why do i keep forgetting assignments

Practical Mama

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Tips to get students remember to turn in homework

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Towards the end of last year, my son started to have problems with his homework. The issue was not the assignment themselves. He would complete the assignments on time, but then he would frequently forget to turn them in, which would result in reduced grades. As a parent, this was more frustrating to us than not doing the assignment itself.

We didn’t want to jump to the conclusion that our son was a scatterbrain, forgetful or even he didn’t care. We’ve tried to determine the factors causing this issue. We asked him questions every time when he forgot to turn in his homework:

• Was there a dropbox or bin that he should have turned the assignment in?
• Did the teacher ask them to bring their assignments?
• Did the teacher make announcements when they collect them?
• Did the teacher assign a student to pick the completed homework up?
• Did he notice other kids hand their assignments in at all?

Eventually, we came to the conclusion that the situation was a combination of “lack of organizing”, “varying methods of collecting the assignments by teachers” and “forgetfulness”. We started with “lack of organizing” and “forgetfulness”. We offered few alternative options of solutions he could use and he picked whatever he thought would work for him. The keyword is “simplify”. Kids have so many responsibilities and so many distractions these days, picking a suitable solution for oneself is essential. Simple solutions are the best.

Organizing is about being aware of what one has in their environment. It can be their backpack, desk or locker etc. I wasn’t the most organized student myself either. So I can relate. When you are not an inherently organized person, you need to be taught methods and given tools to function. If you or your children have “scatterbrain” or “forgetfulness” problem, organizing by sorting, grouping, ordering, and labeling is your remedy. I highly recommend you to take a look at the 5S Methodology .

Expandable Folder:  My son uses his expandable folder to keep track of his paper based homework. He organized his folder by labeling them for a specific purpose, such as “ new homework “, “ homework to turn in “, “ work in progress ” and “ graded homework ” etc. The important point though is for the student to open the folder up every day at school and at home and go through it, check appropriate sections and take action on it.

At my kids’ school, homework is posted online on Google classroom. All homework have deadlines. They needed to track when each assignment is due, not only to remember the time to turn them in but also prioritize and plan their time to do their homework on time.

Online Calendars: It’s forbidden to use cell phones at their school but laptops are widely used. We use online Google calendars for all of our scheduling but in my humble opinion, excessive use of electronics and online resources for school work cause more distraction for students. Especially, if your kids are having hard time focus as is. There is already so much use of the internet, whether it is classroom portals, online learning websites, e-mailing and messaging for classroom projects. It’s healthier to keep some of the efforts offline.

Post it notes:  You can use post-it notes on a pencil box, folder or another item that student definitely takes out of their backpacks every day. Post-it note should trigger action to turn the homework in.

Locker checklist: If the student has a locker at school, they can create a reminder note, laminate and put it up visibly in their locker. Every time, they visit their locker, they’ll see the note and make sure all their assignments handed in and all their new homework material is put in their backpack.

Final check before school dismissal : Getting into the habit of going through a checklist at the time when they are packing their backpacks before going home is a great way to work the executive functioning part of those growing brains. This can be with the help of an exact same note as the locker checklist, or merely a mental checklist:

• Did I turn in all my assignments?
• Did I put in all new assignments in my folder?
• Did I pack all necessary notebooks and books to complete my assignments?

COMMUNICATING WITH THE TEACHER

It’s also important to talk to the teachers to learn their preferred method of collecting the assignments. During the parent-teacher conferences, we talked to the teachers as well. We asked to have a standard method of turning in the assignments if they varied so that the students would know what is expected. It’s confusing for the students when one day the teachers announce to turn in the assignments, the other day they just assume the homework will be turned into a bin without making an announcement.

We also advised our son to go up to the teacher before the end of the session and ask whether he should turn in the homework if he is in doubt. It is his responsibility to let the teacher know he has completed his assignment on time and has it ready by its due date.

ONLINE HOMEWORK

Online homework is rather easier with one precaution. If homework is an online lesson, the homework is considered submitted when the lesson is complete. However, if an online document needs to be submitted, that has to go on time as well. The same organizing and reminder methods can be used. Also, some portals have check marks to notify the completion of the assignment. The student should have a final review the portal daily before closing down the homework session to make sure they checked all completed assignments as DONE.

I am happy to report that he’s currently in control of turning the assignments on time using these organizing and reminder methods.

Do you have similar issues with your children? If you use any of these methods and find helpful or use other methods which work, please share them in the comments.

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I haven’t tried anything yet, but I will be. These are helpful ideas. My daughter just transitioned to middle and is struggling keeping up with assignments and turning them in.

I don’t understand why teachers cannot just ask the students to turn in their homework. Why is that so hard? Even my college professors, all of them, reminded us to turn in our homework assignments.

I also think that the teachers should remind there students at the end of the day before leaving the classroom to remember all there home work, especially for those students that have problems remembering homework, even before middle school years,to help them start making it a habit.

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Why Students Forget—and What You Can Do About It

Our brains are wired to forget, but there are research-backed strategies you can use to make your teaching stick.

Teachers have long known that rote memorization can lead to a superficial grasp of material that is quickly forgotten. But new research in the field of neuroscience is starting to shed light on the ways that brains are wired to forget—highlighting the importance of strategies to retain knowledge and make learning stick.

