#25 "Unlocking Teen Academic Success: The Role of Tutoring, SMART Goals & The Power of an Advocate" with Helen Panos

Speaker 1 Cheryl/ Speaker 2 Helen (Guest)

00:17 - 00:54

Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of Teen Minds Redefine where we redefine our relationships with our teenagers and allow them to grow into their own authentic selves as we grow these human beings and send them off into the world. And today we have a guest Helen Panos. And I welcome Helen as we are getting towards the end of our year of high school. And that means a lot of things like assessments. So We brought in Helen today to talk about this. She is an accomplished educator with 25 years of experience in the public school system. Helen began Dynamis

 

00:55 - 01:36

Speaker 1: Learning 8 years ago. It's a K to 12 nationwide tutoring, SAT, ACT, prep, Advocacy and Academic Planning Company. With Helen's depth of expertise, she is able to provide personalized support and solutions for academic success. She has up to 22 tutors on staff and these educators have various specialties. Currently the company is a virtual nationwide with 90% of the business being done via Zoom. But tutors can meet a child at their home or in the library in the metro Atlanta area as needed. You can follow Helen on her podcast, Smart Parents, Successful Students, as she has a

 

01:36 - 01:41

Speaker 1: wealth of information to share with parents. So thank you and welcome, Helen.

 

01:42 - 01:46

Speaker 2: Thank you for having me. This is exciting to be able to come on to your show.

 

01:46 - 02:22

Speaker 1: Well, it's timely too, because, you know, we're talking about teenagers now and we're we're into April, May, June, now we're talking about really prepping for those final exams and this is you know Some of my episodes are a little more mindset, but this is very practical. We need this practical information. We need to know how to go from A to B to C to get our kids through these final exams and assessments. I think it's really important that we have tactics and strategies that you offer, which is fantastic. Now, did I miss anything you wanted to

 

02:22 - 02:23

Speaker 1: add in the bio?

 

02:24 - 02:31

Speaker 2: No, that was perfect. I do have a newsletter, but we could talk about that at the end.

 

02:31 - 02:36

Speaker 1: Perfect. Okay, so let's talk about first, why do we need tutoring?

 

02:37 - 03:15

Speaker 2: Well, a lot of people think tutoring is more for kids that are struggling, right? But I definitely want to put this out In the forefront about it also being for advancing kids because we get a lot of those as well so a lot of times it's for you know, those gaps that you're seeing especially after let's say the big c word covid And people are still seeing those. Those are gonna be around probably for quite a while, especially when it comes to math. Writing is another issue. But tutoring uncovers a lot of things that parents may

 

03:15 - 03:53

Speaker 2: not ever see themselves, right? Because parents are very busy today and women are working as much as the men are and so you've got a dual income family which I think has definitely changed over time and so Women can't possibly see every little thing, right? If they're busy being online or they're going into an office, then they have even less time to notice things possibly. And kids are pretty good as well at hiding things as we know. That's 1 thing that's never changed. Kind of reminds me of my puppy. So no matter what the age is,

 

03:54 - 04:23

Speaker 2: you know, that could be a self-confidence thing. They don't want to show it. Maybe they feel not, you know, they're comparing themselves to their friends. A lot of that goes on today because of social media and things like that. So they may not want to point it out and get help or ask for the help. You know, some people are like, Oh, I'll figure it out myself. I'll get it. I'll get it. You know, and then before you know it, they're fell in a class or are not getting something that's really a key, you know, thing

 

04:23 - 04:55

Speaker 2: they needed in math, let's say a concept that then now develops into harder math as time goes on that they needed. Timetables are a number 1 thing I see that kids just don't know because they're elevating kids in the math and language arts and they're assuming there's like this lack of communication between schools and parents where they're assuming the parents were going to teach them the timetables and they're like they never told the parents to teach them the timetables, which is extremely important for a lot of math. Yeah, yeah.

 

04:56 - 05:08

Speaker 1: So, talk to me about those gaps, like what would you see as a tutor or your staff, what would they see as a gap? Like, talk to us about those gaps first. Like, I'm interested in that.

 

05:09 - 05:38

Speaker 2: So a lot of things that we're seeing is, you know, they might have not been paying attention if they were virtual before because they figure, well, school is over or something, I guess. Because virtual works. We do virtual tutoring one-on-one. It definitely works. But, you know, they knew, they were listening to the news as much as we were probably and they were figure well they didn't have to pay attention anymore Some were sleeping later and not waking up for their classes, so they were missing out on content that was continuing and I guess they didn't take

 

05:38 - 06:12

Speaker 2: things seriously a few years ago. I mean, but I can also say a lot of people like to blame COVID for these gaps, but this is just typical. I mean this is this would have shown up eventually. I just think you know COVID might have accelerated it a bit more and parents were at home and they saw some things that they would have not otherwise noticed and teachers are so busy, right? You got a class of 30, 32, 35 kids, you're not going to notice everything. And there's just so many things going on like ADHD and

 

06:12 - 06:44

Speaker 2: things like that, that even the kids don't realize that that's affecting them and how it's affecting them until a tutor builds a relationship with them one-on-one and then we start noticing things. We're like, hey did you notice this about your child or and then we get involved with the teacher. So the teacher sees things, they see them a lot of the time of the day, then we see them, then the parents sees them. So the 3, I call it, you know, forming a village, a very strong support system. It takes more than just the teacher in

 

06:44 - 06:50

Speaker 2: this day and time to be alert on what's going on with your child.

