As the new school year begins, many parents are considering how their child can reflect on the past year and grow into the next one. It can be helpful for students to take some time to reflect on their previous year of schooling before diving into a new one. This reflection can take many forms, from writing in a journal to discussing with classmates and teachers. By taking time to reflect on the past year, students can identify their strengths and areas for improvement.
Students can start the new year with a clear purpose and direction by thinking about what they want to achieve. This self-awareness is essential for growth and development. Additionally, reflecting on the past year can help students set goals for the new school year. For example, a student may wish to take more time to focus on math in the upcoming months, setting their goals on some new math learning techniques.
Creating A Plan
Ultimately, reflecting on the past year is an excellent way for students to prepare for the new one. While some of this reflection should be done at the end of the school year, doing some self-evaluations at the beginning of the school year can help your child get clarity and reveal opportunities they may not have thought of during the summer months. By understanding their goals for the upcoming year, students can capitalize on their strengths and create a plan for filling any gaps. It can also give insight into how much they have grown during the last school year, giving them confidence once they realize how they have thrived in their educational journey.
Summer Brain
As a parent, this time of year, it can become frustrating when you ask your child to reflect on the previous year. They are most likely to still have “summer brain,” making it difficult to place and plan effectively. But by helping them stay focused and building on what they learned last year, they may start to open up and discuss how they want to grow into the coming year.
Start by asking your child simple questions about their favourite subjects and activities that they experienced last year. Remind them of any field trips they took to get them thinking about the fun they had over the past year. You can also ask them about their favourite teachers and what made them stand out among the others. These types of questions can help to start the conversation and enable a child to remember back to the past year.
Work Through Disappointment
As your child reflects on their past year, they may encounter some disappointments, such as missing out on a field trip or getting a lower grade than expected. Try to reassure them that having an unfinished list is not a failure but an opportunity to work through their feelings of disappointment. Teaching your child how to work through these disappointments can be an essential life skill.
Children must understand that plans change, everyone processes information differently, and things don’t always go smoothly. Reflecting on these instances over the past year can offer a great life lesson for the years ahead.
Celebrate Thriving
Just as your child needs to work through their disappointments, they also need to celebrate when they thrived over the past year. They can boost their confidence by marking their achievements and look forward to learning more this coming year. Children often need to be reminded when they have taken that extra step and grown in their learning. Showing them how far they have come can give them the boost they need to look forward to everything new they will be learning next year.
Encourage your child to keep records of their learning experience. Keeping a journal is a great way to track their progress and help them reflect on all their accomplishments when it comes time.
Helping Your Child Grow
If your child has expressed an area of struggle from the previous year, it is vital to take steps to help them grow this year. Due to the pandemic, many students are falling behind in mathematics, so your child may express disappointment in their grades, or they may give up on their learning. If you have noticed a change in your child’s attitude towards math, they may suffer from math anxiety caused by a loss of learning from classroom disruptions.
To help ensure your child is on track, we offer an assessment upon registration to determine any gaps in understanding. If it seems like a child is experiencing gaps in learning, we can recommend a program that will target the missing knowledge.
Our programs offer engaging games focusing on the four pillars of math (number sense, operational sense, proportional reasoning, and algebraic reasoning). We want your child to leave our programs saying, “math is fun!” and want to continue learning more advanced math operations.
Learn more about Dropkick Math and how our programs can help your child excel in mathematics today!