In a recent article published in the journal Neuron , neurobiologists Blake Richards and Paul Frankland challenge the predominant view of memory, which holds that forgetting is a process of loss—the gradual washing away of critical information despite our best efforts to retain it. According to Richards and Frankland, the goal of memory is not just to store information accurately but to “optimize decision-making” in chaotic, quickly changing environments. In this model of cognition, forgetting is an evolutionary strategy, a purposeful process that runs in the background of memory, evaluating and discarding information that doesn’t promote the survival of the species.

“From this perspective, forgetting is not necessarily a failure of memory,” explain Richards and Frankland in the study. “Rather, it may represent an investment in a more optimal mnemonic strategy.”

The Forgetting Curve

We often think of memories as books in a library, filed away and accessed when needed. But they’re actually more like spiderwebs , strands of recollection distributed across millions of connected neurons. When we learn something new—when a teacher delivers a fresh lesson to a student, for example—the material is encoded across these neural networks, converting the experience into a memory.

Forgetting is almost immediately the nemesis of memory, as psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus discovered in the 1880s. Ebbinghaus pioneered landmark research in the field of retention and learning, observing what he called the forgetting curve , a measure of how much we forget over time. In his experiments, he discovered that without any reinforcement or connections to prior knowledge, information is quickly forgotten—roughly 56 percent in one hour, 66 percent after a day, and 75 percent after six days.

So what can be done to preserve the hard work of teaching? After all, evolutionary imperatives—which prune our memories of extraneous information—don’t always neatly align with the requirements of curriculum or the demands of the Information Age. Learning the times tables doesn’t avail when running from lions, in other words, but in the modern world that knowledge has more than proved its mettle.

The Persistence of Memory

The same neural circuitry appears to be involved in forgetting and remembering. If that is properly understood, students and teachers can adopt strategies to reduce memory leaks and reinforce learning.

MIT neuroscientists, led by Richard Cho, explain the mechanisms for synaptic strengthening in a 2015 article , also published in Neuron . When neurons are frequently fired, synaptic connections are strengthened; the opposite is true for neurons that are rarely fired. Known as synaptic plasticity , this explains why some memories persist while others fade away. Repeatedly accessing a stored but fading memory—like a rule of geometry or a crucial historical fact—rekindles the neural network that contains the memory and encodes it more deeply.

Researchers have also learned that not all new memories are created equal. For example, here are two sets of letters to remember:

For readers of English, the second set of letters is more memorable—the more connections neurons have to other neurons, the stronger the memory. The seven letters in NPFXOSK appear random and disjointed, while ORANGES benefits from its existing, deeply encoded linguistic context. The word oranges also invokes sensory memory, from the image of an orange to its smell, and perhaps even conjures other memories of oranges in your kitchen or growing on a tree. You remember by layering new memories on the crumbling foundations of older ones.

5 Teacher Strategies

When students learn a new piece of information, they make new synaptic connections. Two scientifically based ways to help them retain learning is by making as many connections as possible—typically to other concepts, thus widening the “spiderweb” of neural connections—but also by accessing the memory repeatedly over time.

Which explains why the following learning strategies, all tied to research conducted within the past five years, are so effective:

• Peer-to-peer explanations: When students explain what they’ve learned to peers, fading memories are reactivated, strengthened, and consolidated. This strategy not only increases retention but also encourages active learning (Sekeres et al., 2016 ).
• The spacing effect: Instead of covering a topic and then moving on, revisit key ideas throughout the school year. Research shows that students perform better academically when given multiple opportunities to review learned material. For example, teachers can quickly incorporate a brief review of what was covered several weeks earlier into ongoing lessons, or use homework to re-expose students to previous concepts (Carpenter et al., 2012 ; Kang, 2016 ).
• Frequent practice tests: Akin to regularly reviewing material, giving frequent practice tests can boost long-term retention and, as a bonus, help protect against stress , which often impairs memory performance. Practice tests can be low stakes and ungraded, such as a quick pop quiz at the start of a lesson or a trivia quiz on Kahoot , a popular online game-based learning platform. Breaking down one large high-stakes test into smaller tests over several months is an effective approach (Adesope, Trevisan, & Sundararajan, 2017 ; Butler, 2010 ; Karpicke, 2016 ).
• Interleave concepts: Instead of grouping similar problems together, mix them up. Solving problems involves identifying the correct strategy to use and then executing the strategy. When similar problems are grouped together, students don’t have to think about what strategies to use—they automatically apply the same solution over and over. Interleaving forces students to think on their feet, and encodes learning more deeply (Rohrer, 2012 ; Rohrer, Dedrick, & Stershic, 2015 ).
• Combine text with images: It’s often easier to remember information that’s been presented in different ways, especially if visual aids can help organize information. For example, pairing a list of countries occupied by German forces during World War II with a map of German military expansion can reinforce that lesson. It’s easier to remember what’s been read and seen, instead of either one alone (Carney & Levin, 2002 ; Bui & McDaniel, 2015 ).

So even though forgetting starts as soon as learning happens—as Ebbinghaus’s experiments demonstrate—research shows that there are simple and effective strategies to help make learning stick.

