Embrace the exam…like it was your best friend!
Manaswini Sridhar
As parents, we don’t blink even once to admit a three-and-a-half year old infant to Lower Kindergarten. Sometimes, we banish our children to school even at the age of three because we do not want our child to ‘waste’ an academic year and stay back at home, playing and getting better acquainted with the family and the rest of the world. However, as adults, we think nothing of spending our major free time glued to the idiot box and engrossed in the lives of fictitious characters while we could be pursuing something creative, challenging and worth our while. A child who sees a parent constantly being entertained by the idiot box draws the logical conclusion that school is a chore and anything associated with it is likely to cause discomfort and pain. So perhaps, some of the earliest lessons taught about the world of education come inadvertently from us, but we find it more convenient to thrust the blame on the school and on the education system.
The child at such a tender age is caught in a whirlwind of homework, slip tests or sudden tests, the monthly tests, the quarterly, half yearly, and the annual examination. Some children take it in their stride, and go about it confidently and nonchalantly; others groan, moan and cringe and die several deaths every time the word ‘test’ is mentioned; it never gets better – it only becomes worse, for the child, the family, and of course the teacher, who has to toil over a paper, hoping against hope that her/his student will miraculously survive the test.
By the time the child is ready for the first board examination, he/she has already experienced 11 annual examinations, not to mention the other school tests and examinations. And yet, students of class 10 timidly pose fundamental questions such as, “How can I concentrate? How can I study for the exam? How do I manage my schedule and my time? I am not confident. What do I do?” Such were the queries that 15 and 16 year-olds had at a recent workshop. The anguish that they were caught in was so evident in their voice and on their face that it made you wonder…what are the fundamentals of any education system? Is it marks or is it to build more confident students who do not question their self-esteem or worth, and who know how to go about life thanks to the hand-holding that has been done both by the school and the parents? Learning cannot happen unless there is a partnership between the school and the parents…because how much can the school and the teachers do in the limited span of time that students are in the school? The feel-good factor about themselves and education cannot happen without the help of parents, especially those parents who believe that it is either the task of the school to develop these positive feelings, or worse still, that it will all ‘eventually’ be learned. Yes, it will eventually be learned, but it may elude them at a time when they need it most. How many parents realize only at the time of the board examination that the child is struggling, frustrated and may not perform? The immediate knee jerk reaction is to make frenzied and frantic appointments with the school counsellor or a private counsellor who will waive the magic wand and offer a formula to transform the nightmarish roller coaster ride of the board exam into a safe, steady and fruitful ride!
http://enlightenmentportal.com/development/selfesteem-building-activities/ is a valuable guide for anyone. It is not mandatory to do all the activities. Choose the ones that will work for your students and encourage them to follow it up on a regular basis. Include parents in these activities as well…after all, today’s parents have to understand that the responsibility lies with them and not just the school. I am reiterating this statement since the feedback that I receive from both principals and teachers is that parents would like to rest the responsibility of their children on the shoulders of the school since most parents today want to be the child’s ‘friend’. By being the friend, the parent deletes the word responsibility from the dictionary of the child, making him/her so totally dependent on others that they have to be reminded to do their homework, take to school their lunch and water bottle! So, how would such a child be able to face something new and challenging such as the board exams?
https://www.daniel-wong.com/2017/01/09/raiseconfident-children/ is another site that talks about the importance of giving children responsibilities, and although the focus of it is on the home, many of the tips can be equally applied to school and the school routine. Again, some of the questions regarding sleep and sleep patterns that were raised during the workshop for students were so basic that it makes you wonder why such issues are not addressed at home or in school. Sleep is vital, but oversleeping is not going to help a student get through high school or even through life. When dealing with the science subjects, a teacher can surely talk about the quality of sleep and how much a student needs. Most Indian households are still fortunate enough to have a grandparent who would love to help the household in lovingly waking up the child. A parent or a sibling can ensure that the first touch of the morning is a gentle one, suggesting to the sleeping beauty that he/she is loved, and it is therefore important for the person to get up in time to get through the day with confidence and without feeling hassled. They should be able to wake up with a happy feeling and relax in bed for two minutes, visualizing success and happiness, before venturing out of bed and into reality.
As teachers, we can encourage our students to get better organized, remember to do the homework, remember to hand over the homework and to even collect it. Have a place where the homework is placed at the beginning of the day; have another allotted place where the corrected homework is collected. Make a note of the names of the students who neither hand over nor pick up their homework. Talk to them about responsibilities and how they need to complete certain tasks in order to make life easier for themselves. Award extra marks for students who have without fail stuck to the routine. Students who perceive the connection between performing an act and the reward will automatically make this a habit, and when it becomes a habit, they are one step ahead of the crowd to achieving their goals. https://www.thoughtco.com/tips-for-collectinghomework-8346 is a website that offers teachers simple but effective tips about how and when to have the homework submitted.
The first day of the academic year is the day when students meet a new teacher, meet new classmates and sometimes even walk into a new school. Unfortunately, It is also perceived as a day when not much happens…a day of laziness and relaxation in class where there are no pressures, no homework…in short, everyone just flows with the time, excited but totally unsure of what is expected of them in the academic year and less still, how to accept the challenges and jump over the hurdles, successful and brimming with confidence.
A student goes through at least six classes on the first day, so in all probability, the student also meets six teachers, teachers who will be dealing with various subjects in the course of the year. If each teacher, in addition to introducing himself/herself, the subject that he/she will be handling, talked about one aspect of school or life to help those students who are not being handheld at home, it will have an amazing impact on the students and they will learn the life skills that they actually have to be equipped with in order to make school life successful, both academically and personally.
Each teacher can prepare for any of the following topics (so that the teachers too are not overburdened!) and present it to the students in a friendly and casual way…not like a lecture, but allowing students to interrupt when they have a question or a comment to make. This makes the session interactive and gives the teacher an idea of what the classroom is like and who are the ones who will either help during the class or hinder! It also gives the teacher an idea of how to seat the students so that the talkative and the reserved ones are placed together, making it productive for the pair and making classroom management less strenuous.
Some of the topics could be:
1. Tackling bullying (http://www.ed.gov.nl.ca/edu/k12/safeandcaring/students/bullied.html)
2. Setting a schedule for yourself (https://www.studiosity.com/student-resources/studenttimetable-2018)
3. Time management (https://www.daniel-wong.com/2017/07/17/time-management-tips-for-students/)
4. How to focus in class (http://www.gettingsmart.com/2016/10/4-concentration-activities-students/)
5. How to ask the teacher questions in class (https://www.wikihow.com/Ask-Questions-in-Class)
6. How to stay motivated in class and outside of it(https://www.wikihow.com/Be-a-Great-Student-in-Middle-School)
Teachers can also talk about good diet habits and the need for physical exercise and a hobby. Good food habits are necessary for the student to stay awake and alert in class; they also prevent the student from falling ill too often in the course of the year. Physical exercise and hobbies are vital for students in order to destress and relax, helping them to get into the study mode at the moment of their choice.
The sites mentioned above are only suggestions. When teachers are armed with hard-core tips for the student to follow, it is better received by the students.
If parents are interested in being a part of this initiative, well, the more the merrier, because some parents seem to have forgotten what it was like to be a student and therefore expect everything to be smooth sailing.
The author is a teacher educator and language trainer based in Hyderabad. She can be reached at manaswinisridhar@gmail.com.
