29/03/2020
It's been really wonderful hearing that my last post brought some comfort to Year 11 and 13 students affected by this summer's exam cancellations; I hope this one is helpful too! Yesterday I wrote about acknowledging and accepting your *feelings* on this; today Iām going to talk about your *actions*.
Most of us feel afraid and powerless in the face of this awful pandemic; but taking positive action makes a huge difference to our management of these emotions - and if theyāre the right actions, theyāll make a significant practical difference to your life too. There are three main areas I want to encourage you in, but this turned into a mammoth post š³ so today Iām just going to focus on the first step:
KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON
First: with your routine. Psychologists and those who have experienced similar circumstances before (being under house arrest, in a war zone, or in a country that implemented lockdown some time ago) are in widespread agreement on this. ROUTINE IS ESSENTIAL. Iām saying this to you as one of the most haphazardly impromptu people on the planet: you will go gradually bananas šš if you have no routine. Get up in the morning, get washed and dressed, have breakfast, and be getting down to something productive by 9am. š± Okay, okay, I know youād rather chew your own toes off than be up at that appalling hour of the morning so Iāll give you some leeway: 10am at the *latest*. How much of the day you spend in productive activity is almost less important than starting early in the morning. Aim to be in bed by 10pm and asleep by 11. Get outdoors every single day for at least 20 minutes (the exception to this being if you or someone in your household is in one of the highly vulnerable categories and you have no private outside space). Eat well. Exercise. Iām not saying this because Iām a boring traditionalist old fogey who canāt remember how it feels to be sixteen; Iām saying it because the scientific consensus is absolutely clear that all of these things are essential to your mental health. I know, I sound like your mum. Guess what: your mum is right.
Second: with your education. There are two very good reasons for this. Reason number one: you just donāt know right now exactly how your grades are going to be determined this summer, but what I can tell you is your teachers want you to do well! Give them every reason you possibly can to award you credit for the work you do over the next 8 weeks. Yes, you have the option of sitting exams in the autumn if youāre not given grades youāre happy with, but DO NOT KID YOURSELF THAT THIS IS THE EASY OPTION. If you think itās hard to focus on your work now, when there is almost nothing else you can be doing instead, donāt for a moment imagine it will be easier in the summer, when everyone else is kicking back and relaxing and celebrating their grades (and ā who knows? ā maybe even the return of some of our freedoms).
But the second reason is actually far more important. Remember what I said yesterday? EDUCATION IS NEVER A WASTE. And the skills you gain by practising and developing your prioritisation, discipline and concentration will be worth far far more to you than any of your current qualifications. You guys have got a bum deal. But you can turn it into a positive: if you carry on with a well-structured revision plan for the next 8 weeks, just as if your exams were really happening, without the incentive of knowing that youāll have to sit in an exam hall ā your life skills will be streets ahead of those who didnāt have to face these challenges. Indulge me for a moment in mangling a far more talented writerās words:
If you can plan ā and not make revision plans your master;
If you can think ā and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with this dreadful disaster,
And carry on with your revision just the same;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty secondsā-worth of study done,
Yours is the Earth and everything thatās in it,
And ā which is more ā you will overcome!
This is going to be easier for some of you than others. Some of you have worked hard all year, handed in every homework, revised every topic already and were planning to spend your time between now and June going over practice exam questions and past papers. You know what I said above about those essential life skills? You guys have got that NAILED. You may be disappointed at not getting to prove yourself this year in an exam hall, but let me tell you right now you will go far in life whether you were headed for straight 9s or a mix of 5s and 6s. By all means spend a few weeks on those practice papers and let your teachers know youāre still working and improving.
Some of you, letās be honest, havenāt been great about getting all your work done along the way, but youāre pretty confident you understand everything, even if you canāt recall key words and formulae, and you were hoping to pull something out of the hat with a burst of last-minute revision. Now youāre at the mercy of teachers whoāve probably been tearing their hair out for the last few years trying to get you to take your work seriouslyā¦ Well, Iāll be honest with you, the end of the spring term was definitely pushing it anyway in terms of having time to cover the last two yearsā worth of material AND practice exam technique (which is not the same thing, at all, as simply being able to recall information). So knuckle down NOW. Really prove to your teachers that you are taking your studies seriously. Let them know everything youāre doing, and hope that they will be able to see the improvements you make over the next six weeks.
Some of you find certain (maybe all) of your subjects just a world of painful confusion, and have no idea where youād even start with revision when youāve been sitting in a classroom for two years wondering what on earth your teacher was on about. The good news for you guys is there are a lot of teachers and tutors around right now with a lower workload than they were expecting at this time of year (just be aware that this doesnāt apply to all! A lot of teachers are working INCREDIBLY hard offering distance support to their pupils; and many tutors ā me included ā are just as busy as, if not busier than, they would normally be). Reach out. If you - by which I mean your parents - can afford any extra help, you may find group tutoring being offered online at a far more affordable price than you would normally be able to get (see below for more on that).
I hugely recommend the CGP range of books, widely available on Amazon: they have Student Books (comprehensive textbooks with practice questions, for if you canāt make head or tail of a subject), Revision Guides (a summary of all the information you need to recall for the exam, for if you understand the material but havenāt learned it yet) and Exam Practice Workbooks (for understanding how to turn all that knowledge into marks in the exam). If you need help from a tutor, Holland Park Education have put together a programme of group lessons at very affordable prices - and just Ā£5 for a taster to try it out -https://bookwhen.com/hollandparkeducation =ev-s4ev-20200330150000 Let me just clarify that although Iām delivering some of these sessions, I donāt gain any benefit at all from more people joining them; Iām sharing them here because the guys at Holland Park did a fantastic job of putting this programme together in a really short time, they did it knowing theyāre unlikely to make any profit out of this, and I think that kind of thing deserves to be shared. (And no, Iām not being paid commission by CGP either; I just really like using their books.) Educational resources website www.twinkl.co.uk has responded to the current crisis by offering access to the website for free for the next month (use code CVDTWINKLHELPS for the free access) and there are free revision notes and exam practice questions available on https://www.physicsandmathstutor.com/
If there are any particular questions you want to ask, feel free to post on my page and I will do my best to help you (with the proviso that Iām still working, Iām trying to help people in my own local community who are affected by the virus and I also need to carve out some time for my family!)
Once you have your current stage of education sorted out, itās time to:
LOOK TO THE FUTURE
More on that later š
