Senioritis: How to Help Your Students Fend Off the Viral Affliction
Punxsutawney Phil may be wanting more winter, but at this time of the year, our seniors are ready to skip right to summer. That’s right, the viral senioritis is upon us.
This is the time of year that even our most ambitious students start to lose motivation. Their academic performances begin to wane.
Many of our seniors, in anticipation for their last year of high school, jumped into the school year feeling pretty gung-ho about boosting their grades and increasing their test scores. But after months of coursework, test-prep, and college applications, it’s only natural for seniors to experience burnout. It’s already been a long school year, and students still have just as many months of work ahead of them as behind them.
With high school graduation, highly-anticipated summer break, and a fresh start at college, it’s easy for seniors to want to hit the fast-forward button.
So, how can we help our seniors combat senioritis, manage burnout, and keep their heads in the game? We’ve compiled some helpful tips and strategies for you to share with your seniors who most definitely could use some extra encouragement and support to keep them motivated and focused on their end games.
How to Overcome Senioritis
Take Care of Yourself. Keeping mental health needs and self-care as part of their daily routine is a must. Encourage your students to take time everyday to go for a run or set aside time for meditation and eat balanced meals; including daily self-care in their daily routines can make a huge difference in combating burnout. We want our students to stay focused on their academics, but not at the cost of their well-being.
Stay organized. The organization strategies that they’ve been relying on thus far need to stay in place. Remind your students to keep up-to-date with their calendars, planners, checklists, and note-taking methods. These methods of organization will help keep them on track so that important dates, assignments, exams, and projects don’t slip by.
Stay motivated. Students afflicted by senioritis experience bouts of procrastination and sluggishness. Time management and accountability can help treat these symptoms. Remind your students that their academic performance still matters. They need to keep their grades, GPAs, and test scores in order to graduate and keep their college-acceptance status secure.
Don’t get stuck in a rut. A student with senioritis may feel that everyday is Groundhog Day. They wake up, eat the same breakfast, go to school, eat the same lunch, talk to the same people, go home, study in the same place, yada, yada. Simple changes in their daily routines to help break up the monotony may be just what they need to shake off senioritis. Suggest changing their breakfast/lunch, listening to a new playlist while riding the bus/driving to school, sitting with a different friend at lunch, going for a walk after school, or studying in a different room/place.
Treat Yo Self! Encourage your students to reward themselves for a job well done. Whether that means incorporating brain breaks into their study sessions or a carrot on the stick at the end of a long school day, a little indulgence can be a huge motivator!
Senior year comes with a lot of added pressure, and students feel that most acutely this time of year. Help your students to find strategies that work best for their individual needs so that they can withstand senioritis and continue to meet or exceed their senior year academic goals.
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