 

06:50 - 06:55

Speaker 1: I love that you're involved with the teacher. I don't think a lot of tutoring companies do

 

06:55 - 06:56

Speaker 2: that. No.

 

06:56 - 07:15

Speaker 1: So it feels like you've got the perfect, like the trifecta going on there. You've got parent involvement, you got teacher involvement. I think a lot of tutoring places that I'm aware of, you just drop them off at Oxford, they do their little skill building, back and let's hope they've done something. So talk to me about that piece. How important is that?

 

07:15 - 07:49

Speaker 2: So that's what I call the advocacy piece of our program, which we're definitely, you know, promoting more, because that is very important, is like trying to have all the ears and eyes from afar. And you just don't know, you send them to school as a parent, right? They're gone for 8 hours of the day and you're just assuming they're getting the information but again there's so many, I was a 504 chair so that means I understand there's a lot of disabilities and not necessarily special ed disabilities. These could just be you know a 504 plan. You

 

07:49 - 08:20

Speaker 2: need a 504 plan and you need accommodations to help you out. You know a lot of parents may not realize the child is struggling and there is a disability that might be a fault and then I'll suggest which schools do not do and they will not do it for you because they're afraid of lawsuits. I will suggest, hey, have you thought about taking them to your pediatrician? Have you thought about increasing the drug? 1 child, to kind of get into an example, sixth grader, ADHD, was medicated but the mom was only medicating him at 9 a.m.

 

08:20 - 08:49

Speaker 2: In the morning when he got to score 8 and then it was dying out by noon or so and then he never took another drug the rest of the day. Well he's highly ADHD. He needs a drug Throughout the whole day and I'm not a big lover of drugs I'll throw that in there, but there's just certain kids that have to have it in order to be honest with you. I've taught And Otherwise, they're gonna be really scattered And that could be causing the gaps because they think they're listening but they don't realize they're not really

 

08:49 - 09:23

Speaker 2: listening and then they're not taking tests seriously because again they're not paying attention to what the teacher is saying how important the tests are and how they use them to place you in future classes they use them for to get you in a gifted program, they use it for a lot of reasons. So that's why we also do what's called course selection academic planning where we look at a child's years from sixth grade on and we do it based on their interests and we then kind of figure out what classes they should be taking. That doesn't

 

09:23 - 09:47

Speaker 2: mean that's set in stone. You can change it but at least they have an end goal. This kind of goes to my smart goals I wanted to talk about. You have a goal in mind right at the end because most kids will say oh, why do I need this? Why do I need to do this homework? Why do I need to do this math? I'm not going to be an engineer or something like that, right? But then they can see what classes they're going to have to take all the way out to 12th grade. I mean,

 

09:47 - 10:19

Speaker 2: counselors are not doing this and they're not going to. But we know enough about the contents and what it takes to graduate and where they wanna go, what do they think their future is going to be. And then we do it according to that. I have a tutor that does that. So, you know, there's just a lot of things going on that is not written anywhere. It's not going to be said necessarily by a school system. That will be said by your teacher. I mean really teachers just don't have the time to sit here and email

 

10:19 - 10:53

Speaker 2: parents about Every little thing but once we get involved now, you know the more you do I'll give a hint to everybody the more you do Get on email and Say something to a teacher the more you're now on their radar and I'm not saying be Overly emailing them and bothering them, but you're now in the forefront of their head, right? So I know Right. So if I have a parent emailing me when I was teaching, then now I'm like sitting up straight looking around and now I'm paying more attention to your child. You may not

 

10:53 - 11:23

Speaker 2: know it, that's what I'm doing because now you email me and you've kind of put me on alert in a way, Not in a bad way. But now I'm like, okay, now I'm gonna really cue into your child a little more. I might walk more over there, kind of pay attention to what you're doing in terms of he's doing his projects or a writing assignment. And then I can, you know, when they email me again, I'll say, yeah, this is what I noticed specifically. Otherwise you won't hear from a teacher and you really won't know what's

 

11:23 - 11:39

Speaker 2: going on. I think some of that has caused the gaps right because teachers can't sit here and email a hundred and something parents every week. 30 kids in a classroom times 5 classes. That's 150 parents.

