Social Networks and Teens: A Parent's Guide

Social networks like Facebook have become so much a part of our culture that our teens may find it hard to believe that there was a time before the internet. As in all spheres of social life, there’s are dangers inherent in participating in social networking. Here is a guide to ensuring that your students stay safe on social networks.

Privacy and Trust

Don’t be offended if your teen rejects your friend request. Reading their social network sites is just like listening in on their phone conversations, reading their texts or peeking in their diaries. While students are entitled to a modicum of privacy and trust, you still have a responsibility to protect them. The internet provides a certain anonymity that means that people posing as their friends will have access to all their personal information.

Social networking sites are inevitable and crucial for the modern teen to effectively communicate with their friends. Sharing photos and videos inspires creativity and written communications improve their writing skills. Since your teen is going to be participating, it’s best to outline rules and guidelines to help them to safely navigate social networking sites.

Rules and Guidelines

Talk about which sites your students can belong to and set up your own account so you can familiarize yourself with the way in which the site works. Help your  student to set up the site (make sure that they are old enough to comply with the site’s age restrictions) and show them how the privacy settings work. Explain carefully to them why the privacy settings are important and regularly check that they have not been changed.

Make it a rule that your student doesn’t friend anyone that they haven’t already met in person and don’t know. You can even get younger students to check with you before they accept a friend request. Ensure that photos posted to ensure that they are appropriate and don’t reveal any information that could tell someone which school they attend or where they live.

Regularly Google your students to see what pictures and information are out there. Sometimes their friends may post personal information or pictures that you may not want online. Be vigilant and ask your student to show you what they have been up to online.

It is your responsibility to monitor the sites your students use and the information that they post. Set up guidelines and rules for internet use and be sure to discuss the consequences of posting inappropriate information or pictures. Discuss cyber bullying and how they should react if they receive any messages or posts that are offensive or hurtful. Ask the school for their policy on social bullying and discuss this with your student too.

Choosing the Right Tutoring Program will Ensure Success

It’s back to school now for millions of students and vicariously for their parents. And as they hit the books, virtually all have the same goal: raise grades and test scores substantially to get into a good college and have a chance in an increasingly competitive job market. But the bad news is that many students are falling short of their academic goals.

“Low or failing grades produce shame, frustration, helplessness, hopelessness and peer group rejection,” says Larrie Reynolds, Superintendent of Mount Olive Township Public Schools. “This allows the student to convince even themselves that their lacking success in school is actually a personal lifestyle choice, rather than an inevitable fate.”

The good news is that through an effective tutoring program, students can overcome the academic and resultant social difficulties.

There are many causes of poor academic performance, but it almost always leads to negative consequences for the confidence of the student. “They may be upset with parental pressure, have no strong drive, lack confidence, have learning problems or face other apparent barriers. So to simply start ‘tutoring’ them so often backfires, turning out to be an exercise in futility,” says Frank Milner, president of Tutor Doctor, a global network of academic coaching companies.

“That’s why our academic coaches begin with what our process refers to as a personal discovery. Our people find out what is in the student’s heart and mind before we begin to deal with English, mathematics or history. If we know that there is something working against the learning process, we can address it quickly and effectively,” says Milner.

As an example, we look at a sophomore in High School and a competitive swimmer who failed most of his classes during his freshman year. Family stress reached a boiling point and his parents reached out to a tutor for help. Sophomore year, the student went through the personal discovery process and was seen by an academic coach for both English and Math. The student proceeded to get A’s and B’s and his parents couldn’t be happier.

The personal discovery looks for five key issues that can be blocking the student’s academic success:

• Working parents have little time to help students with academics.
• Students that “struggle in silence.” These students are too embarrassed to reach out for help at school.
• Too many extra-mural activities impede the student’s ability to perform academically.
• Gaps in educational fundamentals.  These gaps need to be filled in while working on current studies.
• Situations where moving is involved. Moving from state to state, elementary to middle school, middle school to high school, public to private and vice-versa.

“We know that by conducting the personal discovery first and also by filling in gaps in the student’s knowledge before trying to go to the next level, “says James Zazeski of Tutor Doctor, ” our system proves that it is highly effective in accelerating the trajectory of learning.”

“Dakota has only been with her academic coach for two months and already her test scores in grammar, science and history have gone from D’s and F’s to high A’s,” says  Tracy Healey, a Tutor Doctor client. “Your careful selection in matching the right tutor to the student was spot on. Dakota’s confidence level is through the roof and she now feels that she is very capable of achieving great success as a student. As a parent, I’m thrilled!”

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Getting Organized: Learning to Manage your Time Effectively

As you move to a new grade, high school or college, the amount of work you need to do every year increases exponentially. If you find yourself constantly scrambling about at the last minute to study, complete assignments or slap together an overdue project, you’re not managing your time well.

Good time management impacts your grades and performance as well as your anxiety and stress levels. Learning good time management skills will mean that you have more than enough time to do every assignment and study for tests and exams. This will really give you a chance to apply yourself and you will see your grades soar while your stress level drops.

Work avoidance behavior

We all have them; things we do to distract ourselves and put off doing tasks we don’t want to do. If you are finding it hard to motivate yourself to start your homework, you may choose to speak to a friend, surf the net, get lost on social networking sites, make elaborate sandwiches, play games or tidy your desk. Time spent doing these activities is wasted; you can’t enjoy them because you know you should be doing your homework and you are just delaying the inevitable.

Start monitoring the time you spend doing stuff and you will see where all your spare time went. Instead, locate dedicated blocks of time to checking your email and social networking and stick to your schedule. You don’t need to check your phone/tablet/email every five minutes. Reduce your work avoidance behavior and, when you catch yourself doing something else to delay homework, try to refocus and get back to work.

Work in bite-sized chunks

When faced with tasks you really dislike, break them up into manageable sections. Do ten minutes of reading, read five pages, do half an hour of working on an assignment or 20 minutes of math homework. Work intensely for a short period of time and then go do something fun. When you break it up into these short, intense work periods, they are more manageable and you get everything done no time at all.

Be realistic

Set out a study schedule that is realistic. Don’t think you can cram a whole year’s worth of work into a day’s learning. Time how long it takes to read each page of the work you have to learn for exams so that you can leave yourself enough time to study properly. Start early and do a little each day rather than cramming it all in at the last minute.

Time management is an essential life skill for successful students, and successful businessmen and women. Learning to manage time effectively will make your life easier, less stressful and more fun. You will be amazed at how much your grades improve too! Ask your parents, tutors and teachers for help with your time management strategy.

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