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The following are common concerns expressed by parents and students. If you need any help, please do not hesitate to contact us at contactavs@avs-academy.com. Our professional counseling and mentoring teams will certainly work with you and develop an action plan to address your specific concerns.
1.) Not able to understand course continuation: Students in middle school may perform well in their classes, but many students have the mindset that after the current school year that they are in, they can disregard many of the topics they learned in that year because they won’t be needed for the following year. But their lack of understanding of course continuation will only cause them to struggle in following years when they have to recall information from previous years in school.
2.) Bullying and Cyberbullying: At this age, children have trouble knowing when something is taken too far. As a result, teasing or normal jokes can be taken too far online, leading to full fledged cyberbullying, which leads to other problems on this list for students, such as self esteem issues.
3.) Enrollment in too many activities: Trying a variety of activities and hobbies is a great thing, but only to a certain extent. Some kids may become overzealous, and taking on too much than they can handle. It is important for kids to expose themselves to new experiences, but at the same time they must have a rough idea of how much they can take on without sacrificing their performance for any individual activity.
4.) Issues in preparing for PSAT: The PSAT is most likely the first big standardized test that a student takes. They may have taken some tests in elementary school, but they are not emphasized to the extent that the PSAT is. The PSAT is also the first test that students have to study mostly by themselves for. They cannot simply rely on just their normal school work to study for the test. They must prepare separately, and this can cause issues as this is new to students. They may not allocate enough time for both school work and their preparation, leading struggles while getting ready for the PSAT.
5.) Low scores in standardized tests: A low score on standardized tests can be attributed to a number of factors. As stated above, students may find themselves struggling to juggle between normal school work and their preparations for standardized tests. This may also lead to a less-than-satisfactory score on these standardized tests. Along with this, a lack of confidence in one’s abilities or simply an “off day” are all potential reasons for low scores.
6.) Severe drop in self-esteem: Kids are still growing, in more ways than one, and they are continuing to find more about themselves and what kind of person they are. In this time of self-reflecting, it can be easy for them to think less of themselves or to question their abilities and capabilities. These negative mindsets can go on to adversely impact their learning.
7.) Showing signs of stress with mood swings: Like stated above, kids are developing at this age, and part of this process is their hormonal changes, which can lead to things such as mood swings. School work can be very stressful, and especially at an age when they don’t yet know how to properly express themselves, it can very easily lead to negative outbursts such in the form of mood swings.
8.) Slipping grades especially in English: We place an emphasis on math from a very young age, and very often the children have a strong grasp on math and continue to excel in that area. But success in school is dictated by more than their performance in just math. By not placing enough stress on English and reading, it will lead to decreased performance in those aspects of school. Success in school is doing well in all aspects, not just one.
9.) Spending too much time with friends: These kids can be very talented or gifted and perform well in school, but it is important that they also develop good time management skills, something that they will use for the rest of their lives. While being socially adept and being able to communicate well with others is very important, they must be able to allot enough time for their school work. Becoming distracted easily, allocating enough time for their work can become harder for them, leading to them proportioning time incorrectly for their different priorities.
10.) Too much time on video games: The same way that kids neglect their schoolwork to spend time with friends, the same can happen with video games. Video games can be used as a method of relaxation for kids, a time to escape their work for a little while, but it is imperative this does not exceed beyond that and continue to hurt performance in school.
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