 

11:39 - 12:12

Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's realistic. Absolutely. And I love how you said that because, you know, I've, me being in the public system as well for 25 years, hearing parents say, well, how did they not notice? How did they not see? But if you're seeing it at home, you are your kid's biggest advocate. Send the email. You're right. It doesn't have to be in a negative derogatory way at all. It's like, hey, this is what I'm seeing. Can you just let me know if you're seeing this at school? And that can go either way. You know, I know

 

12:12 - 12:42

Speaker 1: a teacher sometimes, as you said, find it difficult to find the words because sometimes it can be a challenge with parents, whereas if teachers could just say, listen, I'm noticing Johnny do this, this, and this. Can you let me know what you're seeing at home? Because it works the other way. Now parents are like, oh, Well, I usually just send him up to his room to do his homework and I think things are going well. And now, well now it's a switch, right? Now you're calling attention to it. So it's just working as a team. Exactly.

 

12:42 - 12:44

Speaker 1: Right? Yeah. Collaborating

 

12:44 - 12:45

Speaker 2: as a team.

 

12:46 - 12:47

Speaker 1: Yes, exactly.

 

12:47 - 13:16

Speaker 2: Team. And that's why, That's why I like to let them know, okay, have you thought about a pediatrician? We had another child, a sixth grader, who his ADHD but not medicated and he's sitting in on-level classes, Cheryl, And that is not where he needs to be. He's highly gifted actually. When I went in there and gave him some tests to see if I was correct, it actually started with us doing a course selection academic planning like I just mentioned a few minutes ago. That then my tutor calls me and says, hey, are you going in to

 

13:16 - 13:34

Speaker 2: tutor this child and I said yes I am gonna go see if he's gifted and before we pursue that with the school and why and she goes okay give me a call when you're done because I want to know Why he's sitting on on level classes so she wouldn't know anything about that if she hadn't started that first step which then just

 

13:34 - 13:45

Speaker 1: clarify what non-level so in in Ontario we'll have like a applied level and an academic level and then we'll have a gifted level

 

13:45 - 13:45

Speaker 2: yeah

 

13:45 - 13:53

Speaker 1: so when you're saying on level you're talking about base level, if you're in grade 9 they're learning at grade 9 this is grade 9.

 

13:53 - 14:28

Speaker 2: That's it. Right. Okay. And he was he's highly gifted actually in math. I mean he can work problems like nobody's business very quickly. I gave him what's called a COGAT, a cognitive abilities test, which is the mental abilities test and he killed every section. What's holding him back is the ADHD because he can't focus long enough to take a three-hour COGAT test, which they don't have to necessarily follow accommodations for those, but I said to him, now, you know, we worked with him, he's got 1 of my tutors doing language arts because he's on level for

 

14:28 - 14:56

Speaker 2: language arts, but very accelerated actually for math, but we can't get him in then in that advanced math You know he needs to get into a gifted program probably and he's capable because he can do it on the verbal he can do It on the nonverbal and he can do it on the quantitative part all 3 He's just not Going to be able to uphold his stamina long enough to do it, but all he needed was 1 section so I kept Armed a relationship with him. I actually went in person for this and my tutors doing

 

14:56 - 15:27

Speaker 2: it virtually But we we see he's very gifted Even my tutor says that to me. And I saw it. And so I gave him the test. It confirmed it. And I'm like, so okay, I want you to know you're actually extremely intelligent. Do not be affected by the fact you couldn't get in the gifted program before. I'm gonna tell you it's your ADHD. I want you to be aware of that And I need you to uphold your stamina for the 1 hour the first part of the test I only need you to score 96 percentile on

 

15:27 - 15:57

Speaker 2: 1 part of that test Nobody else is going to talk to you like that right Teachers don't have time to say that to him. They probably don't know him that well. That's a big part of tutoring is the relationship we form with them and the things they'll tell us. Then we kind of text the parents, let them know on the side, but then we also say, please don't let them know necessarily. They don't need to know that you know. We want them to continue to talk to us that way. Of course, yeah. And then if it's

 

15:57 - 16:28

Speaker 2: something, of course, if there's something tragic or something we really felt like it's urgent for them to know and that needs to, you know, some emergency, then of course they need to intervene. But we just want them to kind of know this is going on and just be on top of that too and just be aware of it, but we'll deal with it. So, I mean, it's interesting because the young man who doesn't, isn't medicated, they've tried 4 drugs on him and he, it apparently has not worked out very well at all. And so I just

 

16:28 - 17:00

Speaker 2: said to her, you know, this is something school's not going to tell you. Whatever is your other 2 children's pediatrician doesn't mean this is the same pediatrician that should deal with your son. And I said he probably needs a pediatric psychiatrist and I know somebody that does deal with the IEP Cheryl and stuff like that and consults on those. We work together on reformed business and she even said to me I don't feel like a pediatrician should be the 1 that prescribes the medication anyway that says this is the kind of drug your child should have

 

17:01 - 17:27

Speaker 2: and and she's got a lot of experience so I really trust what she says and so I kind of I listen to a lot of things and even though I'm not an expert on the IEPs and stuff like that I hear enough to know okay you may want to look at this And another parent in that same school actually told me that too and said here give her this recommendation. So parent groups are very important as well. You know, that's why I get a lot of referrals is because people are like, no, you just don't want

 

17:27 - 17:43

Speaker 2: a tutoring company. You don't want to go to the franchise that's up the street with the big sign, right? On the wall there on the building. You wanna go to Helen because she has educational experience and she's doing advocacy and she'll go to bat for you. And you know, more than tutoring.

