Avoiding the Midwinter ‘Back to School’ Slump
By JESSICA LAHEY
Jessica Lahey Some serious teaching strategy is required to propel students through the first days of the bleak midwinter, and teachers spend a lot of time and energy preparing their classrooms and curriculums for this phase of the school year. My Twitter feed is full of teacher tips and tricks for keeping students engaged and motivated after the January return to school, and I particularly enjoyed the fifth-grade teacher Pernille Ripp’s favorite strategies for dealing with the “January humdrum.”
Her blog post is concerned with strategies that will help teachers manage this challenging time of year, but there is a lot parents can do to help their children dive into the New Year with resolve and enthusiasm.
1. Reassess rules. Ms. Ripp notes that “students get a little tired and a little more restless” in winter, so she likes to begin the New Year with a second look at her classroom rules and a chance for her students to weigh in on their role in the success of the entire class. I adopted Ms. Ripp’s classroom strategy in my own home, and over this holiday break, we took some time to re-establish the rules of the road in our own home. My husband and I talked about our expectations for behavior and schoolwork, and discussed the consequences that will come to pass if our kids don’t meet those expectations. One fabulous byproduct of clear expectations and consequences is that children can be allowed to take responsibility for their work, and parents can back off and let kids get a taste of some independence.
2. Talk about work space and study habits. Ms. Ripp uses the January return to school as an opportunity to talk with her students about whether or not the classroom spaces are working well for them. Try this same strategy at home. Are your kids doing homework in a quiet, comfortable space? Do they have the resources and supplies they need, when they need them? Is that space distraction-free? Dynamic and lyric-driven music can impair the storage of short-term memory, and frequent email or text alerts can make concentration a challenge, so talk to your kids about the importance of keeping distractions to a minimum when they study. Study spaces should be free of cellphones and other unnecessary digital distractions.
3. Check in on long-term projects. Once your children have set some short-term goals, ask them about their longer-term assignments. Where are they with those projects, and what needs to be done? Do they have a plan for their completion? My older son’s school holds midterms and finals just after the holiday break, so while we are all tempted to mentally abandon academics during the break, he needs to be thinking ahead a bit. The ability to manage complex and long-term projects is part of executive functioning, skills that continue to develop well into adolescence, so they may need a bit of help with their planning. While it’s important to avoid nagging (it has a detrimental effect on your child’s motivation), it’s a good idea to check in and make sure everyone understands what’s coming on the horizon.
4. Make reading a part of your daily life. According to Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), “children who are solid readers perform better in school, have healthy self-image and become lifelong learners, adding to their viability in a competitive world.” Reading is an escape, and books can light up an otherwise dark and dreary winter. Read those books you received over the holidays, and let your kids see you doing so. Lots of organizations put out “best of the year” book lists, so take a copy to your local library or bookstore and pull some new favorites off the shelf. To get you started, here’s the American Library Association’s list of notable children’s books for 2013.
5. Set new goals. Goals, rather than grades, should be the focus of the family’s efforts to support academic efforts. I encourage my students and my children to set measurable, attainable goals on a weekly basis so they can go into each weekend with a feeling of accomplishment. Check in with your kids on a regular basis to praise their efforts in reaching those goals and help refocus when they fall short.
6. Get outside. Sunshine, however rare this time of year, can do a lot to wake the brain, elevate a winter mood, energize the body and stimulate creativity. Short days and low light can cause depression and anxiety in the form of seasonal affective disorder, so bundle up, head outdoors and embrace the all-too-brief sunlight hours.
7. Give in to the season. Or, as Ms. Ripp writes, “embrace the slowness. January seems to slow us all down as we wind down after the craziness of December and winter in general. Instead of fighting it, I tend to embrace it at home with my own kids. We read more, we light more candles and we do more family things in a small way.” Allow your kids more time for quiet contemplation on winter afternoons, opportunities to see that certain slant of light before the renewal and rush of a spring thaw comes to carry everyone away.