Back To School - Things To Consider
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Back To School - Things To Consider
Millions of people are returning to school as students or teachers. Every year is generally the same routine and expectation with slight variations and additional things to be on the lookout for. There's new, more in-depth courses, a wider variety of extra curricular activity, new faculty, etc... whatever the case may be, every year brings something new to the table. This entry is to guide those of you returning to school an easy transition into the school life and what you should focus on, consider, avoid, etc...
Respect. This is a very important aspect of school. Teachers expect the students to respect them. Students expect to be respected by their teachers. Teachers expect teachers to respect the other teachers while students expect other students to respect each other etc... Respect is a very important thing because the way you treat an individual can influence their behavior, performance and overall attitude in and out of the classroom. If you are a teacher, you will get frustrated by your students often, but it is your duty to not take it out on them in a negative way. Obviously when a situation calls for a punishment or action, you are trained on how to handle the situation so I'm not going to tell you how to do your job. What I mean to explain is my personal experience with some teachers and how they treat their students. Teachers who take an initiative to learn the troubles of a student and help/guide them through the curriculum or their personal problems can go a long way while teachers who insult or show no concern for their students will only encourage the students to continue their bad behavior, poor performance or bad hobbies etc... Your students don't want to get their education by reading and filling out answers in packets the entire year. Get involved with your students and truly educate them. By playing a game, or doing a hands on experience that they can enjoy or relate to, they'll be more likely to retain the information exposed to them during the activity. A great way to really grasp this approach is to offer rewards. Homework passes, candy, pizza party, movie hour, etc... From personal experience, I always found that I enjoyed my teachers and my class if the teacher had fun activities to do throughout the week/year etc... Teachers who would stare at their email or papers they had to grade were not very entertaining or enjoyable to be around. Often these teachers would tell us students to sit back down and get back to work with a condescending tone that made us feel like we were an inconvenience for them. I understand we have bad days, but when a teacher acts this way for the entire year, that's not the same thing. So if you want you students to respect you, in turn you need to respect them. Obviously you don't bow down to them and honor every request they have but if you show that you truly care about their education and their interests they'll be more likely to listen to your lectures and opinions on various matters. So be positive, get involved, respect them and they will respect you. When a "bad egg" kind of student comes around, do what you can to try and pry the egg open and help them blossom into a better being/student etc... and take necessary actions to contain them if they are violent/causing serious trouble/disruption etc... but keep things professional, always.
Students. Regardless of what grade you are going into, you generally have to worry about the same things. I've seen a lot of people concerning themselves with things that really are not that important. I'm not saying you should avoid them completly or ignore the fact that they're there, abundant etc... but these are just some small things for you to know about the year ahead of you and what you should focus on, avoid and question.
1. Grades. Getting good grades is always an important subject regardless of who you are, what you plan on doing etc... Obviously the better your grades are, the more likely you are to get into the college you want to go to, get the job you want, get the grants and scholarships you'll need to pay for tuition etc... If you are living outside of the US, things may be different for you but overall most students have the same process for higher education. While you do not need a college degree to get a job, in this day and age it is highly advised if you don't plan on living your working at McDonalds. Pre-plan your future by thinking of what classes and topics you enjoy. Make it a goal to take extracurricular activities that suit you. For me, my life passion was art. Every year I took extra care to get good grades in my art classes. I would take double art courses and I would participate in the extra curricular activities and clubs. I eventually went to college for art as well. Now, things may change. What you plan on doing now might change by the time you graduate. You might even decide to switch majors in college etc... but the point is to get your head on the right track. Your education is very important.
