How can I help my teen restore their academic performance? I have smart teen that’s not performing up to their potential.

In every education system in any country, all stakeholders expect students to perform well. It is a sign of progress and instills hope for a better future generation. If the result is negative, it creates a great concern to the current stakeholders about the future. 

 These concerns seem to have become real in the current society because educational institutions are continually recording poor performance among students. There is a rush from curriculum developers, parents, teachers, government, and other partakers in the education department to help restore performance.  

Diagnosing the problem

 Students cannot be helped if the root cause of the problem is not yet diagnosed. To the student, the underperformance has several negative effects, which can range from mild to severe. The student develops low self-esteem and may distance themselves from their peers. 

 According to societies, governments, educators, and parents, performance is measured by grades level. A student is labeled a performer when they continually score high grades and a lot of hope is vested in them. A student who gets poor grades has been labeled an underperformer and they are seen as failures and an embarrassment to both the teacher and the parent. The situation is even worse when a super performer suddenly begins to underperform. 

12 Angry Men essay examples

There are several lessons a student can learn from the 1957 American movie 12 Angry Men. The main lesson is to trust your instincts no matter the cause the majority have taken. The film has been resourceful in the education sector in teaching and study of various courses. If you want to write an essay about the 12 angry men, you must read the Twelve Angry Men essay samples on WritingBros for inspiration. Most college students have written attractive essays after reading a free essay example. 

 Causes of student underperformance

 To help students restore performance, there is a need to address its causes. According to research, causes for underperformance can be classified as student factors, teacher, family, and external factors. Looking into student factors, a student could be sick for a long period, they could be undisciplined or demotivated. They could also have low intelligence, have attention deficit, have a disability, or psychiatric problems. 

 The parent could be poor, a drug addict, harsh, or unsupportive. Teachers might be demotivated due to poor pay, overworked, or bear too much pressure from the government, parents, and teachers. External factors could be commuting challenges, pandemics, toxic peers, political, etc.

Restoring performance

Every student is unique with unique learning abilities. Some are fast learners, others average or slow learners. When creating strategies to help them, the stakeholders need to consider these three groups of learners. Help can be availed both at the individual level and group level. 

If you plan to write an essay about the 12 Angry Men, your first plan will be to know the topic that will best fit your essay and watch the film. It will help to know the characters and the role they play in the film. Next, search other resources and check what others have written on the subject. There are good resources for your 12 Angry Men essay on EduZaurus that you will find very helpful for your essay. Check the lessons you can learn from the resources and how they apply to your essay.

 Using the available resources

 The first point is to look at the available resources and use them as the first remedy for help. These are resources that a student can readily access at school, online, or at home. Academic advisors are an important resource in the path to performance restoration. 

 They can engage students at the individual or group level and discuss with them the current class schedules. Although class lessons are planned at the state or national level, individual schools can customize them to fit their specific student needs. They can spread in a way that students and teachers get more breaks to relax. 

 Academic advisors can help students discuss their career paths and know where to put more effort guided by their goals. The learning center resources is another important resource. Students can be helped meet a study plan consultant, get academic coaching, and get customized learning materials. 

 Peer support

 A student could be demotivated due to previous poor performance experiences and develop low self-esteem. They might think they are an isolated case but when they are brought into a group of their peers, they will realize they are not a special case. 

 This is a strategy that works well when it’s done with students within the same college because they are not strangers to each other. It brings together classmates or schoolmates to discuss course issues, brainstorm together, learn from each other, and encourage one another. It can help deal with stress, poor self-esteem, low motivation and build each other to start all again. Peer support encourages networking and establishes long-term friendships in the professional field. 

 Customized individual help

 Some students are slow learners and can lag during lessons. In the long term, it will affect performance. Such students require extra support from both the teacher and parent to help them come to the same level as fast learners. That means customized tuition, extra coaching, and the use of resources. 

 Special lessons

 These are not lessons for students with special needs, but they are lessons beyond the normal teaching hours. If teaching starts at 8 am and closes at 3 pm, teachers can fix it an hour before the start of lessons or an hour after. 

 Sometimes the syllabus is long and it becomes difficult for teachers to cover an entire syllabus within an academic year. To the examining body, they assume the whole syllabus was covered and set exams based on that. The results will tell because students will perform poorly. 

 The special lessons will help in two ways – the teacher will recover lost syllabus hours and they will pull the slow student to a level at per or close to fast learners. The hours might not be used to recover lost lessons but also for mentoring, tutoring, or giving homework help to students. 

 Conclusion

 Most students might underperform due to various factors such as student, teacher, parent, or external factors but there are available strategies to help them restore performance. These are strategies that educators can successfully implement and obtain positive results. Peer support, tutoring, mentoring, and smaller learning communities are some of the workable strategies. Behavior monitoring and support, exposure to learning, and caring for student health are also strategies that can boost performance. 

Read: 5 Benefits of Therapeutic Boarding Schools.

Read: Why Therapeutic Boarding Schools Are Effective.

Contributor: Joshua Robinson

###

If your teen has been struggling and have exhausted your local resources, learn more about how residential treatment can help your teen improve their emotional wellness. Contact us today for  a free consultation.