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How to Survive Forgetting Your Homework at School

Last Updated: March 9, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Katie Styzek . Katie Styzek is a Professional School Counselor for Chicago Public Schools. Katie earned a BS in Elementary Education with a Concentration in Mathematics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She served as a middle school mathematics, science, and social studies teacher for three years prior to becoming a counselor. She holds a Master of Education (M.Ed.) in School Counseling from DePaul University and an MA in Educational Leadership from Northeastern Illinois University. Katie holds an Illinois School Counselor Endorsement License (Type 73 Service Personnel), an Illinois Principal License (formerly Type 75), and an Illinois Elementary Education Teaching License (Type 03, K – 9). She is also Nationally Board Certified in School Counseling from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 129,522 times.

Have you ever sat down to complete your homework only to realize you left some important component (like a worksheet or textbook) at school? Don’t freak out! You have many options for getting ahold of what you need or finding a suitable replacement. If all else fails, you may be able to complete the assignment when you return to school.

Getting a Copy of a Worksheet

• If you have a scanner and printer or a copy machine, you can complete this task at home.
• Most printing places charge $0.10 for a single black and white copy.

• Be sure to use clear grammar, complete sentences, and good etiquette in your email.
• You can only use this method once or twice before your teacher will become frustrated with you.
• Your teacher may be less than pleased that you don’t have the worksheet if you’ve had an extended period of time to complete it rather than if it was assigned that day.

Finding a Textbook

• You can search an online card catalog or call the library to see if they have your book. Then go there in person and check it out.
• Sometimes the textbook may be “on reserve,” meaning you will have to work with it in the library.

• Ideally, you will want to try to find the exact same edition, but a different edition will be better than nothing. Keep in mind, though, that the chapter or worksheet may be different from the one your teacher assigned.
• If you can find out the ISBN code for your textbook, this can be a good way to search as well.

Completing the Homework Later

• If you need to get into your classroom, you can email your teacher to see if they can let you in early.

• You can work during any free period, recess, or lunch in order to get the assignment done.

• It is likely that your teacher will need to stay for a little while anyway, and they may respect your initiative to get the late assignment complete as soon as possible.

• If you have multiple email accounts, use the one associated with your school.
• Once again, use proper grammar, complete sentences, and good etiquette when you communicate with your teacher via email. [6] X Research source

• Keep in mind that if this happens more than once, your teacher may be less likely to give you an extension.

Expert Q&A

• Exchange contact info with some people from your class ahead of time so that you can contact them in a situation like this one. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• When searching for answers off the Internet, don't type in the direct question. Instead, type in key parts of the question. For example, if the question is “What was the population of Canada in 1900?" type in “Population of Canada 1900” instead of the full question. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0
• Try making a mini bag that will carry all the supplies needed to do homework, like an extra copy of every textbook, lined paper, a ruler, a protractor, etc. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0

Tips from our Readers

• Ask a friend who's in class with you to take a quick picture of the worksheet and text or email it to you. This saves you a trip to their house or having to meet up.
• As a last resort, be honest with your teacher, explain why you don't have the assignment, and ask if you can stay late or email it to them to avoid a late grade.
• For a textbook, call the school library first to ask if they have a copy on hold. If not, search online for either an ebook version or a different edition.
• Check whether your teacher uses an online platform for assignments. If so, log in and see if the worksheet is posted there to print out.
• When emailing your teacher to ask for materials, be extra polite and use proper spelling/grammar so they're more likely to help you out.
• If you can't complete the work at home, get to school early the next morning and finish during free periods or study hall time instead.

• If you consistently forget your homework, you may get in trouble or your teacher may lose their trust in you. Thanks Helpful 9 Not Helpful 1

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• ↑ Katie Styzek. Professional School Counselor. Expert Interview. 26 March 2021.
• ↑ https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/homework.html
• ↑ https://www2.ed.gov/parents/academic/help/homework/part8.html

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Re-reading is inefficient. Here are 8 tips for studying smarter.

by Joseph Stromberg

The way most students study makes no sense.

That’s the conclusion of Washington University in St. Louis psychologists Henry Roediger and Mark McDaniel — who’ve spent a combined 80 years studying learning and memory, and recently distilled their findings with novelist Peter Brown in the book Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning .

using active learning strategies is most effective

The majority of students study by re-reading notes and textbooks — but the psychologists’ research, both in lab experiments and of actual students in classes, shows this is a terrible way to learn material. Using active learning strategies — like flashcards, diagramming, and quizzing yourself — is much more effective, as is spacing out studying over time and mixing different topics together.

McDaniel spoke with me about the eight key tips he’d share with students and teachers from his body of research.

1) Don’t just re-read your notes and readings

Photofusion/UIG via Getty Images

”We know from surveys that a majority of students, when they study, they typically re-read assignments and notes. Most students say this is their number one go-to strategy.

when students re-read a textbook chapter, they show no improvement in learning

”We know, however, from a lot of research, that this kind of repetitive recycling of information is not an especially good way to learn or create more permanent memories. Our studies of Washington University students, for instance, show that when they re-read a textbook chapter, they have absolutely no improvement in learning over those who just read it once.

