Prolonged school breaks disrupt learning momentum.
Last week, local teachers assigned work to be completed at home, but for the most part, students enjoyed a week to catch up on sleep and remove themselves from the germs that have been swirling in the classrooms. The snow that is falling right now, though, will cause major hiccups for our students. Prolonging their staycation, likely another week, will make their transition back to the classroom, whenever that occurs, a challenge. I recommend setting the tone for your children this weekend, at the start of the workweek ahead.
By looking ahead, you can warn your children that they will face an intense workload upon their return to school. Students view months the way that we view years. Their concept of time is, at least from our perspective, warped and protracted. They do not recognize the amount of material they have yet to learn during this school year and the waning days to do so. By helping them gain a better understanding of what’s coming, your children may be more accepting of your restrictions.
Two realities should frame your conversation with your children.
First, the workload is going to increase this week. To limit make-up days, school administrators will apply pressure to teachers to ramp up the virtual workload. As a result, your children will have more assignments this week. However, that does not necessarily mean that the students will have access to strong instruction. Most work will remain asynchronous, and some, if not most, students will struggle in this environment to stay abreast of their material and on track, requiring them to invest more time into understanding their current units.
Second, AP teachers have only about eight weeks of instruction remaining with an intervening spring break. They will have to increase the pace of instruction because they must cover their prescribed curricula in order to prepare students before obligatory AP exam review sessions begin in April.
Here are three guidelines that you can adapt appropriately to help your children stay on track.
· Insist that your children rise by 8 a.m., eat a healthy breakfast, and settle into school work by 9 a.m. Allowing students to sleep late and start their work in the afternoon, in my opinion, will result in sloppier and less efficient work. Note that distractions later in the day will arise, too: Your children may receive invitations to go sledding or to game with friends, and parents may find themselves in a negotiating dilemma if they allow a later start.
· Ban sleepovers during the week. If the school is going to count any at-home days ahead as actual school days, your children should treat them as such. They will attack their work more efficiently on a schedule and at home. Sleepovers disrupt sleep and derail the next day’s productivity, making it nearly impossible to maintain the morning routine necessary for focused work.
· Require your high school students to work until 1 pm, with very short breaks every half hour and with a half hour break for lunch. Resist any arguments that all of their work is complete. As high school students, they can read the textbook, source supportive online videos for their current concepts, work practice problems, create chapter outlines, and study vocabulary. If they are truly “done” with school work, hand them a book to read.
These guidelines will require effort to enforce, especially when other families offer their children more freedom, but I am sure you agree that a combination of discipline and fun, structured mornings with free afternoons, is the very best approach to minimizing instructional disruptions and to ensuring a smooth transition back to the classroom.