 

17:43 - 17:48

Speaker 1: Yeah, I was just gonna say, 1 of my questions for you to explain is what makes you different. Dr.

 

17:48 - 17:49

Speaker 2: Dylewski And that's it. Dr.

 

17:49 - 18:29

Speaker 1: Dylewski It's so important. It's so important. And, you know, I'm going to here's a disclaimer. I, I know a lot of people are against medicating. I understand that. However, in 25 years of me working with kids who've been diagnosed with ADHD, sometimes it is the only fuel that works for them. And it changes lives. So it might not be for your child, but if everything else is not working, look at the difference it would make if they could take the test, if they could like actually have the ability to sit still, take the test, not jump

 

18:29 - 18:39

Speaker 1: ahead. All of those things that come with you know characteristics of ADHD please don't write it off if you've tried everything else.

 

18:40 - 18:40

Speaker 2: Right.

 

18:41 - 18:42

Speaker 1: I've seen it change worlds.

 

18:42 - 19:09

Speaker 2: And you really don't want to waste a lot of time trying a bunch of things. I would, you know, people will sit there and go, let me try this, or let me talk to some more people and see what else I can try. And that's fine. It's just, you know, I mean, I believe me, I am not a big proponent of medicine. I myself don't take a lot of it if I can do something else. But you know sixth grade only comes around once. Once it's done, it's done. Now it's seventh grade. Now they're getting behind.

 

19:10 - 19:41

Speaker 2: So when the math gets harder and you guys stay up longer to do your work or have more stamina to take tests to really work out problems. It does make a difference. I mean, we're doing 1 right now that he's a sixth grader and he is medicated, but he didn't have enough medication. He didn't do well on the MAT test, let's say, And she's actually a doctor, his mom. And so she calls me and says, did you see what he just did? I said, well, who was at that email? They put me on the email and

 

19:41 - 20:10

Speaker 2: she goes, the 504 chair. And I said, ah, I said, I didn't even have to ask Cheryl with my 25 years of experience as well, I knew he bombed it because I know the kid to be very intelligent. I personally have gone in person and worked with him at first before I gave him to my 2 tutors. He's doing 1 math tutor, 1 language arts twice a week. And I went in person on purpose because of a couple things my language arts tutor was saying that he seems not as focused so I was talking to her

 

20:10 - 20:43

Speaker 2: and she goes did you see he bombed that map test? I go yeah and I can tell you what happened. She goes yeah he was flagged for answering those questions too quickly. I go, right. And she goes, how did you know that? I said, because I know he's ADHD, he's medicated, but I don't believe he's medicated enough to pay attention. And I have my 504 experience, and I've heard this a million times in the years I was a 504 chair. So she goes, oh, I said, well, when are you giving him the drug? Did he take

 

20:43 - 21:14

Speaker 2: it that morning before he took the test? That's a whole other story. So some kids, if you're letting them do it, they may not do it. I don't care how old they are. They may just say, Oh, I forgot to take it. Well, ADHD kids are forgetful as well. Right? Yeah. So, anyway, I think she realized that he might have not taken it that morning when he took the test. And on top of that, it dies down by noon. And I just suggested to her, you know, talk to your pediatrician and say, this is what's happening

 

21:14 - 21:34

Speaker 2: in his life. He needs to be able to focus till the afternoon. He's doing soccer. He gets tutoring at 6. I say, I know you don't want to keep him awake late at night so you don't want him to take it too late, but there are boosters or other things doctors can do. I'm not a doctor. I won't tell you what's best for your child, but I think you need to look at this more.

 

21:35 - 21:55

Speaker 1: And we could probably go so far down the path of the ADHD and what that means, but I'm going to bring it back to that's the importance of having the advocacy with the tutor. Like that's the importance of having all those different layers. So you started talking about smart goals. Expand on that. That's.