“On your first reading of something, you extract a lot of understanding. But when you do the second reading, you read with a sense of ‘I know this, I know this.’ So basically, you’re not processing it deeply, or picking more out of it. Often, the re-reading is cursory — and it’s insidious, because this gives you the illusion that you know the material very well, when in fact there are gaps.”

2) Ask yourself lots of questions

Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe via Getty Images

”One good technique to use instead is to read once, then quiz yourself, either using questions at the back of a textbook chapter, or making up your own questions. Retrieving that information is what actually produces more robust learning and memory.

retrieving information is what produces more robust learning and memory

”And even when you can’t retrieve it — when you get the questions wrong — it gives you an accurate diagnostic on what you don’t know, and this tells you what you should go back and study. This helps guide your studying more effectively.

”Asking questions also helps you understand more deeply. Say you’re learning about world history, and how ancient Rome and Greece were trading partners. Stop and ask yourself why they became trading partners. Why did they become shipbuilders, and learn to navigate the seas? It doesn’t always have to be why — you can ask how, or what.

“In asking these questions, you’re trying to explain, and in doing this, you create a better understanding, which leads to better memory and learning. So instead of just reading and skimming, stop and ask yourself things to make yourself understand the material.”

3) Connect new information to something you already know

”Another strategy is, during a second reading, to try relating the principles in the text to something you already know about. Relate new information to prior information for better learning.

”One example is if you were learning about how the neuron transmits electricity. One of the things we know if that if you have a fatty sheath surround the neuron, called a myelin sheath , it helps the neuron transmit electricity more quickly.

“So you could liken this, say, to water running through a hose. The water runs quickly through it, but if you puncture the hose, it’s going to leak, and you won’t get the same flow. And that’s essentially what happens when we age — the myelin sheaths break down, and transmissions become slower.”

( Quasar/Wikimedia Commons )

4) Draw out the information in a visual form

”A great strategy is making diagrams, or visual models, or flowcharts. In a beginning psychology course, you could diagram the flow of classical conditioning . Sure, you can read about classical conditioning, but to truly understand it and be able to write down and describe the different aspects of it on a test later on — condition, stimulus, and so on — it’s a good idea to see if you can put it in a flowchart.

“Anything that creates active learning — generating understanding on your own — is very effective in retention. It basically means the learner needs to become more involved and more engaged, and less passive.”

5) Use flashcards

”Flashcards are another good way of doing this. And one key to using them is actually re-testing yourself on the ones you got right.

keeping a correct card in the deck and encountering it again is more useful

”A lot of students will answer the question on a flashcard, and take it out of the deck if they get it right. But it turns out this isn’t a good idea — repeating the act of memory retrieval is important. Studies show that keeping the correct item in the deck and encountering it again is useful. You might want to practice the incorrect items a little more, but repeated exposure to the ones you get right is important too.

“It’s not that repetition as a whole is bad. It’s that mindless repetition is bad.”

6) Don’t cram — space out your studying

Johannes Simon/Getty Images

”A lot of students cram — they wait until the last minute, then in one evening, they repeat the information again and again. But research shows this isn’t good for long term memory. It may allow you to do okay on that test the next day, but then on the final, you won’t retain as much information, and then the next year, when you need the information for the next level course, it won’t be there.

practice a little bit one day, then two days later

”This often happens in statistics. Students come back for the next year, and it seems like they’ve forgotten everything, because they crammed for their tests.

“The better idea is to space repetition. Practice a little bit one day, then put your flashcards away, then take them out the next day, then two days later. Study after study shows that spacing is really important.”

7) Teachers should space out and mix up their lessons too

Andy Cross/The Denver Post via Getty Images

”Our book also has information for teachers. And our educational system tends to promote massed presentation of information as well.

”In a typical college course, you cover one topic one day, then on the second day, another topic, then on the third day, another topic. This is massed presentation. You never go back and recycle or reconsider the material.

”But the key, for teachers, is to put the material back in front of a student days or weeks later. There are several ways they can do this. Here at Washington University, there are some instructors who give weekly quizzes, and used to just put material from that week’s classes on the quiz. Now, they’re bringing back more material from two to three weeks ago. One psychology lecturer explicitly takes time, during each lecture, to bring back material from days or weeks beforehand.

the key, for teachers, is to put the material back in front of a student days or weeks later

”This can be done in homework too. It’s typical, in statistics courses, to give homework in which all of the problems are all in the same category. After correlations are taught, a student’s homework, say, is problem after problem on correlation. Then the next week, T tests are taught, and all the problems are on T tests. But we’ve found that sprinkling in questions on stuff that was covered two or three weeks ago is really good for retention.

”And this can be built into the content of lessons themselves. Let’s say you’re taking an art history class. When I took it, I learned about Gauguin, then I saw lots of his paintings, then I moved on to Matisse, and saw lots of paintings by him. Students and instructors both think that this is a good way of learning the painting styles of these different artists.

”But experimental studies show that’s not the case at all. It’s better to give students an example of one artist, then move to another, then another, then recycle back around. That interspersing, or mixing, produces much better learning that can be transferred to paintings you haven’t seen — letting students accurately identify the creators of paintings, say, on a test.

