The school season is in full gear. Many students and parents may be thinking what this post-pandemic school environment will look like for its first year and how their children can thrive in this environment. In this blog, we explore what the new normal looks like and steps that can be taken for students to reach their maximum potential.
The New Normal:
The new normal in many ways looks similar to the old normal, as far as how the classrooms look. However, there are also some major changes. After 2.5 years of online and hybrid learning, classrooms are fully accustomed to online ways of learning. Technology is a part of the student toolkit and schools and students are equipped to be able to take in-person learning and supplement it with online learning.
And yet, despite students being back in classrooms, the old normal and the new normal are different. The impacts of the pandemic are clear. After years of learning disruptions, teachers and students are seeing the impacts, with students feeling behind and in some cases feeling inadequately prepared to take on the new school year. It is important to recognize that this is a widespread challenge, and students are not alone. Students should take solitude in the fact that there are many ways to stride forward and achieve their full academic potential.
How to Approach this New Normal:
The first step of this process requires self-evaluation: It is important to identify and recognize which students are behind, so that necessary support can be provided to them. There are many ways to understand this. It can come through an assessment from the school or the school board, speaking to the teacher to understand the student’s performance in class, evaluating performance on homework, quizzes, tests, etc.
If the student is at where he or she should be in school, or excelling, that is great news. For students who are behind in some subject areas, then this is a good indication that extra help is needed. This is a good time to assess what the different options may be available. Ontario, Canada Schools offer Individual Education Plans (IEPs), which students can be placed into. In a separate blog, we explore the benefits and potential drawbacks of Individual Education Plans (IEPs). The Ontario, Canada government has also launched publicly funded tutoring programs through schools which students can take advantage of.
What is ultimately important is that whichever program the students enroll in to get additional help, that two parallel tracks are pursued: one track is working on getting caught up to where students need to be, which may entail starting from earlier grades and covering gaps, and separately working on the current classroom track to make sure that the student is completing all of his or her school work and not falling behind in class, which can further hurt the student confidence. Together, these two paths should ultimately converge to the same place, which is the student being up to speed and feeling confident in their studies. In some cases, it can take months for students to catch up, but it will certainly be a worthwhile process.
Here at Prepsmart Tutoring, we also offer a variety of tutoring services to help our students across Toronto, the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and Ontario, Canada.
We look forward to updating you on the latest academic and school-related issues in our next blog ~ stay tuned !
Sincerely,
Prepsmart Tutoring
