School holidays are the time of the year that students (and teachers) live for. It is the mental “carrot” that motivates us to push through each term. It’s definitely the light at the end of the tunnel for us all.
While school holidays can range from days to months, we can all agree that there are times that we feel that we have spent the time well and times that we feel utterly lousy about how we have wasted the holidays away. So in this post, we are going to run through FOUR activities to be done over the (longer) school holidays so that you will feel ☑rested, ☑energised and ☑ready for the new term.
These activities are stated in sequence of how they should be completed (i.e do them from 1 to 4).
Ready? Let’s go!
1. Reflect
Simply put, reflect back on the term that you have just completed and write down what you think of your progress. I have avoided using the term “reflection” as based on my experience, this word has a bad reputation among students and is often viewed as something to be done for the sake of doing. It definitely takes maturity to be able to realise the true benefits of reflection and it is not something that is easily appreciated.
Nonetheless, you HAVE to start the holidays by first wrapping up the completed school year. Through this exercise, you will discover what you have done well and where are the areas to be improved. Perhaps, you realised that your poor performance was due to the fact that you are burnt out and are in critical need of some quality rest. Or you may discover that you have a dire need to reorganise your learning resources because… you have misplaced your recent test papers (or get FREE study notes and guides here at LEARND.online!).
Most importantly, this exercise gives you a purpose and help you realign yourself to your goals. Therefore, it cannot be more important to have a reflection at the start of your holidays if you want to spend it right.
2. Strategise
If you have done your reflections right, then you will probably be motivated to make some changes. Hence, the follow-up is almost natural that you should develop a plan for yourself!
Yes, YOU plan for YOURSELF.
If you can make yourself read through this post, then I guarantee that you are more mature than the majority of the students of your level and are definitely ready to take charge of your own learning. Write out your goal and phrase it in a way that motivates you. From there, write down some steps that you think is NECESSARY for you to achieve your goal. In other words, those will be the MINIMUM requirements that you have to do to achieve your set goals. If you would like some help, you can check out some templates shared by School of Success right here on LEARND.online!
And there you go! You got yourself a plan. You should also design a plan for the holiday to practise self-discipline in following a plan. This (the lack of self-discipline to do what is best for yourself) is one of the main causes for the underperformance of many students.
3. Recharge
Many students will quote that the holidays are meant for resting, but at the end of it, they return to school more tired than before and definitely not ready for the new term. This brings out the point that you should focus on RECHARGING yourself. Yes, this will most definitely involve taking a break from studying but it has to be done in moderation.
When it comes to gaining that rejuvenating feeling, the key to achieving BALANCE. This also means that you should strive to give those aspects that you did not manage to work on during the school term some love. Generally speaking, this will include physical needs (e.g. exercise, sleep), emotional and spiritual needs (e.g. self-care, connecting with friends, enjoyment). Reiterating the point on balance, you should not be over-compensating by spending too much time and effort on these activities (e.g. binge-watching shows, having gaming marathons) just because you can. Do it in the right moderation and you will find that you will enjoy the best feeling of fulfilment.
4. Learn
“OH MAN! Give me a break! Are you saying that I should be studying on a holiday?”
Do note that we are saying that you should go ahead and recharge yourself (that’s why Recharge is ranked as #3 and Learning as #4) but you should most definitely leverage this break time to patch up whatever gaps that you have over the topics taught in the previous term. We all know how busy school days are like with most days ending at about 3pm and evenings occupied by homework. There is little difference between what student to student on what can be done on a school term. HOWEVER, a holiday of weeks of free time changes this entirely. Students who can successfully leverage the holiday to revise or even get a head start on are found to cope way better than students who don’t (DUH!). And based on experience, it is possible for students to make a 2–3 grade improvement if they spend their holiday well, effectively turning these students from failing to passing grades, or from Bs to As.
Furthermore, learning is in fact a skill! The more you practice learning, the better and faster you get at it. You will develop your mental circuits as well as your own learning strategies. How powerful will that be!
It sure is tough to make yourself get back to studying when it is the holiday. This is why it is once again so important to #1 Reflect and #2 Strategise to develop the motivation and structure to guide yourself through the holidays! With that said, these are the 4 MUST-DOs if you want to have a productive holiday that prepares you well for the new term. We wish you a lovely and productive holiday ahead!
******
LEARND.online endeavours to leverage technology to make learning resources more accessible and sustainable. As an online learning resource marketplace, we aim to empower educators and even learners to share amazing self-created learning resources with those in need. You can find cheatsheets, notes, practices, study guides, mindmaps, lesson plans, free test papers and more anytime, anywhere, without the need to purchase prints (which damages our environment). Sign up is entirely free! Visit us today and thank you for your support.
LEARND.online — Online Learning Resource Marketplace