“And this works for all sorts of problems. Let’s go back to statistics. In upper level classes, and the real world, you’re not going to be told what sort of statistical problem you’re encountering — you’re going to have to figure out the method you need to use. And you can’t learn how to do that unless you have experience dealing with a mix of different types of problems, and diagnosing which requires which type of approach.”

8) There’s no such thing as a “math person”

Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

”There’s some really interesting work by Carol Dweck , at Stanford. She’s shown that students tend to have one of two mindsets about learning.

it turns out that mindsets predict how well students end up doing

”One is a fixed learning model. It says, ‘I have a certain amount of talent for this topic — say, chemistry or physics — and I’ll do well until I hit that limit. Past that, it’s too hard for me, and I’m not going to do well.’ The other mindset is a growth mindset. It says that learning involves using effective strategies, putting aside time to do the work, and engaging in the process, all of which help you gradually increase your capacity for a topic.

”It turns out that the mindsets predict how well students end up doing. Students with growth mindsets tend to stick with it, tend to persevere in the face of difficulty, and tend to be successful in challenging classes. Students with the fixed mindset tend not to.

“So for teachers, the lesson is that if you can talk to students and suggest that a growth mindset really is the more accurate model — and it is — then students tend to be more open to trying new strategies, and sticking with the course, and working in ways that are going to promote learning. Ability, intelligence, and learning have to do with how you approach it — working smarter, we like to say.”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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How to Remember to Turn in Homework

Last Updated: November 29, 2021

This article was co-authored by Emily Listmann, MA . Emily Listmann is a Private Tutor and Life Coach in Santa Cruz, California. In 2018, she founded Mindful & Well, a natural healing and wellness coaching service. She has worked as a Social Studies Teacher, Curriculum Coordinator, and an SAT Prep Teacher. She received her MA in Education from the Stanford Graduate School of Education in 2014. Emily also received her Wellness Coach Certificate from Cornell University and completed the Mindfulness Training by Mindful Schools. This article has been viewed 50,497 times.

You’ve had enough of that soul-crushing stare your teachers hit you with when they find out you forgot your homework again. They silently shake their head as you tell them you finished it, and even enjoyed working on the assignment, but simply left it at home. Even worse, you get home and realize you had brought your homework to class but forgot to turn it in! Again! Fortunately, there are proven steps you can take to help you remember to turn in your homework.

Organizing to Boost Your Productivity

• There is the classic two pocket, a side-folding folder in any color you can imagine, or adorned with the comic book hero, cartoon character, or sports team of your choice. One option is to get a few of these and use one for each of your classes.
• If you have separate folders for each class, keep all of them with you throughout the school day, perhaps in a three-ring binder.
• Alternatively, get yourself an accordion folder. These multi-pocketed wonders, usually equipped with a flap or other mechanism to ensure your materials stay where you put them, can immediately improve your organization. [1] X Research source
• Take time twice a week to organize all your folders or online files. This way they’re kept clean on a regular basis.

• Put any notes, handouts, worksheets, or assignment materials into the proper folder location as soon as you receive them, and keep them there whenever you’re not using them.
• Keep your organizing materials with you. Bring your binder or accordion with you to every single class. This ensures you always have all of your assignments with you for every class.
• For some extra tips, check out How to Be Organized in School.

• Before school every morning, triple check your bag! There’s nothing worse than simply forgetting completed homework at home. Make sure you have your organizing materials with you, and that you placed you completed assignments in them.

Developing Strategies to Remember Your Homework

• As soon as you sit down, take your completed assignment out of its folder and place in on your desk in front of you. Keep it there until you are able to turn it in.
• Get an extra folder exclusively for completed assignments and keep it in the very front of your binder. This way, you’ll be reminded of your completed assignments whenever you access any of your class materials.

• Always write down all of your homework assignments as soon as you are made aware of them. Be extremely detailed with the information you include. For example, jot down the chapters or page numbers of the textbooks or other materials associated with each assignment.
• If your class has a syllabus or course schedule, enter all of the included due dates into your personal planner.
• Include information regarding time slots you will not be able to work on homework, such as music or sports team practices, a babysitting gig, or family meals.

• Tangible planners are easier to update with quick additions or edits.
• It’s always satisfying to cross a completed assignment off with an actual writing utensil.
• Day planners are more appropriate for in-class use. Since you’ll often be assigned homework in class, and want to enter new assignments immediately, this is a particularly important factor.

• Another great source of reminders is your teacher. If you struggle to remember to bring your homework to class, talk to your teacher about it. Your teachers will likely have some helpful advice, and can even remind you the day before homework assignments are due.
• Your teachers will likely remind the whole class if you ask them to start reminding you, which may help your classmates remember their homework too!
• Alternatively, find a friend who will be sure to hold you accountable and remind you what needs to be done.

Using Your Time More Efficiently

• Think about how long it will take you to complete assignments and plan accordingly.
• Schedule specific portions of larger projects separately.
• If you struggle with finding large enough time slots to complete your homework, recognize that you need to make the time to do so. For instance, if you spend a good portion of each evening socializing with friends (online or in person), do all of your homework before you go out or get online.

