It's Orientation Month at SCIDES, and we hope you settled comfortably into the new school year. To cap off this month of new grades, new courses, and new experiences, we asked our Principal Ms. Colleen Mullin for her best advice for a successful school year. Here's what she had to say:

 

  • Find a work space that doesn't offer any distractions. All you need is enough light, space, organizational items, power - and of course wifi :)
  • Set up pace charts for each course - work on them with your teacher, and make sure they are realistic and achievable
  • Take frequent breaks and get active Don't sit for more than 45 to 50 min. at a time. During your breaks, you should be active, maybe walk around the house to check phone messages/texts, take the dog outside for a walk, or go to the post office to check the mail. A 15 min. break is enough, as long as it is completely different from what you were doing!
  • Have a water bottle at your desk (being properly hydrated helps you learn and focus).
  • Know who to ask for help... is it your mom or dad? A sibling? Your teacher or marker? Be clear who or where to go to get help in the course you are working on... and have a back up of something else to do while you wait for an answer!
  • Have the contact info for teachers/markers etc. written down and handy!
  • There are free tutoring courses available on learnnowbc.ca - find out when the ones for your classes are (they all run in the evening)
  • Have your login info for Moodle and learnnowbc.ca written down, as well as your PEN (personal education number)
  • Be sure your computer has all the programs you need, such as Microsoft Office, Adobe Reader, Flash, Firefox or Google Chrome, and be sure software is up to date.  
  • Your anti-virus software should always be up to date and working.
  • You will also need something to back up your course work. If you want to use the cloud, you can try Drop Box or Google Drive (both free up to a certain amount of data), or you can use a thumb drive or an external hard drive.
  • Clean up un-needed programs - you need as much free "space" on your computer as possible. Also try not to have anything running in the background while you work in your Moodle classroom - these will slow you down big time!
  • Your well being is the most important thing. If you are not taking care of yourself, learning will not happen. Ensure you are eating well, avoid eating too many processed foods and high sugar foods, get enough sleep, drink enough healthy liquids and try not to overdo the video games and TV ;) Get fresh air, keep active and keep in touch with your safe people to maintain your mental well being. You can contact us at SCIDES anytime, if you want to connect with a counsellor.

Those are some great tips - thank you Colleen!

P.S. We offered an online orientation session - you can find the replay right here.