One Thing Your Student Should Do Before The First Day of School
By Sean McCormick, M. Ed.
I am all about free, unstructured time during the summer. But when school rolls around, especially for students with executive function challenges, it is of the upmost importance that they feel prepared for the first weeks of school. Here is my number one tip for ensuring they walk into (or log into) school feeling prepared and confident.
What should my student do?
Have your student email each of their teachers something along these lines:
Hello (teacher name),
I hope you had a great summer and lots of time to relax. I am looking forward to being a part of your class soon and I was wondering if there were any assignments, concepts or work samples I could preview so that I can be prepared for the first week of school.
The reason I ask is that (describe any learning challenges here).
Thank you so much for your time and I look forward to seeing you soon,
(Student name)
Why do this?
There are a few reasons why this is an essential task to take on before the school year starts. While I could name a hundred, I’ll give you three big ones here:
#1: It signals to the teacher that you are a student who cares and wants to do well
Teachers LOVE student who are invested in their classroom culture and want to do well. By proactively reaching out before the semester starts, you student is showing the teacher that they are willing to go the extra mile and prepare for whatever challenges the teacher is setting up. It just might prompt the teacher to do some much needed planning and break free from the summer haze that not only effects students, too. Building a positive relationship with a teacher is worth its weight in gold and grades.
#2: It strengthens your student’s ability to be proactive, rather than reactive to school challenges
Being proactive throughout the school semester is SO important. Instead of waiting to start big projects until the day they are do, students with EF challenges need to reach out and ask about ways to chunk out big tasks and assignments into smaller pieces. While it would be nice if there teacher had a perfect reminder and communication system to facilitate this process, students ultimately are the masters of their school fate, and this is one way they can take ownership.
#3: It helps your student learn to leverage email as a tool for school success
Did we not discover during the pandemic that there is no better tool in school than Gmail? Help your student learn to navigate email and communciate effecitlyt be weilding email. Start them off with this one email and consistently provide them with guidance on how to use email to communicate with their teachers to get what they want and need. It works!
Did you enjoy this article? Learn more about my work with Executive Function by visiting https://www.efspecialists.com
