How ready is your child for the new school year?
For many of our students in NY and NJ, the new fall school semester starts on September 7th, which is less than 2 weeks away. Many of the changes that took place over the last couple of years, since COVID-19 outbreak forced major changes in the education system, have to do with the computerization and/or virtualization of classes and standardized exams.
New Jersey has already adopted computer-based testing called NJSLA, which replaced PARCC in 2020-21. As announced this year by New York’s Board of Education, New York has also computerized its standardized state exams.
With standardized state exams waiting online, our students now must adapt to this virtual learning environment. On top of exams, almost all schools and teachers utilize online class management platforms such as Google Classroom. Since the difficulties and limitations of in-person teaching have been witnessed during COVID-19, resorting to virtual teaching has been unavoidable. However, despite the general belief students would easily be able to navigate the virtual classroom, we’ve seen many of our students express frustration about its difficulty.
Emailing and commenting on class announcements have replaced traditional communications between teachers and students. Getting feedback on your work might not be as straightforward as before. In summary, online communication has become a crucial skill and aspect for modern-day students’ academic success.
Though it might occur naturally to some students, other students may have trouble getting their thoughts across because of the lack of facial expressions and gestures. As most adults would agree, texts can be easily misinterpreted depending on how you read them to yourself.
So, what does your young scholar need to do to succeed?
Here are our three tips:
Get used to the virtual environment.
This doesn’t mean you should spend as much time as you can on playing video games. Rather, it means you should explore all the features of the virtual teaching platform your school/teacher uses so you’re familiar with each button and link.
Practice typing.
Learning how to type properly and efficiently is an essential skill, but it’s time to give it some serious practice. Typing is a skill that’s often overlooked easily in comparison to other academic skills. However, the quicker you can type, the faster you’ll finish writing your essay on google docs. Here’s a useful website that helps you practice typing.
Learn how to research online.
Anyone can do google search, but researching online takes a different effort. You want to learn how to filter out unnecessary information from your search and focus on the information you want, making sure it’s from credible sources.
All three tips listed above also go a long way in life because almost all professions and careers will require you to excel at such skills.
However, if you’re still lost, check out our program, Navi Debate.
Navi Debate provides students with essential tools for academic success and leadership opportunities, in addition to hands-on experiences to practice the three tips. Moreover, they’ll learn how to express their opinions with confidence, communicate with their peers, and cooperate with a colleague.
We’re not affiliated with the Department of Education or FAFSA.
Andrew Oh
Financial Aid Specialist at Navi Consulting
www.naviconsultingny.com
Hansuk “Hans” Kim, CLTC, LACP
Principal / Financial Services Professional
2023 Forbes’ 31st Ranked Financial Security Professional Best-In-State in NJ
(201) 388-5590
www.hskfinancial.com
