Assisting Your Child In Being Successful in High School

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Assisting Your Child In Being Successful in High
School

• Gabrielle D. Carpenter, MEd
• Guidance Counselor
• Dominion High School
• Gabrielle.Carpenter_at_loudoun.k12.va.us
• [phone]

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AGENDA

• Brainstorm Activity
• Successful Parent Involvement
• Helicopter Parenting v. Coaching
• Learning Styles
• Empowerment Strategies

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The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001

• Helps to ensure that all children receive a
  high-quality education and holds schools
  responsible for making sure that all children are
  learning.

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The Importance of Parent Involvement

• The importance of parents being involved in their
  young adolescent students' transition from middle
  to high school can hardly be overestimated. When
  parents are involved in their student's
  transition to high school, they tend to stay
  involved in their child's school experiences (Mac
  Iver, 1990) and when parents are involved in
  their child's high school experiences, students
  have higher achievement (Linver Silverberg,
  1997 Paulson, 1994), are better adjusted (Hartos
  Power, 1997), and are less likely to drop out
  of school (Horn West, 1992).

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Why Parents Need to be Involved

• Educational research clearly shows that support
  and involvement of students families and the
  community at large is fundamental to achievement
  in schools. The most comprehensive study on the
  topic concludes that greater parental involvement
  leads to greater student achievement,
  irrespective of such factors as socioeconomic
  status or ethnic background
• (Blankstien 2004)

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Order of Importance In Teenagers Lives
Peers have influence
Boyd-Franklin, Nancy Ph.D and Franklin, A.J.
Ph.D. Boys Into Men. New York, NY Dutton, 1996.
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Schedule Family Time
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What are Helicopter Parents?
-a term for a person who pays extremely close
attention to his or her child or children,
particularly at educational institutions.

• aka..
• Over-involved
• Hyper-involved
• Habit of hovering

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What do Helicopter Parents Look Like?

• Constant telephone calls/communications
• Choosing students activities, friends
• More involved in childrens activities than they
  are
• Deciding what college is a best fit for student
• Over Scheduling
• Biggest change in college campuses over last
  decade

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Effects of Hovering Parents

• Stifles growth/self-advocacy skills
• undecisive
• insecure
• low self-esteem
• overly dependent
• unable to function outside of parental umbrella

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Parents as Coaches

• Getting the very best out of someone and enabling
  them to make decisions that will improve their
  life.
• Personal Trainerbut for the mind instead of the
  body
• Helps to develop Action Plans to prepare and
  enhance their future.

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Coaching Skills

• Listening
• Communication
• Rapport Building
• Motivating,
• Inspiring
• Non-judgmental
• Flexible

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10 Ways to Coach Your Child to Become
Self-Reliant/Successful

• Encourage Public Speaking
• Practice Negotiation
• Model Time Management and Organizational Skills
• Teach Self-Sufficiency
• Encourage Independence at School
• Listen With an Open Mind
• Provide Structure
• Remember That Every Story Has Two Sides
• Teach Self-Respect
• Teach Logical Conflict Resolution
• www.collegeboard.com

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What Can You Do at Home?

• Remember that every child has the power to be
  successful in school and in life, and every
  parent, family member and caregiver can help.

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Strategies for Coaching at Home

• Encourage Your Child to Read
• Encourage Healthy Habits
• Monitor Homework, TV Viewing, Computer Use and
  Video Game Playing
• Encourage Your Child to Be Responsible and to
  Work on His Own
• Communicate With Your Child
• Praise Your Child
• U.S. Department of Education

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Remember

• Successful Students Advocate for Themselves

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Learning Styles
This chart helps you determine your learning
style read the word in the left column and then
answer the successive questions in the three
columns to see how you respond to each situation.
Your answers may fall into all three columns, but
one column will likely contain the most answers.
The dominant column indicates your primary
learning style. Adapted from Colin Rose(1987).
Accelerated Learning.

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Learning Style Results

• Visual-Read a text and study the illustrations.
• Auditory-Read out loud the information that you
  need to know.
• Kinesthetic-Make a model or do something
  practical that will help you to learn the
  information.
• Combination-Intergrate all three strategies to
  maximize success.
• Fundamentals of College Admission Counseling

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Empowerment Strategies

• What can you do to empower your child(ren)to be
  successful learners in high school?

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Empowerment Strategies for Your Child

• Meet with Guidance Counselor for academic advice
• Eat healthy foods and exercise
• Be familiar with the Program of Studies,
  Graduation Requirements, etc.
• Read all exam directions carefully and slowly
• Know the deadlines and due dates of assignments,
  projects

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Empowerment Strategies for Your Child (cont)

• Do not allow employment to jeopardize academic
  progress
• Encourage your child to choose good friends
• Make sure that your child knows how to calculate
  his grade point average (GPA)
• Monitor the time and sites visited on the
  internet
• (adapted from The Mentor An Academic Advising
  Journal, Walter Rankin, GMU)

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Assisting Your Child in Being Successful in High
School

• What Questions May I Answer for You?