At Assembly I talked about COMMITMENT. However, commitment without action or a strategy can be fruitless.

I met a young man in my first year here at CBHS when we met our Kaitiaki students at the start of the year and went through a goal-setting process with them. This young man set himself a goal; he wanted to be an All Black. A strange conversation followed. I asked him who he played rugby for, but he didn't play rugby. I asked him if he was going to join a CBHS rugby team and start playing. His reply was, no, he wasn't going to join a team. I asked him if he went to the gym, or ran, or did some form of training towards his overall fitness. No, was still the reply. I asked him if he was sure he wanted to be an All Black. Oh, yes, he was adamant. 

This true but somewhat bizarre conversation is an example of ambition without action. "I want to achieve a goal, but I don't want to take any action towards the goal." The goal becomes meaningless.

Having asked students to commit to academic effort last week, you may be struggling to know exactly what actions to take, especially around how to study for exams. Over the next few weeks Study Tips and examples will be included in the Thursday newsletter. The first one is a method to get you started. 

Study Guide Techniques

This gives you a study strategy to start with. It gives you a set of actions you can take towards your academic ambitions. It talks about Study as a three-step process. Know your content, know what you have to do with the content, and then practise. Practise with old exam papers, practise planning essays, practise your recall of key information in your subject. Practise. 

Ask your teachers for strategies as well. Ask older siblings what worked, or didn't work, for them. 

Finally, returning to the main theme; it is much easier to take action once you commit. Tell your family what your academic goals are, write them down, tell your mates. Then is nothing more powerful to motivate you than sharing your ambitions with other people.