Regardless of your age, what level of education you’re starting, the first day of school, especially in a new school and new program is always daunting. There is a combination of excited and nervous energy. Reuniting with friends you haven’t seen all summer; meeting new people and potential friends; meeting new teachers; being introduced to new classes, subject, teams, groups, sports, clubs and more. Lot of new and first experiences. It’s a great energy with lots of hopes and ambitions for the year ahead. This post isn’t to a put a damper on the energy and spirit in those first few weeks but how to manage it and not let it affect those ambitions. How do you make the most of that great energy without letting it carry you away and turning that great first start into a “bad year”? We have a great post on How to survive the first term of first year ! While the first day of school and a new grade isn’t quite the same as the first term of first year university, some of the tips from this post can be modified for high school and a new grade.
Things to note during first few days of school:
For example, you may want to,
- Make note of when all the holidays and PD days are.
- Get you class schedule and make note of when each of your classes is what kind of rotation your class schedule is on, e.g. 3, 4 day cycle.
- If you school is a semester system, then you probably have your exams after Christmas. This is both good and bad. Good because there isn’t all that stress and rush to learn an entire term’s worth of material before the holidays. Bad because you have to review all the material from the fall term in the new year after a week or two off of school. Not easy!
- Once you have your class schedule, figure out what extracurricular activities you want to do and schedule them in. Now there are the extracurricular activities that are facilitated by your school and those that are outside of school. Both need to be scheduled in. This will impact your social life and your homework/study schedule.
How to prepare for each class:
Now for each of your classes you’re taking you’ll probably want have a binder or notebook dedicated to that particular class. In this binder or notebook you may want include
- Your course outline for the class
- A schedule of when this class meets
- Start and end of classes
- When the tests are; assignment due dates; when the exam will scheduled
- You may want to ask the teacher when they are available for outside help/questions. You may not have to use these hours but it’s good to know. Always be prepared for the worst situation because you never know when you’ll get stuck on a question and need a hint. Your teacher knows all the hints!
Choosing extracurricular activities:
Some extracurricular activities you’ve been doing for years so they will be easy to fit into your schedule. However, when adding new extracurricular activities and clubs you’re going to participate in, below are a few things to consider,
- Make sure if you have more than one extracurricular activity or club you want to join, their meeting times don’t overlap.
- Get a sense of how much time you’ll have to put into the activity. Some activities like sports, music, drama can be team or group activities that require individual practice and then team/group practice sessions. This can add up to a large commitment of time. If it’s a club or committee, figure out what your role is and the workload required for that role. For example, the yearbook committee; student council may have you in a role where at certain times of the year the workload will be greater.
- Part time work is also an extra curricular activity. Your primary and full time job is being a student and learning.
How do you decide if you should get a part time job? And what kind of job? Paid or volunteer? This is a good question and definitely worth its own post. Most students in high school now have to do some volunteer hours in order to graduate. How do you decide what kind of volunteer activities to participate in? Another good question. We’ll take a look at some points to consider when considering part time work and/or looking for volunteer opportunities. But, the first day of school isn’t necessarily when you want to be thinking of part time work. It’s a day and experience to enjoy and remember in its own right.