 

21:56 - 22:27

Speaker 2: Well, I have a smart goal planner that everybody can get. I didn't want to forget to say that before I start, but yeah, I was just on a adult Zoom call with a coach this morning and she mentioned, she says, I've looked at a lot of different avenues of how to do this, she says, but I still come back to the SMART goals being the best way to do things. And if you use my planner, I'm gonna suggest that people download that and get it and do that every semester with your child. I don't care if

 

22:27 - 22:55

Speaker 2: they're only 5 years old, you could set 1 goal. 1 goal, teaching them from setting goals from young is even better. And it could be just a personal goal with a five-year-old, not necessarily an academic goal. And then as they get a little bit older, 2 goals. And then the ones that are in middle school or fifth grade and up, 3 goals. And I used to do this in school we put it in our planner my principal loved it and my planner you'll see also asks you did you reach these goals or what it has them

 

22:55 - 23:30

Speaker 2: reflecting actually thinking about okay you got these 3 goals and 1 can be a personal 1 if you want you do sports maybe you want to hit a goal with the baseball or something. 2 should be academic related and so you asked on there it asks what obstacles do you think you would meet in trying to reach these goals and who can you get help from to help you meet these goals as well. It's not just S-M-A-R-T and what that stands for, which is on my form by the way, and I think most people know what

 

23:30 - 24:03

Speaker 2: SMART goals are and what the S-M-A-R-T stands for, but it also has a deadline, right? That's why I say do it by semester, not just for the entire school year. That's too long. They may not see the benefit in that, but everybody is kind of semester oriented, right, in school anyway. So that's why I think a smart goal planner and keep it in front of them and then my tutors work with them on that so they kind of remind them about their goals. Wasn't your goal to make an A in this physics class or something like

 

24:03 - 24:06

Speaker 2: that, okay, we still have time to still reach that goal.

 

24:06 - 24:06

Speaker 1: And that's

 

24:06 - 24:19

Speaker 2: what you probably need to do percentage-wise on your final to make sure if you're an 88, what do you need to make? I mean, teachers aren't going to take the time to do all of that. They don't have time to do that. And parents don't either.

 

24:19 - 24:35

Speaker 1: Let's break it down. Break it down for me. Pretend I don't know what a SMART goal is. Give us the acronym and what it means. Cause I think it's important. Cause as you're talking, I'm thinking, I need my own planner. I was in high school for a few years. I need my own planner. I actually

 

24:35 - 24:37

Speaker 2: do have my own planner.

 

24:37 - 24:38

Speaker 1: There you go.

 

24:38 - 25:12

Speaker 2: And it's over there. And I do set goals for the quarter. I set 3, actually. And one's always a monetary goal. And 2 are anything that's like a project based thing that I have to do in my business. So, these goals don't, as you can see, I'm in my 50s and those don't ever go away. They work. And then you break it down by, you know, what are your benchmarks, meaning what are you going to do every week to meet those goals, and then daily, what are you going to do? That would come back to studying,

 

25:12 - 25:31

Speaker 2: which is 1 thing I wanted to bring up. So, so they can realize how this all fits into the big overall plan. Yes. Graduating from high school, what do I want to do past high school? Now let's back it up. Kind of see the end goal in mind but now come backwards all the way down to sixth grade.

 

25:31 - 25:32

Speaker 1: I love it. I love it.

 

25:32 - 26:02

Speaker 2: Really, you can come as you get them ready doing the SMART goals thing and then you, you know, decide, okay, well, now they'll understand it better when you get to sixth grade and you're doing more for that. But S is, I want to make sure I have it all so S is specific. So you set a specific goal. Don't just say I want to make an a In a semester then you know you if you know, there's a weak point in the subject matter Then you could say I want to make a 90 or better in

 

26:03 - 26:32

Speaker 2: physics class because you can't stand physic or that maybe that might be 1 of your old you know hardest class to do it in m is measurable so you want to be able to measure it so that's you know you don't want to just set a goal and not be able to measure it. Quantify it or suggest some progress progress metrics you can set up. Well there are 9 week progress reports. A lot of school systems I don't know about in Canada they do what's called a 4 week interim report. You could use those to be

 

26:32 - 27:10

Speaker 2: your metrics or you like keep listing all your test grades or your quiz grades. Yeah. Your attention more. A is achievable. You know you can assure you achieve your goals with the resources that are given to you. R is realistic and that's outlining what are the results that you can feasibly achieve using the available resources so be realistic about it. Don't say you're gonna make a 98 in physics if really you know that's 1 of your toughest toughest classes and you might want to say 85 is the goal. Yeah. And then T is timely. Highlight when

 

27:10 - 27:29

Speaker 2: your goals should be achieved. Don't just leave it open-ended. That's why I say, I have the planner set up by semester. So when I do my own goals, I actually do it by quarter. I do it every, like I just hit my largest quarter in first quarter of 2024. So- You

 

27:29 - 27:31

Speaker 1: would never know if you hadn't set the goal, so.

