November Updates From the AHS Counseling Department
Hello students and parents! We have made it to November, which means gorgeous foliage, crisp mornings, Thanksgiving (including the tradition of the Thanksgiving football game), followed by Black Friday shopping deals. This is the ideal time of the year to make sure you say thanks to those people in your life that help you, in big ways and small. Here are some updates from the AHS counseling department!
🦃 Congrats to those seniors who successfully submitted applications to those colleges with November 1st Early Action or Early Decision deadlines! Remember that many colleges offer "early" application windows that have upcoming deadlines, like 11/5 (UMass-Amherst), 11/15 (too many to mention), and even 12/1 (UConn). For the materials that we submit (transcript, letters of recommendation, school profile) all you need to do is complete the Transcript Request Form and we'll take care of the rest. Please be PATIENT! We promise to make sure everything gets sent out for you in a timely manner. Keep in mind that most colleges allow the school materials to come in after the deadline, although our practice is to submit prior to the deadline. Also remember that the colleges themselves are being sent a lot of materials from all over the country (and possibly the world) so it takes time to process the materials (often two weeks or more). Your portals may not update right away, even though materials were sent.
🦃 Term one ends Thursday, November 10th. Students, this is your opportunity to do what you can to raise your grade! One week later, Thursday, November 17th, term one grades will be available on iPass. Students, make sure you review your grades! Parents, you too can have your own access to iPass so that you can check your child's grades. Instructions can be found on the AHS website (at the top of the page go to "Parents" then "iPass Login and FAQ").
🦃 Seniors, if you have already submitted a Transcript Request Form, we automatically send out your term one grades when they are released. No need to resubmit another form or ask us to do it - we're on it! Be patient as it does take us time to get them out for all seniors, but we will make sure they are sent to colleges.
🦃 Freshmen seminars are starting to wrap up, and it has been wonderful to get in front of all of our 9th graders! All 9th grade students were given access to their Naviance account, the tool we use to help with post-secondary planning. Parents, you can get your own login to see your child's Naviance account; just e-mail Jessica Blank at jblank@ashland.k12.ma.us and she can get you set up! We have had the students create for themselves a four-year plan, take the Myers-Briggs personality test that matched them with careers that would be a good fit for their personality, as well as take a Learning Styles inventory to help them understand how they best learn. The four-year plan is not built into Naviance, but the personality test results and the learning styles inventory results are all right there for you to take a look at (but keep in mind we're not all done with all of our 9th grade seminars yet!).
🦃 Speaking of seminars, we are about to start our Junior Seminars the week of November 14th. For junior year students are in small groups with their own counselor, and will start researching options and opportunities for life after high school. For most of our students this means college (usually 4-year college), but we love to assist students that who want to carve out their own unique path and develop a good plan that works for them. Speak to your counselor about what your thoughts are about your future and we can help you make a great plan!
🦃 In late January/early February we will be hosting COLLEGE KNOWLEDGE NIGHT for juniors and their families. This will give families an overview on the entire college research process and how you can best find schools that are the right fit. Be on the lookout for the date - we'll send it out once we have the date secured!
🦃 With term one grades about to come out, it's really important that you know how you can improve your grades! Here are our top five recommendations on how to get the best grades possible:
1. Be in class. Seems like a simple one, but it is an important one. If class is happening, you're there. That means good attendance in school, limiting trips out of class, and if you do need to leave class coming back quickly.
2. Be prepared for class. Have the things you need to be ready to be successful in class. Pen or pencil and a Chromebook (charged) are the essentials, and then anything else your teacher expects you to have.
3. Ask questions. If you don't understand something or need some clarification, ask your teacher a question. Don't assume you'll figure it out later. Be proactive!
4. Sign up for your teacher's X-Block. It is a great time to get some extra help or ask questions!
5. Stay after school for extra help if you can. Most teachers are able to stay after school to help if you ask them and schedule a day with them.
6. Complete all homework. Your homework is your practice to make sure you understand what you are learning. If you don't do the practice, you won't know the material (as well).
7. Study/review. Some things you are learning in high school are very, very complex topics that take time and perseverance to truly learn well. Studying and reviewing is essential to mastery of a topic!
8. If you get a bad grade, figure out why. Take the time to review that assignment that you didn't do well on to make sure you understand why, so that you don't make the same mistakes in the future.
9. Check iPass. Not every day, but on a regular basis so you know not only where your grade stands, but if you are missing any assignments.
10. Sleep. This is a wildly underrated aspect of getting good grades. If you want to be able to learn complicated things, your brain needs to be working at its best, which means making sure you get quality sleep every night!