Achieve-Success loop 2

(Wednesday)

Context:

In this lesson, we want to take a look at how you view grades.

Why it’s important: You’ve been receiving grades for many years now. While you might not think they affect you at the moment, it’s very likely they did when you were younger and have influenced how you view the grades you receive now.

How we react and feel about our grades can have a tremendous impact on how we view ourselves and how we view learning. In order to be successful and productive in the workplace, you’ll need to have a positive view of both yourself and your learning. You need to learn for the entirety of your future careers. Learning will not stop after graduation.

Grades.

As a child, you were able to learn without your efforts, failures, and mistakes being graded. That all changed when you began going to school.

Even though you’ve now been in the school system for many years and may be less emotionally impacted by the grades you receive, it’s good for you to take a moment to understand how grades affect you. Specifically, do you try to get specific grades because of the way they make you feel? Or do you get good grades because you enjoy learning?

Watch the video. Also, try to teach the concept in this video to someone who is greatly affected by their grades.

A, B, C, D, E, F: Your view of grades.

If you get a low grade on an assignment or test, how does it affect you?

Does it motivate you to try harder? Or does it make you feel like giving up? Does it make you feel bad or negatively about yourself?

If lower grades motivate you, does it motivate you to try harder so you can better understand the subject? Or does it motivate you simply to get a better score?

You have to be careful that you aren’t a grade hunter. A grade hunter may not really be concerned about understanding and retaining the material being studied. A grade hunter might simply want a grade for the sake of getting that grade.

Can you see how being a grade hunter could negatively impact you later in life? in the workplace?

Write your answers to some of the above questions in your journal.

Be realistic. There are many factors that can impact your performance at school.

There can be factors, many out of your control, that can impact your grades even when you try your very best. Can you think of others:

  • Missing crucial lessons due to being sick or out of school.

  • A bad night’s sleep.

  • Not eating breakfast or having adequate meals throughout the day. Poverty in general.

  • Depression.

  • Violence, alcohol, or drug abuse in the home.

  • Not having time to study because of needing to work to support your family.

  • Don’t study to get specific grades. Study and work hard to develop the following skills:

  • focus, hard work, determination, curiosity. If you work on developing those skills, they will contribute to your success for the rest of your life.

  • View your grades as an indication of your interest in the subject.

  • If your interest is low, and your grade reflects that, find ways to make that subject more interesting.

Consequences of Student Mental Health Issues.

STRESS: 30% of students reported that they felt more stress due to academic issues.

SLEEP-RELATED ISSUES: 20% of students reported that they experienced more sleep-related issues like insomnia due to academic issues.

ANXIETY: 22% of students reported that they felt more anxious due to academic issues.

DEPRESSION: 18% of students reported that they felt more depressed due to academic issues.

Thought of the day.

Grades do not define you. You are not an ‘A’ student or a ‘C’ student. You are you.