 

27:31 - 28:07

Speaker 2: Right, I mean, you can technically do it quarterly. You can take my planner and just do it 4 times, twice in each semester and just do it by quarter. That might be best for a kid that's younger so they can see it better and then maybe for the kids that are older in high school, they can handle the semester planner. You could change it to twice a quarter, twice a semester. Yeah. So, right. So, you need to be specific. I'm going to increase my grade by, and that could be the midterm benchmark is, okay, I had

 

28:07 - 28:34

Speaker 2: an 80, you know, by the middle of the semester, now I wanna get up into the 90s. Can I do it? And what do I need to do to do it? So, yep, I mean, you really, you have to write it down and really look at it every day as well. That's another big deal because otherwise, if you put it away in a drawer, that doesn't work. And matter of fact, they say you should write your goals every single day. And I say, yeah, you can read them off of a planner. Like I could sit here

 

28:34 - 29:03

Speaker 2: and read mine, but it's best that you rewrite them every day. That's what I do. Because as they say in the research about hand, head to paper, That's probably the point in that. It's like journaling and gratitudes and things like that. It's kind of the same concept of why you should write things down to this day. And unfortunately a lot of our kids are technology-based, right? So they just want to look at it on the computer.

 

29:05 - 29:08

Speaker 1: Okay, let's talk about studying. We're heading into exams.

 

29:08 - 29:10

Speaker 2: Yeah, studying is... I've got

 

29:10 - 29:17

Speaker 1: so many questions. When do we start? How do we start? How do we help our kids without going too far? What do we like? All the things.

 

29:17 - 29:48

Speaker 2: Well, studying really should be taking place from day 1 of a semester to be honest with you and if they get into a Habit of doing that then it makes their life so much easier and it lines with these goals, right? So it helps them understand why they have to study and what the importance is of studying every day or at a minimum every other day. You can alternate your classes, do 3 1 day, do 2, 3 others another day or whatever, however many you have. So you just split it up. I mean you can start

 

29:48 - 30:19

Speaker 2: them that way, especially if they're younger, third, fourth, fifth graders maybe, you can do it every other day and say you're going to do social studies, science and language arts 1 day and then you're going to do reading, whatever math and whatever else science another day. You know, just split them up. And then they have to get, you know, they're waiting for a study guide is what we always see. I mean, we have a couple right now that are doing that to my tutors. They'll throw out the study guide at the last minute and we'll ask,

 

30:19 - 30:51

Speaker 2: so did you work on this over the weekend? No, I didn't really have time. I had soccer practice and then when we asked the mom, so she didn't have time to do this. I mean, cause we're not really sure, right? The child could be telling the truth right kids are busy today And if parents don't realize they have a test coming up let's say on Tuesday, and they think the tutor This is another thing they think the tutor is gonna be the ultimate rescuer over a study guide in 1 day then That's not true Because you

 

30:51 - 31:21

Speaker 2: can't do miracles in 1 night, in 1 day. And then when do you have time to study it after the tutor's kind of helped you with that? Because it takes time to set up the study guide yourself. It's almost like you have to have your own study guide, not just the school study guide. You study every single day everything they're teaching you in school like your notes and you can form your own flashcards and I would really highly suggest they do something with it, not just read the notes. Like every week they should do something with

 

31:21 - 31:55

Speaker 2: the content of that class, at least their weakest class, maybe their lowest 2, and actually do something with them, flashcards or whatever, then now they're doing something and that makes them also learn it. Otherwise, they get bored, they're not going to read it, they're not going to look at it, they're not really going to try to memorize it or whatever they're doing. Make a game out of it or whatever. So Yeah, if they're not studying and they're waiting to last minute that it's very hard to make an a and to reach your goals So it's like

 

31:55 - 32:22

Speaker 2: they're seeing it all the time I mean the kid can say they're busy over the weekend cuz that's soccer and then when we ask a parent well, were they that busy? They're like, no, they're battling me. And I had plenty of time. The soccer game wasn't more than an hour. So let's say a half hour to get their half hour back, a little relaxation time. What happened to the rest of the weekend. So we kind of point that out to them so that they're not battling their parent because they like to do that. So that kind

 

32:22 - 32:48

Speaker 2: of removes them out of it and we ask them, so why didn't you get this done this weekend? Oh I was too busy. Well tell me what you did. You know and make them lay it out and then they realize they really weren't that busy. They just chose not to do it. But now we're accountable to them and they know they're accountable to us, let's say. And so we're like, okay, here's your, your homework assignment. You're going to start doing this every day. And we may even check in with them. Like I've done this with the

 

32:48 - 33:11

Speaker 2: 1 child that was ADHD. He wasn't remembering to do things. I'm like, okay, I need you to go back in and do this. Let's do it on a Google doc, do writing and I need you now to go back in. I've checked what you've written. I need you to go back in and fix my copy cause I'm able to write comments. And so we have to go in and read them and, and correct anything I told them to correct. And then I say, okay, you're, you're fine, you're fine. Now go back in and do this. So

 

33:11 - 33:31

Speaker 2: they realize it's not just a 1 and done, I'm done. You know, it's a process. And that way they don't get burned out thinking about it. You know, kids want to get on the computers. They'd rather play games. They'd rather do other things. Who doesn't? I mean, we can always all find something better and more fun to do.

