During the month of April 2015, the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council (NCPC) had the opportunity to be one of the host agencies participating in a job placement exercise facilitated through two local Secondary Schools. For two consecutive weeks, the Technical Secretariat attached to the NCPC played host to 15 year old students Showanna St. Louis of the Entrepot Secondary School and subsequently Tamara Plante of the St Joseph’ Covent. During their placement, the young ladies learnt about the operations of the Council, its mandate and goals. The students both exhibited a great eagerness to learn and were able to grasp the concepts taught to them fairly quickly. They were both able to enlighten the technical team with thought provoking synopsises of the challenges and critical issues affecting their peers and persons within their age demographic as well as providing viable options to address these issues. The students were each challenged to write a feature from a teenager’s perspective to target other teenagers advising on the steps to be taken to becoming a productive young person within society. They both did incredibly well!
Here are excerpts from their responses. (Please advise all teenagers that you know to read the piece too.)
Showanna St. Louis, 15. Entrepot Secondary School.
‘Teenagers have a lot of free time and they spend mostly all of it on social media whilst they could spend it more productively by getting some work done. Here are a few tips on how teenagers can become more productive students and achieve better academically.
- Select a comfortable working space
No one should study where the television volume is up too high or where loud music is being played. These are both big distractions. Having a comfortable working space with no distractions can create a favorable working zone for teenagers.
- Study Timetables
Create study timetables to help manage your time. Being able to follow a study timetable is very important. Many people have study timetables but tend to ignore them. Pin up the study timetable in your room or on the door of your room where you can see it and won’t forget about it.
- Time Management
Time management is another important thing when it comes to studying. Being able to manage your time is very important. If you are going to study two or three subjects a day, spend at least half an hour on each subject with a five minute break after each one which can be used to get some water, grab a quick snack or go to the washroom.
- No Social Media
Instead of spending hours on social media, talking to your friends, use that time to go on the internet and do some research on things you didn’t understand in class. Who knows that very same thing might come up in the end of term exam.
- Get Enough Sleep
Sleep is one of the most important things when it comes to studying. The body should get up to eight hours of sleep every day. Sleeping also helps relax the brain and the brain needs rest.’
Tamara Plante, 15. St Joseph’s Covent, added:
- Create a study list every day and a study schedule. A study list will help you approach your studies in an orderly way and help get things done faster and easier and keep you focused.
- Keep a book on-hand or any writing material .This way you are able to write down any ideas that come to mind; this will prevent you from wasting time trying to remember things later
- Most importantly PUT THE PHONE AWAY .This is the main issue that prevents us teens from studying. Technology can have good and bad effects let’s use it to our advantage.
- Create a dedicated study time. Make it a routine; routines can help us form lasting habits. This will help you get into a rhythm and be more productive in your studies.
- Leave multitasking behind. I know it’s tempting to watch the latest ‘Empire’ episode while you’re doing your homework, trust me I know, but in order to do your best it is better to concentrate on one task .Your brain can only concentrate on one thing at a time so while you think you need music to study you are only listening to the music or you are only studying and the music doesn’t matter.
- Do your biggest and hardest assignment first. It’s better to do your biggest tasks first whilst your brain is fresh and you are full of energy. When you complete your first task you feel that burst of accomplishment which will boost your motivation and you will breeze through the smaller tasks.
Productivity, I believe starts in the root of the home. There are many little things that we can do to help our parents or siblings when we have time at home. When you arrive home from school or lessons, give your parents a helping hand. You may find chores difficult or tedious, but our parents work just as hard as we do, just for us to eat and get a proper education, so we need to help them out as much as we can. Simple things can make a big difference.’