Why it’s important to get them:
Without looking forward, answer this question, why is it important to get A’s and B’s?
You’d be surprised at how many people don’t know.
Admittedly, I didn’t until I was in my late 30’s. All I knew is that I was told to get A’s and B’s by my mother, who was told by her mother, who was told by her mother and so on.
It’s like the story of shaving both sides of ham off before cooking it for Christmas dinner.
At Christmas dinner preparation a young girl noticed her mother slice both sides of a large ham off before cooking it. Intrigued she asked, “Mom, why do you cut both sides of the ham off before you cook it?” Her mother replied, “I never thought of it, but that’s the way my mother always cooked it”.
At the dinner table with her grandmother there she asked, “Grandma, why do you cut both side of the ham off before you cook it?”
Her grandmother replied, “I never thought of it, but that’s the way my mother always cooked it.”
On summer vacation down south at the family home she came into contact with her great grandmother and asked, “Gran gran, why do you cut both sides of a ham off before cooking it?”
Gran gran looked at her with a smile and said, “When I was young, we didn’t have a pan large enough to cook the whole thing.”
Like repeating your parents, who repeated their parent’s who repeated their parent’s wishes for their child to get good grades, some habits are hard to break.
The reality though is this, A’s and B’s equal choices. The more A’s & B’s you get, the more job, and college choices you have.
In our classes when we explain this to our students they are hugely receptive and eagerly follow up by bringing in their report cards quarterly as requested.
A’s & B’s, how to guarantee your child gets them:
In our classes not only do we explain to children why it’s important to get A’s and B’s we teach our kids how to get A’s and B’s.
It’s a three step process. Here is what we do.
We teach our kids how, when, and why to concentrate.
Study after study demonstrates that most kids that don’t do well in school have an inability to concentrate for sustained periods of time.
No sooner does the teacher start talking do some kids start looking out the window, or engaging playfully with a classmate.
We’ve learned how to nip this behavior in the bud: When one of our instructors begins a class he/she shouts “Cheerio” (The Korean word for attention).
The class snaps to the attention position and says loudly, “CONCENTRATE”.
The instructor then says, “Meaning?” (Which can be deciphered as how?)
The kids as a group respond, “focus with my eyes, focus with my brain, focus with my ears, and focus with my body, Sir/Ma’am!”
The instructor pushes forward with the question, “And focus means?”
The students respond by saying, “Keep it still” The instructor then asks, “When do you CONCENTRATE?”
The students respond by saying “Whenever a teacher is talking, Sir/Ma’am!”
Finally, the instructor asks, “Why do you CONCENTRATE?”
The students respond by saying, “So that you can remember what is being said Sir/Ma’am.”
Periodically the instructor will ask, “How do you keep your eyes still?”
The students say, “Look at the person who is talking.”
How do you keep your brain still?”
The students say, “Think about what is being said.”
Sometimes he/she might ask, “How do you keep your ears still?”
The students say, “Look at the person who is talking to you Sir/Ma’am.”
Magic? Not really.
Well thought out and results getting? ABSOLUTELY!
One of my pet beliefs is that, “People who understand why they are being asked to do something are not just more likely to do it, but do it well.”
So far formatting the start of my classes like this has proven me right!
Since we started having our instructors start classes like this the improvement in our student’s grades have skyrocketed!
This experiment is hugely successful.
By teaching our kids HOW, WHY and WHEN to CONCENTRATE, they are able to zero in on specific information pertaining to tests, quizzes, SOL’s you name it, and retain it for later use.
Some Parents have even noticed an improvement in note taking, which is vital in the transportation of important thoughts and ideas from the class to home.
But let’s face it, not all children are going to be able to grasp ideas like concentrate and focus.
So for the little ones we teach a simple equation: “Good homework equal good tests, good tests equal good grades”. Try it, it works.
Additional Concentration concepts can be found in Master Batiste’s new book: DAGPAW Means Success: A Parent’s Guide To Instilling Martial Arts Success Skills Into Their Child at Home, now on sale on “Amazon.com”
