Determining the cause of academic failure is important but not as important as determining what is causing the failure for your child. There are specific areas which cause academic failure.
There could be a lack of preparation or maybe they don’t have the study skills in order to really do anything that is productive. They could lack focus or time management skills. Maybe they don’t have the ability to persevere or they’re dependent upon others to help them. Are they procrastinators? Or feel like they’re entitled? Like they’re supposed to always have in ‘A’ no matter how much time they put into a piece of work? What about their self esteem? Do they have too much or too little? Do they lack problem solving or critical thinking skills?
Which of these causes are creating or academic failure for a child? First if your child is dependent, they may need constant guidance. This is going to be different as some students require step by step instructions and it is just how they learn. While others are going to have a deep hidden need to learn step-by-step as they lack thinking skills or are concerned with taking a risk. This type of dilemma appears when the student may say okay to one step. Then, what’s the next step? What’s the next step now? They seem concerned with doing everything perfectly without any independent thought.
Is your student simply lacking focus? Are they distracted? Look around their learning environment. What does their environment look like when they are studying? What does their environment look like when they have difficulty concentrating on a task?
An example of this would be in my own daughter who likes to study in front of a television. She will also have her earphones in her ears playing music, and text messaging open. However, even though it’s all of this is going on around her, she still maintains at 4.0. She does not mind this kind of environment. Now, if there was somebody else in the room with her doing shenanigans that would pull her focus. It would distract her. She wouldn’t be able to focus. Or if you were to look at me, I like to study in a space that is quiet and solitary. I can’t handle any kind of noise, even music. You need to see what works for your child.
Do you have a child that is excelling and they have that whole mess going on like my daughter? Then focus is not an issue. But if they are failing and they have all of the stuff going on, you will need to pull back on their environment. Reign it in. Keep it limited. Stop the noise and have them focus.
Procrastination: You can generally tell if they procrastinate if they’re late. This is especially true when you look through their assignments. Go through the grade book. Most schools have a parent portal or a power parent access. You can go online and see how your student is doing. If they consistently have tardy assignments, this shows a procrastination. Meaning, they generally are rushed and they’re trying to meet a deadline without realizing that they didn’t give themselves enough time.
Self-esteem: This is either going to be too much self-esteem or too little self-esteem. Listen to their self-talk. What do they say to themselves? The other day I was listening to someone who said, “how stupid are you? When are you ever going to learn?” What horrible self talk. This self-talk is generally said very quietly under their breath. In my example, this person said it in a checkout line. Self-talk occurs when the individual thinks nobody else can hear them. This is going to require that you be observant.
Do they downgrade themselves? Oor do they boast in their self-talk?
We next we going to look at perseverance. Did they finish? Generally, you will see that there are a lot of unfinished projects around. As a student they’re going to jump into math and then into writing. They’ll try a little of this. Try a little of that. Are they able to persevere and finish a project preparation? This is going to go along with the study skills and this is not just study skills but effective study skills that meet their personality needs. I like to call a lack of perseverance is spinning their wheels. If I have a student that isn’t able to get things done or doesn’t have the study skills that they need it seems almost like they’re spinning their wheels as they jump from one thing to another. Accomplishing nothing. Finishing nothing.
Does your student sit in front of a textbook and stare at it because they don’t know how to study from a textbook? Or they’re looking at notes from their last class and they just like scribble marks all over page? They’re spinning their wheels (lacking perseverance) because they lack the ability to succeed at a learning task. We want to be able to give them the tools they need to succeed.
Time management is huge especially in this day and age. If you’re anything like my own children, you’re going to see that they’re involved in many different activities. One of the things that I’ve noticed is the time management. They’re so busy sometimes they end up studying very late to get an assignment completed. Did your student not plan effectively? Or maybe because he just didn’t have enough time to be able to get it done? This is worrisome. When they’re up so late trying to get assignments done, they become increasingly stressed. Look at their stress levels. Is your student always stressed? Are they living at a constant level of stress? What does that level look like?
I usually feel it’s alright if my daughter comes home does homework until 1 a.m. I’m not too concerned even though she does get up at 5 a.m. in order to make a 6 a.m. class before school. Why? Because this may occur only a couple of times throughout a semester, especially during competition season. As you look at this you want to say, “Is this happening consistently?” If it’s not happening consistently and the time management skills are not overly worrisome. But if it’s happening consistently, then you have a problem. You want to look and see, is it because their schedule is too full? Do they have too many activities? Too much social life? What is going on that is really pressing this time issue for them for them?
Next are critical thinking skills. These are going to be critical thinking skills problem and solving skills. Generally you’re going to be able to see your child or your student if they possess these skills. Are they curious? Are they able to make decisions? And not just quickly but make a quick, efficient decision? These attributes belong to great problem solvers.
The biggest problem that we really see when it comes to student failing is that it’s probably not just one thing. As parent and educator you’re going to need to take time to see what are the things that equal that academic failure. Did the focus, the time management, the self-esteem or lack of preparation combine to create the problem? Keeping an observation journal. It doesn’t have to be an actual journal. It can be note cards. It can be scribbles on a piece of paper. Maybe a Post-It note. Something that you written on and you’re going to write down little things that you are observing about your student. For instance, if my student were failing, which I noticed one of mine at one point, I recorded a few questions on the back of an envelope. (I had just opened the mail when the problem dawned on me.) I recorded, what was my student feeling? Why is this person feeling? Why is my son failing? What signs was I noticing? I started paying attention. I wrote down some of the things that he was saying. Such as, ” It’s just so stupid.” That was his very first comment. He went on, “Mr. So-and-so is so stupid.” Then, it was something else. I actually started putting those things together and learned that he didn’t really understand the concept being taught.
Determining the causes of academic failure can be difficult and frustrating but the result of a successful student is worth the price.
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By Tracy Atkinson
Tracy Atkinson, mother of six, lives in the Midwest with her husband and spirited long-haired miniature dachshunds. She is a teacher, having taught elementary school to higher education, holding degrees in elementary education and a master’s in higher education. Her passion is researching, studying and investigating the attributes related to self-directed learners and learning styles. She speaks at conferences on learning styles and has published several titles, including MBTI Learning Styles: A Practical Approach, The Art of Learning Journals, Calais: The Annals of the Hidden, Lemosa: The Annals of the Hidden, Book Two, Rachel’s 8, The Personal Pursuit of Perfection and Securing Your Tent. She is currently working on a non-fiction text exploring the attributes of self-directed learners: The Five Characteristics of Self-directed Learners. Check out her online courses at: Udemy.
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