How to "fix" low grades and lack of focus

When I’m helping a teen learn how to learn, there is a lot of positive reinforcement, celebrating wins and overall helping them feel really, truly good about themselves.

It’s hard for anyone, let alone a young person, to create change if they feel bad about themselves. This is why I always encourage parents to meet their kids where they’re at instead of focusing on where they “should” be.

That said - there is massive value in teens recognizing how they’re currently doing something, why it doesn’t work and what to do instead.

Here are two examples from the past week to illustrate:

1) One of my Grade 11 students had a Bio project due this week. When we met last weekend, he shared that he had to change his topic last minute but that he got the OK from his teacher. She even helped brainstorm two other possible topics.

My question: can he still meet the deadline?

Answer: no but that’s OK, he won’t lose marks.

How does he know? Some of his friends are doing the same thing (restarting the project with a new topic) and they told him as much.

Did the teacher confirm this? No.

My face:

How can we make sure our grade won’t be affected? E-mail his teacher to formally confirm his extension, which we did on call together.

Lesson learned: we never, ever assume. Especially when it comes to things that may impact our grades. We get explicit clarification or confirmation, ideally in writing, directly from the source.

Not only did this student exercise his critical thinking and resourcefulness, it was an opportunity to practice e-mail etiquette (something most students hate but I love😊).

The Q+A exchange above (my questions are in pink) is an example of the kind of thinking we want your teen to practice. A lot of the conversations I have with my clients mirror the conversations we want your teen to have with themselves in order to make good decisions and protect their grades.

2) One of my college students is mid-way through a summer course. The readings are increasingly long and tedious (as happens in university). He’s struggling to focus and it’s taking a lot of time to complete them.

Now, with only one course, this isn’t the end of the world. But come the fall term with a full course load, it’s a recipe for falling behind, overwhelm and bad grades.

So we did a live audit of his reading comprehension and note-taking. A couple things jumped out right away: he wasn’t using a timer, his default was reading > skimming and he was taking unnecessary notes.

I used my timer and saw that it was taking up to 7 minutes to complete a page. We discussed how timers help with focus and productivity, I modeled how and when we read vs. skim, and we revisited criteria for what exactly we take notes on.

When we met this past week for another live audit, he was down to ~3.5 minutes per page. That’s HALF what it was before….without compromising his understanding of the material and with even better notes. Given that readings for a single class are 50-60 pages each week, this is huge.

Telling your teen that building skills will save them time and stress is one thing, but seeing how this works in practice for themselves- the hours they get back every week - is worth its weight in gold.

Not only did this student level up his focus and productivity, this reinforced another truth that many teens resist: things that can “suck” about school or make it feel hard - tedious readings, lack of focus - are well within our control to improve.

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When teen are prompted to question their own thinking about a given situation as it unfolds, to identify what is “wrong” with their current way of approaching school, they have the the opportunity to course correct towards a better outcome.

This does wonders for growing autonomy and confidence in their own abilities, while helping make sure they get the grades they’re truly capable of.

Happy Saturday,

Kelsey

Whenever you’re ready, here are two ways I can help your teen get better grades with less stress:

{I realize the school year is almost over. Summer is fantastic for introducing new skills and strategies given the time and space teens have without academics.}

How To Get Schoolwork Done When You’re Not Motivated

This 40-minute workshop walks your teen through the steps to getting their work done when they’re not motivated (because this will be the case…a lot). Bring it into your home here.

The Student Success Accelerator 2.0

If this school year didn’t go great, and you want to avoid a repeat in the fall, my program that teaches your child HOW to learn and get good grades in all subjects could be the answer. I’m enrolling for back-to-school, book a call here to see if it’s a fit.