• Kick starting your day will increase your productivity generally and prepare you for more efficient homework sessions. [2] X Research source
• Stick with it. If you get in the habit of getting up a bit earlier, you’ll likely start going to bed earlier as well.
• Don’t fall into the trap of staying up late working on homework, as your focus and productivity is greatly diminished late at night.
• Don’t procrastinate your homework and try to finish it when you wake up in the morning. It will make your day more stressful and ruin your previous night’s sleep.

• Wear headphones and sit facing a wall if you’re prone to visual distraction.
• Remind yourself that getting your homework done during school hours allows you to do whatever you want in your free time, including hang out with friends.

• If you are ever unsure of an assignment, ask your teacher about it as soon as you have a question.
• Get a jumpstart on weekend homework on Thursday or Friday. If you know you’re going to need to do some homework over the weekend, try to get it done earlier so you can relax and enjoy yourself over the weekend as well.
• Do not leave all of your weekend homework for Sunday.
• Try to plan weekend social activities for Saturday, and dedicate at least a few hours of Friday evening to schoolwork. If you do end up with plans on a Friday night, make sure you set aside a few hours on Saturday to work on homework.

Staying Focused on Your Homework

• Try studying in different environments to find the one that allows you to focus the best.
• Avoid screens, especially TVs. This includes your phone. Put your phone in your bag and leave it there. Only check it during scheduled breaks.
• Wear headphones (or earplugs). Whether in a library or coffee shop, headphones will help reduce the frequency of auditory distractions. Choose music that does not have lyrics, and is more ambient than bass-driven. Think “background music” when you’re making your selection, but know that you can still listen to music you enjoy.
• If you’re studying at home, try to use a room in which you won’t be interrupted by family members or roommates. Let others know you intend to work on homework for a certain amount of time, and ask them to let you be.

• The company of a friend can keep you from wondering what everybody else is up to, and can even make doing your homework feel like hanging out.
• Avoid studying with friends who tend to interrupt a lot, or who have trouble focusing themselves. You can hang with whoever you want once your work is done!

• Include a healthy snack, as well as a water bottle. Not having to get up for sustenance will keep you grinding through your homework for a longer period of time.
• Don’t forget sticky notes. They’re weirdly helpful. Use them as visual reminders of important things to remember, and to keep pages in books you’re studying or otherwise referencing frequently.

• Computers can also help you organize. Familiarize yourself with web-based storage systems like Google Drive and Dropbox. These will allow you to save and access files from anywhere you have internet access. [3] X Research source
• Use a flash drive too. Save all electronic files to both a web-based storage system and a thumb drive. Keep the drive with you at all times. (Get a thumb drive with a keychain attachment!) This way, even if you forget your hard copy, you can print another at school and eliminate the unfortunate “I forgot my homework” scenario.

• Try a 10 minute break after every 50 minutes of focused work.
• Use these breaks to go for a short walk, use the washroom, do a brief physical exercise (like stretching, push-ups, or jumping jacks), or to get a simple chore out of the way.
• Do not allow yourself to get distracted by activities that will prevent you from going back to work or will get your mind out of study mode. For instance, don’t call someone you haven’t spoken with in a while or sit down with friends who are hanging out but not studying.
• Reward yourself when completing assignments – but not before. If you’ve been itching for a bowl of ice cream, don’t dive into the freezer during a break. Instead, enjoy the ice cream once your homework is done for the evening and you can focus all of your attention – or none at all – on every bite.

Community Q&A

• If you’re doing your best to organize, plan, and focus on your homework, but are still struggling to get it all done, talk to a school counselor or your parents. School counselors, in particular, are trained to help students, and they will be happy to work with you on strategies and options to improve your ability to succeed in school. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 1

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Why it’s hard for students to “just turn in” missing assignments, and how to get them unstuck

Mar 29, 2023 | Blog

With the end of the semester on the horizon, many students may feel overwhelmed by low grades or feeling behind in some of their classes.

As a parent, it can be stressful to see that your student has overdue work, or get notifications from their teacher that they’re missing assignments. 

It’s even more frustrating when you’ve told them over and over again how important it is to “just turn it in”…but the work is still showing up as missing.

The reality is that no matter how simple it might seem to an outside observer, doing missing work is almost never as easy as “just getting it done.” If they haven’t done the work yet, there’s a good chance that something is getting in their way. 

If you can figure out what the problem is before jumping in to help them (or make them) do the work, you’ll dramatically increase your chances of success.

In our experience, there are usually 3 main reasons students resist submitting their missing work…even when it seems like “just turning it in” would be SO much easier!

Reason 1: They think it won’t make a difference

Once the due date for an assignment has passed, students often de-prioritize it and move on to focus on upcoming assignments instead. It’s tempting for students to justify this by thinking “there are lots of other assignments, missing one or two won’t matter.”

But what they often don’t realize is that because of the way most grading scales are weighted, even one or two zeros can have an enormous impact on their grade. Showing students the difference it makes to turn in just a few assignments can increase their motivation to get the work done. 

Here’s an example of the difference it can make to turn in just a few missing assignments before the end of the semester:

Overall grade with 3 missing assignments: 78.3%

Overall grade when assignments are turned in: 90.1%

It’s hard for students to calculate these averages in their head, so it can be really powerful for them to run the numbers and see firsthand exactly how much they have to gain from making up their missing assignments.