 

33:32 - 33:40

Speaker 1: So are there different things besides, you mentioned flash cards, are there different strategies we can offer for study skills? Like,

 

33:41 - 34:15

Speaker 2: I have a, actually I just ran a series of blogs on tests, taking strategies. You can find it on my website at dynamislearningacademy.com, under blogs up at the top. And we did a tip 123, and 4, I believe. And now we're running a mindfulness. I think that's just as important, is where's your mind when you're taking these tests is a relaxed Or did you have a very like tired? Tiring weekend with a bunch of games in a tournament and now you never really had time to sit back and relax before you go in and take a

 

34:15 - 34:46

Speaker 2: test on a Monday, let's say. Because a lot of it is you've got to get yourself like mentally ready in this day and time. So now we're running a, I think it's 5 tips of mindfulness in the month of April. We did all the test strategies in March. Now we're doing it because we're getting ready for here in Georgia, there's the Georgia milestones at the end of April and May. And then the high schoolers here take what's called end of course exams. So we're kind of like doing stuff for all K through 12, let's say, not

 

34:46 - 34:52

Speaker 2: really K through 2 takes tests, but 3 through 12 take tests here. So

 

34:53 - 35:06

Speaker 1: if a parent is starting to notice, like at what point are they calling you? What can they do beforehand? And then what point are they saying, nope, I got to get a hold of Helen? What are they seeing?

 

35:08 - 35:41

Speaker 2: Well, like these struggles where they're not there, they get start to get an email from a school usually Or the teacher or they've had a conference and a lot of schools are not doing conferences You almost have to ask for them and I would if I was a parent I would ask for at least minimum a yearly conference And if you're really concerned do 1 every semester do 2 of them a year. There's nothing wrong with it. You're a parent, you're a taxpayer or whatever, you have the right to do that. And usually it's something they're

 

35:41 - 36:12

Speaker 2: doing that you know they're not getting their work done, they're not turning in their work, that's the typical thing. If parents are calling me to advance their child, that's them. They're that type of a parent where they know where they want their child to go and to be very, they know they understand the, you know, the competition out there down the road. And they're looking at it from fifth and sixth grade, to be honest with you. Even third grade, we have a second grader where I could tell you the parents, a second and his brother's fourth,

 

36:12 - 36:48

Speaker 2: where they're already looking way down the road. Yeah. And so they, well, and it's about habits, really. It's about these smart goals. It's about habits and getting them in the right all of us promotes the right mindset. It's really about getting in the right mindset and the people who are successful in life, really. If we think about the Steve Jobs of the world and the Microsoft people and Bezios of the world, they didn't do this by, you know, going out and having fun and not studying and not, you know, trying to figure things out. What I

 

36:48 - 37:17

Speaker 2: see kids doing is they like to give up easy. And a lot of them will call me because they'll say, well, I know how to do this, but, but, if I hear the but, my husband shouldn't have to sit here and teach her math because she doesn't like her math teacher or and we've had a conference and we kind of we pretty much know it's not the math teacher it's partially her and it's the confidence that a lot of times is a confidence thing actually to be honest with you Cheryl yeah somewhere along the way the

 

37:17 - 37:44

Speaker 2: kid didn't do well in math, so they just have put in their brain that they are not good at math and that will never change. And but when our tutors step in and we can change it around 1 on 1 and talk them up and, you know, positive reinforcement and we can do it and they can always text us if they need to because usually most of the tutors will give them their phone number if the parent's fine with that then you know it's kind of like having a cheerleader in your in your pocket.

 

37:46 - 38:23

Speaker 1: I love that and I also you know when we talked about advocacy and I'm talking about high school, when you have those conferences, when you are emailing the teacher, involve your kid in all of it, because you completely eliminate. He said, she said, they said, I said, if your kids on board and old enough to be in high school, they're certainly on board to be a part of their education and feeling like they're on the same team. And I'll also say there's such a great advantage to having a tutor if it means eliminating the fight at

 

38:23 - 38:41

Speaker 1: home. And we know this happens. Like sometimes parents just say, I can't, I can't do it. First of all, I don't know the math of the current day or, or I get home from work, I'm tired and now I have to sit down and he's tired and I'm tired and it's just ruining our relationship, not worth it.

 

38:41 - 38:42

Speaker 2: Yes, so

 

38:42 - 39:14

Speaker 1: you know what and I think there's probably you can tell me as there are different accessibility layers to having tutoring like you can I'm sure you can pay top dollar, but other resources where parents can go and get, you know, someone that's just gonna do that with their kid and save the relationship. And I think that's number 1, like number 1, we're all exhausted. And the last thing you want to do from Monday to Thursday or Monday to Friday is spend 3 hours fighting with your kid and then they go to bed and then everybody feels

 

39:14 - 39:14

Speaker 1: like garbage.