2. Dating. Dating is a very common thing in middle school and high school in the US. Now, this should not be your #1 thing to concern yourself with while you are in school. Obviously your education is top priority. Now, I do think that dating is an essential thing to be involved in while you go through puberty and head towards adulthood. Dating teachers you knew perspectives on relationships, friendships, your emotions, your body signals and it teachs you life lessons that you can only learn via experience. So I'm going to jump right into this. Do not date people just because everyone else is doing it. If you find someone you genuinely are attracted to and you want the friendship to become more serious and take it to next levels then go for it. Don't date someone just so you can join the bandwagon of the couples club. Don't date someone that you aren't attracted to or enjoy being around. You will be miserable with them and when you break up with them they're going to hurt if they truly liked you. Don't change who you are to impress someone. This applies to making friends AND dating. If people cannot accept you for who you are, they don't deserve you in their life. If dating is something that you want to take part in, keep these things in mind. Find someone you enjoy being around, that you get along with. Make sure you discuss your relationship with them. Make sure you and the person you are interested in are equally feeling the same emotions and you aren't giving mixed signals. How awkward would that be if you tell your friends that you're dating someone and that person denies dating because you didn't make it clear that you wanted to date, or they didn't make it clear that dating wasn't something they wanted to do etc... If sex is something you are considering, which you will consider at one point or another, please consider the following things. If you have not reached puberty, do not take part in sex. If you have reached puberty and you're feeling sexual emotions, don't have sex just because you can. Have sex because you found someone that you want to share an intimate moment with. That is something you and the person you're dating will need to discuss. People develop at different ages. People are more comfortable with their bodies than other people are. Don't have sex if you or the person you're dating is not ready. Rape is not something anyone should ever have to experience. If the person you are dating is making you feel uncomfortable, talk to them and let them know. If they refuse to listen and respect you, dump them immediately and get a parent/adult involved! If sex is something you plan on taking part in, make sure that you and the person you're with do not have any STD's. Are you both virgins? Did they have sex with someone already? Multiple people? Etc... USE PROTECTION. I don't care if you use a condom, the pill, the patch... etc... use protection. The last thing you want to do is be 15 and pregnant. It will mess your life up so bad. I'm not saying you won't survive or make it out in a positive way, I'm just saying it's going to be a living hell in the process. If you want your future to be smooth like butter, avoiding sex, dating and getting pregnant are safe options. But sexual urges can be strong, so if you plan on doing it, please be careful.
Drugs. Drugs, alcohol and smoking abuse are very common now. I've seen 13 year olds get addicted to things like cocaine and meth. That's really horrible. You have to wonder how kids that young are getting these things. Are the parents at fault? Are kids just too clever and not monitored well enough? Etc... But alas, these things are heavily abused in school. If you can please do not start smoking, drinking or doing drugs. But if you happen to begin smoking, you are required to be 18 or older to smoke legally. If you are caught smoking illegally, that will not look good for your future. The same goes for alcohol except the legal drinking age is 21. If you are caught drinking illegally, you and/or your parents could be in deep shit. I'll admit that alcohol is fun to drink here and there, but it's something that everyone should have the patience to wait for. Drugs... are just bad. They do not benefit you in any way. Please do not do drugs, and if you find yourself addicted to them, please seek help. Nobody wants you to turn into Lindsay Lohan or Amanda Bynes or Miley Cyrus. If you do end up going to a friends house or a party where smoking, drinking, drugs is available and being used. If you can avoid taking part in these things, please do. If you are afraid of being called a loser, chicken etc... that is up to you. I'd be more humiliated having people know I do drugs than the humiliation I would get because I was too chicken to do drugs. The temporary popularity you will gain in school from your peers is not worth the long term damage that you will be doing to your personality, mental health, physical health and reputation overall in life. Be proactive at a young age so that you don't end up like those people in the youtube videos that abuse drugs for 10+ years. They go from being gorgeous to absolutely disgusting. Why would you want that for yourself? So some boy that you'll never see again after school will think you're cool? Sad.
Popularity. Being popular is alwas a heavy hitter. Insecurities, self esteem etc... is probably one thing that causes teen suicide in great amounts. Small words that people say to us can hurt us like a nuclear bomb. One thing you should keep in mind though... all of these people around you will most likely fall out of existence in your life once you graduate, go to college and move on. You may stay in touch with your friends, or you might go to the same college but for the most part everyone you knew in middle school/high school will disappear from your life altogehter upon graduation. So if someone is giving you a hard time, you will get through it and one day they won't bother you anymore. How awesome would it be if you finish college and you get an amazing job and they're stuck washing your car and when they ask you what you do, you can rub it in their face and remind them of how when they would make fun of you, you used it as motivation to make sure that you'd rise above them tenfold because they made you stronger etc...? Everyone gets bullied and everyone bullies others. Try and make it a conscious effort to be a nice person. Do nice things for others when someone does something nice for you.
I hope these small things help you in the coming school year. I hope you have fun and make new friends. This is your time to enjoy life, explore your options and interests and begin thinking about your future. I'm 99% sure you'll have NO clue what you want to do. And when you finish college you still won't know what you want to do, but having a plan never hurts in the process. Good luck class of 2014 and everyone in the younger classes. Be good to your students teachers. Your attitude in the classroom affects the youngins.
If anyone has any questions or needs any advice, feel free to contact me.
Thank you!
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