When we do calculations like this with our students, they are almost always surprised by how much this makeup work could improve their grades, and feel much more motivated to submit the assignments when they can see for themselves the difference it will make.

Reason 2: They think it’s too late

Another reason students often resist doing makeup work is that they think it’s too late to get credit for it. 

Even if they’ve done the math and know that submitting the work would make a difference in their grade, they still won’t want to turn it in if they think the teacher won’t accept it.

Especially for introverted or anxious students, it can be very intimidating to have conversations with their teachers. They might think they’ll get in trouble for asking to submit their work late, or worry that the teacher will say “no.”

The good news is that many teachers are flexible with their late work policies and allow students to turn in overdue assignments even when it is past the “official” deadline to submit them.

So if students can find the courage to ask for help, there is a good chance that their teachers will respond positively and allow them an opportunity to make up the work.

For students who are struggling to reach out to teachers, we often find it is helpful to roleplay these conversations in coaching sessions if they’re not sure what to say, or work with them to email their teachers if they’re not sure what to say.

Reason 3: They feel overwhelmed

Students who are behind on their work often have challenges keeping track of due dates, managing time, breaking down complex assignments, prioritizing work, staying focused, or following through with plans….which is why they fell behind in the first place. 

These challenges can become even more daunting when they are behind in their classes, and trying to complete makeup assignments on top of their normal workload.

This can feel so stressful that a lot of students avoid or put off doing makeup work even when they   know   how much it would improve their grade.

For these students to get their work submitted, it’s essential to help them find ways to…

• Break down the assignments so they have a realistic plan for getting the work done that they’re confident they can actually follow through with
• Lower the stress they feel while they are doing the work so they will be less tempted to avoid it
• Visualize the progress they are making so they can see that their efforts are making a difference

Providing support

When students have a lot of makeup work to complete, having some additional support to help them work through it can be invaluable. 

For some students, this may mean finding a tutor to help them with the content they didn’t understand when their teacher was first presenting the material. 

For other students, having a family member or friend nearby as a source of moral support to keep them company while they are working (and a motivating reward to look forward to as soon as the work is completed) can be enormously helpful.

Other students may benefit from working with an academic coach to help them get unstuck and started on their missing work. Sometimes, having someone else who is not a family member step in to help can reduce stress and conflict at home and make it easier for students to take the steps they need to get back on track in their classes. If you think this type of support would be helpful for your student, please feel free to reach out and we’ll be happy to help! 

Why Kids with ADHD Can Be So Forgetful

Working memory deficits are common in adhd. these strategies can help..

Posted August 15, 2022 | Reviewed by Devon Frye

• What Is ADHD?
• Take our ADHD Test
• Find counselling to overcome ADHD
• Working memory is critical for focus and following instructions.
• Due to deficits in executive functioning, children with ADHD often struggle with working memory.
• Some simple strategies can help improve working memory function in children with ADHD.

Why does my ADHD son think his memory is perfect? Maybe it’s because he doesn’t know what he is forgetting.

I’ll admit when it comes to my son, I have an obsession with neon-colored sticky notes. I have been known to put those colorful reminders everywhere—on my son’s school folders, his desk, even the bathroom mirror—reminding him to put his laundry into the hamper, turn in his schoolwork, and practice piano. I thought maybe his ADHD brain would pay attention to the bright neon colors.

Nope. My son’s working memory simply doesn’t work. So, what is working memory and what does it have to do with ADHD?

Working Memory Deficits in ADHD

A key component to why your ADHD child may seem distracted and forgetful is working memory, our most immediate form of memory. Due to executive functioning deficits, ADHD brains tend to struggle with working memory, which helps you to keep information in your brain until you need to use it.

For example, you use your working memory when you solve a math problem. Consider the problem 4 + 5 + 10. First, you calculate 4 + 5 = 9—then, using working memory to keep the number 9 in your brain, add 10 to get 9 + 10 = 19. Working memory is also important when you are following a series of steps, like a recipe, so you know what steps were already completed.

With regard to ADHD, working memory is important for helping kids to pay attention and follow instructions—all the things teachers and parents like them to do. But children with ADHD can forget what they were supposed to be paying attention to since the important information held in their working memory can easily be replaced by other stimuli, like a favorite activity.

See if this scenario sounds familiar. Your ADHD child is engrossed in some activity of his/her choosing, like a video game, and you give him/her a 15-minute warning to get ready for soccer practice. When you check on your child 15 minutes later, you find he/she has not moved, and you are now going to be late to practice.

Kids with ADHD have trouble stopping behaviors that are inappropriate at the time (playing a computer game) to focus on appropriate behaviors (getting ready for soccer practice), since they can easily forget what they are supposed to be doing.

