Hello, and thanks for checking out my blog! The last few weeks have been super busy for me. Although the school year started kind of slowly, things picked up really quickly. I didn’t realize how much work I’d have. And I realized I wasn’t as good at balancing everything as I thought. Last week marked the end of the first quarter. This meant we got our first report card and held parent-teacher conferences. In my school, the parents and kids meet with the teachers for five minutes at a time to quickly go through strengths and “developmental areas” (aka things you need to work on).
My grades—which have usually been pretty good—weren’t as great as I’d hoped. Or expected. Which brings me to the life lesson I learned in a very tough way: being able to plan, focus, and stay organized are really important skills to have, whether you’re a kid or a grown-up. When you aren’t able to juggle all three, you may be in for an awful surprise.
Here’s what happened…
Running into trouble
When I was in elementary school, I was a great student. I was lucky that I didn’t have to study all that hard to do well in school. Looking back, I realize that I had it pretty good. One of the biggest reasons was that I didn’t have a ton of homework to keep up with. But this year has been different. Classes are harder, my teachers expect more, and I’m busier than I’ve ever been.
You may remember from a previous blog that I’m now on the track team. We practice every day after school, which can really chew into my homework time. I also have less time to practice piano (insert a fake sigh—ha ha) and, most importantly, relax. I know that’s part of getting older, but I now miss the “easy life” I used to have when I was younger.
As I mentioned before, school started off a little slowly. I thought seventh grade would be a piece of cake. Except a couple of months into school, it was like the principal flipped a switch on all the teachers. They suddenly started giving us more homework, plus we had tests and pop quizzes. I missed the good old days.
I thought I studied hard and initially, I did pretty well on most—though not all—of my quizzes. Take science, for example. After a fairly awful first test, I knew I’d have to work extra hard in science. The teacher was one of the toughest in the school. But overall, I assumed I was doing OK. It wasn’t until report cards came out that I understood just how much I had underestimated my situation. And I got an awful surprise.
Facing the music
First, the good news: I had gotten good grades in English, language, social studies, music, and, of course, PE (physical education). The bad news? I didn’t do so well in math, and I did even worse in science. Like really bad.
As luck would have it, our conferences with my math and science teachers were the last two we had. Although I’d love to take you through all the positive feedback I got from the teachers in the classes where I was doing well, in the interest of time, I’ll fast forward to the first “bad” meeting. The one with Ms. H, my math teacher.
My math grade was a completely awful surprise. I had gotten near-perfect scores on all my quizzes and tests. I had no idea why my grade was so low. I wondered if Ms. H somehow got the math wrong for my math grade. (Yes, I know this excuse is a long shot.) When we met with Ms. H during the conference, I learned that she didn’t make a math error.
“Noodle, you’ve had a strong year with quizzes and tests, but you forgot to submit four homework assignments. I sent a note home about one of them, but then you failed to submit the other three.” I stared at my teacher with my mouth wide open when I realized what I’d done.
“Oh no! I finished the homework in class, but then I forgot to turn it in.” I smacked my head, angry at how careless I’d been.
“Not submitting homework really pulled your grade down, Noodle. Homework counts for forty percent of your grade, along with quizzes and tests, plus class participation.” Ms. H seemed almost as bummed as I was over this awful surprise.
“Is it too late to submit the homework now? I still have them in my folder.” I wanted to prove to Ms. H that I’d done the work but had completely forgotten about the homework once I left school. Too bad seventh graders were treated more like older students and not given lots of reminders like younger kids.
“You can submit the two that are from the last unit for partial credit. That’ll bring your grade up a little bit. But Noodle, I hope this is a good lesson to you on how important it is to be on top of things.” I nodded in agreement with Ms. H. I needed to be less forgetful and more organized. Otherwise, I was bound to get more awful surprises.
Not on the same wavelength
My final conference was the one I dreaded the most: science. Since I’m too embarrassed to share how badly I did in science, I’ll just tell you that I kind of bombed two out of three tests. Adding insult to injury, I may have also forgotten to submit a few homework assignments. Ugh. Not a good pattern, I know. Knowing that I messed up, my awful grade didn’t come as an awful surprise.
My teacher, Mr. F, is a really nice person. But he is also super strict, and his tests are especially hard. Only a few kids did well in his class. I knew my parents would tell me that they only cared about my performance. So, I didn’t bother sharing that fact with them. I felt nauseous when it was time for the meeting with Mr. F.
“Noodle, how do you think things are going?” Mr. F asked. My cheeks burned with everyone’s attention on me.
“Umm, not so great.” I scrunched my face to show that the awful surprise of my science grade wasn’t something I was proud of.
“Science has been a bit of a struggle for you this quarter. Why do you think that is?” Mr. F wasn’t going to let me off easily.
“Well, the material is kind of hard. I know I should’ve prepared a little more for the tests… and I, uh, also forgot to hand in some of the homework. But I’m pretty sure I know what I have to do now.” I hoped that being aware of what I did wrong and what I needed to do would be enough to avoid awful surprises in the future. It didn’t seem like Mr. F was completely convinced, though.
“I agree with you, Noodle. And I know you are a very bright student. But I don’t want you to struggle. You can reach out to me for help, or just to check if you’re on the right path. Perhaps we should meet before the next exam to make sure you’re ready? I want you to be successful in my class. I’ve heard that students think it can be challenging.” Well, at least Mr. F knew he was tough. And it was really nice of him to offer me extra help. But it still didn’t change my not-so-great-grade. That was up to me.
Check(list) mate
I guess I didn’t realize how far down the “unprepared path” I’d gone. I think part of the reason was that science was a bit overwhelming. But, if I’m being honest, I think not being organized or on top of my work in my hardest classes was something I didn’t pay enough attention to. Hence, the awful surprises in math and science.
Thankfully, this was only the first quarter. There are still three more quarters to go until the end of the year. So, I have time to turn things around.
As a start, my mom and I made a checklist that I need to complete every night before bed. It’s literally a paper with blank check marks that show I’ve done my homework and studying, plus practiced piano—blech. (No offense to my piano teacher!)
I hope that by being better organized and prepared for school, I’ll be able to focus on the areas that I need to stay on top of—even beyond school stuff. At least it’s a start. My mom suggested that the next time we print out my homework checklist, we should also add “clean up my room” as a to-do.
“A clean space is a clear mind,” my mom said. “Plus, with less clutter on the floor, you’ll know where all your papers are. So you won’t forget to submit any misplaced homework.”
Ooph, Mom. Too soon!
Until next time, be your best you.
Do you have any stories about learning an important lesson from an experience? Please share with them me in the comments section!
