First off, I would like to state that this article is aimed at middle school students, so elementary kids and high school students go look somewhere else.

Oh. My. God. Summer went by so fast! I am disappointed that I said that because I told myself I wouldn’t say that phrase this year, and it came out anyway. But the truth is, school is back and will be back for another 9 months, and there’s nothing we can do about it. So, we might as well make the best of it…sort of. Here are some tips for staying on top of things, so school doesn’t kill you. I mean it, because it will. Really.

Keep Your Locker Organised!!!

If your locker isn’t neat, you won’t be able to find anything. Believe me, it is not fun trying to find the right notebook and running halfway across the school to class. Make some time to clean out your locker once every two weeks. It helps a lot.

Write Down Assignments

The first thing you should do when you walk into a classroom is write down the homework listed on the board, or wherever. Our school has reminder binders, which are passed out to everyone at the beginning of the year and have a space to write all the homework. If your schools don’t have assignment notebooks (reminder binders- I changed it because it was so tacky!) then you could go out and buy a notebook, just for the purpose of writing down the homework. All I know is that 2 years ago, I blew off my assignment notebook because we had Blackboard (on-line) and Homework Hot-Line (phone), and I was in deep crap. I ended up forgetting to do a lot of homework because I didn’t write it down. So yes, no matter how stupid it sounds now, you’ll be grateful that you did it later.

Homework —

When school ends and you get home, the first thing you should do is grab something to eat and go somewhere quiet to get started on your homework. It’s best to get it out of the way fast, so that you have the rest of the night to yourself. Doing homework with friends is fine, and more interesting, but chances are you won’t get a lot done and half of your homework will be wrong. Homework is a pain, but as half of my friends would say, “If it doesn’t kill you, it will make you stronger.” which makes ME want to strangle them, see if that makes them any stronger. What confuses me is the fact that the rest of my friends say, “Procrastinators, UNITE!!!…tomorrow.” I’d like to side with the latter, but homework really is important…unfortunately.

Notes —

Ohmygodthisisimportantyouguys!!! Pay attention folks! Notes are one of the key things in school. Okay, most of you are probably thinking something along the lines of “taking notes are for losers“ but they’re not, so stop you’re complaining. Anyway, there is a not-so-small problem that not a lot of teachers notice- most kids don’t know how to take notes. Taking notes is not writing down 5 things and then saying you’re done, but it’s not writing down everything the teacher says, either. Here are ways to make sure you take the best notes possible…

• Your brain remembers thing in threes. So, when possible, take notes in threes. For example, if one sentence was, ‘Dogs have fur, teeth, four feet, a tail, two ears, a nose…etc.’ you could shorten that to, ‘Dogs have fur, teeth, and a nose.’ That’s a lot less to write.
• Reword things
• If the teacher is writing it on the board, write it down! They’re not just writing for fun, and chances are that you will be expected to know it or it will be on the next quiz!
• Ha Ha Ha see, I put that into a group of three!!! Well, not anymore, now it’s four, but…

Studying —

Jeez, this should be obvious, but study, people! Study!!!There are benefits to studying, such as getting good grades, learning stuff (ew!), and hanging out with friends! Wait; did she just say hanging out with friends? Yes I did! It is the perfect excuse! Study partner, hello! So you don’t get in trouble because of low grades and you get to hang out with your friends. But yes, you do need to study, because tests and quizzes make up most of your grades. Plus, after you study for a bit, just hang a while, but I’m serious, study first or you’ll be sorry.

Things That I Do

Yeah, a part all about me! Okay, well, I’m going to list some of the things that I do, you don’t have to read this, but…I’m pretty sure you will. You read through my ranting this far…

• Get sleep!!! Doctors recommend that teens should get 10-11 hours of sleep a night, but I say that’s a load of crap. 8-9 is enough for me (on weekdays). You should get up at least an hour before you start off to school. My bus comes at 7:30am, so I get up at 6:00am, so that I don’t feel rushed. Save the late nights for the weekends.
• Breakfast! Eat a nice and healthy breakfast, which in my case means yogurt and fruit; yummy!!!
• Music; I turn on some music in the morning, because it “stimulates your brain”. Whatever, it’s just an excuse to play music really loud really early in the morning.
• I pack my backpack and pick out my cloths the night before; more free time in the morning!
• What else, what else…oh! Locker trips; I first go to my locker when I get to school in the morning. At that time I get everything I need for all my classes before lunch. My second visit is paid during the lunch period, when I put back everything I’m carrying at the moment and pick up everything I need for the rest of the day. My last visit is right before I go home. Three visits total…(teehee!)
• Get on your teachers’ good sides; that way if you get in trouble by, let’s just say, for example, your phone rings in the middle of class. Then they just say, “put it away” and move on with their lectures. Then you call your evil frienemie that tried to get you in trouble right back and get them in trouble. Ha ha ha….I mean, uh, it was just an example…

Hopefully, with this crappy article, your own experience, and tips from others, you’ll survive. If you start to understand the saying, “I try to take one day at a time, but lately a few have been attacking me at once“, then you’re close to danger…

Also, the three (ha…) articles that have a ‘—‘ next to them are most important!

Okay then! You’re on your own! Don’t die! Leave a comment! Good Luck! Kali Tihi! Ganbatte Kudasi! Byby! Aidue! Bis Dann! Aloha! Adios! Ciao!