Surviving High School - 9th grade

I can not believe that I am doing this again.  But this time I am doing for my dance kids.
I hope that this post will serve as general guideline for my students and parents.  It is purely my personal opinion.  Remember that I am your friend to support you in every step that you are taking.

9^th grade:

 

It is a little overwhelms to start high school.  Remember that your grade will be looked at for college admission from now on.  Here are things you may want to think about as a freshman of high school.

1. Your study habit

You will want to fit in and have friends.  Social media can easily get you distracted and eat up your sleep time.  You need to restrain yourself from spending too much time chatting with your friends online.  You need to develop good study habits.  Most public high schools do not prepare you well enough as an independent and active learner.  Here are things you can consider:

       Organize your time for doing homework.  Do not push things to the last minute.

        Learn to organize your note.  Summarize what you learn after each chapter into key elements.  This will help you for the midterm and final tests. 

        Maintain good sleep.  You want to have energy in the class so that you can follow the instructor with 100% concentration. 

         If you make a mistake in a quiz or test, you should not only know the correct answer afterwards, but more important know why you have made the mistake. 

 

2.  Your academic plan

You need to know your high school graduation requirement.  Develop a strategic plan for the courses to take in 9th grade that prepare you to take AP or IB courses later.  Many high schools do not allow students take advanced courses before they earn enough credits from the required courses.

 

3.  Your reading comprehension

Read comprehension is very important in a person’s life.  Read at least 30 minutes every day, in addition to studying and doing homework.  This habit will pay off when you take tests with timed reading sections, like English, US history, SAT, and ACT.

 

4.  Your analysis skills

Pattern recognition is great analytic skill and will save you from memorizing things.  Do not simply be satisfied with knowing how to solve one problem.  Go beyond.  You want to know how to solve all similar problems. 

Always try to find alternative way to solve a problem.  Do not take a teacher’s approach as the best solution.

 

5.  Your leadership

Start to involve in different organizations in your school which will prepare you to take a leadership later.

 

6. Your communication skills

Learn how to communicate with your teachers.  Remember some of them may write recommendation letters for your college application.

7.  Find your passion and stick with it

It is time for you to start searching what you want for your life.  You are not a little kid anymore.  You want to find ways to follow your passion.  You need to show colleges that you can make a commitment and stick with it.