photo of a piece of art, a piece of music they’ve been rehearsing or a science analysis.
It doesn’t even have to be a whole project – for example the analysis part of a science project is where students most develop their writing.
(And in the digital age this is so easy and DOESN’T require you to be hoarding folders of paper or rolled up collages! Bonus!) 😉
Now, if you had one… take a look back at that minute hand on your watch or on the clock…
It’s moved a tiny bit, right?
Our development and growth in our skills is the same – it’s such a gradual process that we ourselves often can’t see it.
And the way that success criteria and grading are set up to increase through the year levels – as of course they should do – well, it can compound this lack of sense of progress.
But for almost all students, they ARE progressing and sometimes just need a good solid reminder through some hard evidence to boost their confidence and motivation.
So, start now. See what you and your teen could save from their Term 1 assessments and then leave me a comment or drop me an email and let me know what you file and save and why you chose those them.
Is it a subject they struggle with?
Or is it something they love and want to continue with and achieve well in, in future?
And if you think this idea would be useful to others, feel free to share! Forward in an email or share this blog link on social media.
And until next week, let’s make this a fantastic week.
Katie 🙂