 

39:15 - 39:46

Speaker 2: Yeah. And my favorite sentence about parents, and this is not their fault, is they don't know what they don't know. There's a lot to know nowadays from when we all went to school, because I've taught for 25 years. I'm sure you can understand this. And wow, what I knew back then, 25 years ago, to even the last 4 or 5. And this technology piece and really people I do a lunch and learn summer series. I'm meant to say that that will start in middle of May and goes all the way to End of september and I

 

39:46 - 40:20

Speaker 2: bring on a guest It's kind of like usually guests for my podcast. I usually bring on 2 guests a month every month may to september and talk about Different things like I'll interview my assistant this year because she's got a young child and she was just talking to me about technology. Technology is a big fight with parents. It really is. And these Apple watches that ADHD kids do not need to be distracted by are, I mean teachers are seeing it too. It's not the phones anymore. It's the phone on the watch. Mm-hmm tracking So they you

 

40:20 - 40:55

Speaker 2: know, they have a lot of battles to deal with that has nothing to do with just academics Yes, that's distracting the child, right? So then we can find that out because kids will tell us. 1 told me the other day his friend texts him during the day and I said at school? And he says yes but it's during lunch it's during lunch and I'm like well why is he texting you at all during the school? I mean how does he have time at lunch? He should be talking to his friends around him. You after, after school.

 

40:55 - 41:29

Speaker 2: But we also, I changed my tagline to say this, personalized support and solutions for academic success. And why I did that was because we do send you to other resources. If I know we can't help you then I'll send somebody to an executive functioning coach if that's what sounds like it might be, a psychiatrist, I know plenty, or I'll just hint to you, that's where you need to be looking. Not, because schools are not going to do that, we just got to realize they're not going to really help you. I think that's a myth. People think

 

41:29 - 42:00

Speaker 2: they're going to help you. They're just there to teach. Teachers are just there to teach the content and they're not gonna catch a bunch of things that are going on out there. They're not there to catch what's going on in your household. You know I've seen all kinds of things actually going into households that I think to myself as a teacher, I would have never thought some of this, these things and I don't know that parents know or don't know that this affects the child's academics. It's not anything bad, it could be, wow, they're really into

 

42:00 - 42:28

Speaker 2: this technology stuff and that's really affecting them. So yeah we do that and we look at to answer your question you were talking about here's an example of this is how we help parents I'll say go get a Georgia Milestones book I went and did the research I said I think this is the best book. I've asked a couple teachers of the students We tutor I said, what are they telling y'all might be a good resource for parents to get them ready for the Georgia milestones And they're like, oh, we don't really have anything They have

 

42:28 - 43:03

Speaker 2: no clue. Yeah So I'll go do the research I've been on the door department of education website The problem there is it gives you the answers right there. And it's not easy and very friendly. So I use it maybe myself when I'm tutoring kids, but not to give it to them and go here do these questions. And then from there you know we work on writing which is a big deal. I mean they're expecting kids to do a lot of detailed writing like these constructive response questions are quite interesting even all the way down to third

 

43:03 - 43:28

Speaker 2: grade. I'm blown away by that and so I mean they got to know how to do it because they're being timed and once it's up just like the SAT, ACT we do a meet and greet there. I let them look at both of my tutors if they want and actually bring the child on. Like you said, I want the child present on the Zoom call. They need to buy into this if you're going to spend the money.

 

43:28 - 43:42

Speaker 1: 100 percent. And it's their education. Like we have to start understanding that we're coaching them. We're not grabbing them by the hand and dragging them through it. We're coaching them and I think that's really important to keep them involved.

 

43:42 - 44:05

Speaker 2: And I let them do that also because I see the tutors and they kind of can see do they click with 1 over the other before they even start because doing SAT ACT prep is quite an investment. I mean it's not cheap but that's why I just let them do it because I want them to connect. It's the relationship that's important too and getting them to do well.

 

44:06 - 44:22

Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. I love that you you have all the angles covered. I think I really I really appreciate that all the layers are there for everything we need And so can you tell everybody how to find you, where to work with you, all the things?

 

44:22 - 44:51

Speaker 2: Yeah, the easiest place to go is my website, dynamislearningacademy.com. I dropped the word academy in my actual company name, but it's there in the URL. And in there, there's a contact place up there on the top you can see blogs you can see my podcast all the way back I'm on season 12 cheryl's gonna be on my season 12 actually and then there's the contact spot you click right there fill out the form it'll come to me

 

44:51 - 45:22

Speaker 1: perfect and I'm gonna put everything in the show notes, including your nice freebie with your SMART goals for everybody. And I thank you, Helen. I think this is like very hands-on tactical information that we need. I love the advocacy piece of it. I love all of it. So get out there, give a call to Helen when you need it and share, subscribe, Tell everybody about this because we're getting to the end of the year and this is what we need Thank you again for listening to teen minds redefined

 

45:24 - 45:31

Speaker 2: Teen minds redefined with Cheryl Pankhurst new episodes out every Wednesday. Thanks for stopping by.