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How To Help Your Student Actually Improve their Learning in 2025.
Happy New Year! Like you, I am ramping up into 2025 and getting all of my systems and processes going after a relaxing break. Here in the midwest, many of us also got a bonus snow day from winter storm Blair! An extra day of break!
Because it’s the new year, many of us are also reflecting on 2024 and considering how we might make improvements. In today’s newsletter, I want to give you a framework that you can use with your student, or give them directly to help them apply this idea to their work in school.
Do a ‘retro’!
It is critical for middle and high school students to do a postmortem on their work from the previous semester - or what Sam Corcos recently called on the Tim Ferriss Show podcast a “retro”. (Isn't that a nicer way to say 'postmortem'?) A retroactive or ‘retro’ is a way to step back from a project to celebrate what worked well and understand what changes should be made to do better.
Like many of us in our professional lives, reflecting on and analyzing a past project leads to insights that help us be better not just personally but as part of our team. The same is true for students. They improve by getting feedback - not just in the skills they have as learners but as part of their team - parents, teachers, mentors and classmates.
Here’s my framework for a thorough student retro.
Set aside time and get materials together
To start, I set aside some quiet time to get comfortable with a notebook. In my experience, pencil/pen and paper leads to better thinking than typing.
Writing is thinking
I plan to think and then write for 5-10 minutes on each of the following areas below. If I’m stuck on one area I remind myself that I can always skip around. Sometimes one area will give me insights into a different one.
Assign a score
It’s helpful if I also give myself a ‘grade’. This can help determine which areas for improvement are more important than others. An easy scale is 1 to 5, where 1 is poor and 5 is excellent. I try to avoid giving myself a 3 - this forces me to not be in the ‘middle’ and not make a clear decision.
Consider these 6 core areas
As you think about each of the areas below, remember to highlight areas where you think you’re doing a good job in addition to being honest about where you can improve.
- Curiosity/engagement - A student that is not engaged is falling asleep in class and complaining about how boring the content is, what a waste of time the class is, etc. An engaged student finds ways to participate in class and to make the material applicable and intriguing to them. Do I find ways to enjoy the material and make it interesting for me? Am I engaged in class when the teacher is presenting? When there is classwork?
Upcoming Testing Deadlines ⏰
If your student is planning to test in 2025, here are a few upcoming test dates and registration deadlines:
SAT Dates and deadlines
May 3, 2025 SAT (Registration deadline April 18, Late registration April 22)
June 7, 2025 SAT (Registration deadline May 22, Late registration May 27)
ACT Dates and deadlines
June 14, 2025 ACT (Late registration by May 26)
Add these dates to your calendar - test dates and locations often fill up early. For the most convenient location, you want to ensure that you register as early as possible.
Does your student plan to take an SAT or ACT this spring? Click the button below to take my Test Prep Readiness Quiz and find out the areas your student should focus on in their preparation.
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Best regards,
Kevin A. Doty
Rocket Scientist turned Master Tutor
P.S. Have any questions? Feel free to reach out—I’m here to help!
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