Strategies to Improve Working Memory

My son, now a freshman in college, was diagnosed with ADHD in third grade. Over the years, several strategies proved useful for helping his working memory:

• Breaking down big tasks into very specific parts so his brain doesn’t get overwhelmed, and he has an easier time remembering what needs to be done.
• In middle school, my son had a special folder for homework assignments that needed to be turned in to the teacher the following day. I would like to say that he diligently checked the folder at the end of the school day to make sure it was empty, but I try to live in the real world of ADHD. Even so, this strategy did help to decrease the number of his missing and late assignments since he only had to remember to check one folder.
• Having a place for important items like his backpack, trumpet, and car keys helped to streamline weekday mornings. As a result, my son was more likely to be on time to school since he didn’t have to spend already hectic mornings searching for and trying to remember where he put things.
• Making sure I have my son’s full attention before I ask him to do something is critical if I want him to remember it. If my son is focusing on an activity he likes to do, what I am asking will go in one ear and out the other.
• My son finally decided to use a paper planner in high school after several years of my gentle nudging—OK, nagging—explaining that if he wrote things down, and saw them, his working memory wouldn’t have to work so hard to remember. His planner was always filled with lots of cool doodles of rocket ships but never any homework assignments. He has gone through dozens of planners, electronic and traditional paper ones, and whiteboard calendars. Typical of his novelty-seeking ADHD brain, the planners were used for a week or two then abandoned (maybe I can pile them up to use as a plant stand). When my son started using a planner in high school, writing down everything including school assignments and other activities, he eventually gave in and agreed that it was indeed helpful for keeping him on top of assignments in school and planning out his time efficiently.

Maybe it’s time to put away the neon-colored sticky notes. And if anyone needs a planner, I will be happy to oblige.

Kristin Wilcox, Ph.D. , is the author of Andrew's Awesome Adventures with His ADHD Brain . She has studied ADHD medications and drug abuse behavior at Emory University and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

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Why some kids are so forgetful

By The Understood Team

Expert reviewed by Elizabeth Harstad, MD, MPH

Quick tips when kids are forgetful

Quick tip 1.

If you’re frustrated, take a deep breath before you respond or give a reminder. Focus on the concern (“You still have things to put away”), not on how it impacts you (“I’m tired of reminding you”).

Quick tip 2

Take a brain break..

Give kids a quick break to clear their head. Two minutes of stretching or deep breathing can help them focus on new information.

Quick tip 3

Make memorizing fun..

When kids need to remember something, have them sing it, say it, write it with markers — many times in a row.

We all forget things from time to time. What were the three things I needed to get at the store?  

But some kids seem to forget things all the time, including what they were just asked to do. They might have trouble following directions and remembering lists.

This can be very frustrating — not just for the kids, but for the adults around them. Parents, caregivers, and teachers may feel like they’re constantly repeating themselves and giving reminders. And they may wonder what’s going on.

There are many reasons kids are forgetful, including stress and lack of sleep. Being hungry can also have a big impact. But sometimes when kids have trouble remembering information, they may be struggling with a skill called working memory.

Dive deeper

What causes trouble with working memory.

Working memory is like a temporary sticky note in our brain. It holds new information in place so the brain can work with it and connect it with other information.

Working memory is part of a group of mental skills called executive function . Trouble with it can affect people in lots of ways. For example, it can make it hard to follow directions or remember something you just heard or read.

These types of challenges can be signs of ADHD. That’s because ADHD is a problem of executive function. See a detailed list of signs of ADHD .

When kids feel stressed out, they may have trouble remembering things. Exercise and relaxation techniques can help — from jumping jacks to deep breathing. Playing can reduce stress, too. Learn the difference between good stress and bad stress for kids .

If forgetfulness is ongoing, talk to someone about what you’re seeing. Parent-teacher communication is key. It’s important to ask kids what they’re experiencing, too. Have they noticed they’re forgetting things? How does that make them feel? Opening a dialogue can help you understand why it’s happening, and how to help.

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When ADHD Behavior Prevents Good Grades

“my professors say my ideas are great, but my grades suffer because i hand in my assignments late. do you have any suggestions”.

A: To change your ADHD behavior, you must start placing as much value on the timeliness of your assignments as you do on their overall quality. List the characteristics that make you proud of your work-original, unconventional, and so on – and add ‘completed on time’ to that list.

In addition, set deadlines for completing portions of each assignment , rather than thinking only of the project’s final due date.

Schedule appointments with your professors to get feedback about your ideas, discuss an outline, or review your progress. This helps hold you accountable – and show your professors that you’ve gotten serious about meeting deadlines.

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4 strategies to get those missing assignments turned in

Published: May 13, 2022

As we get closer and closer to the end of the school year, it happens as reliably as the changing of the seasons—students notice the late, missing, or forgotten assignments that might have a real impact on their grade.

Sound familiar?

Most teachers spend too much valuable time toward the end of the school year reminding students about their missing assignments. This process doesn’t have to be time-consuming or painful though.

Here are 3 simple and repeatable tips to help classroom teachers encourage students to—finally—submit those late, missing, or forgotten assignments.

1. Help students manage their own assignment completion

There’s no better way to promote accountability than to help students to keep track of and manage their own assignments list. LMS tools like Schoology or Google Classroom make the process easier than ever before.

With clear assignment instructions and due dates, every student can log into their LMS and see a clean list of which assignments have been turned in, and which are still outstanding—even if they miss a class!

2. Get parents, families, and caregivers on board to help keep students on track

One of the best ways to keep students from getting too far behind is to recruit the champions they have outside school. When parents and guardians are kept in the loop about the assignments that are upcoming—along with expectations and due dates—they can help students avoid missing assignments well before the due date.

Keeping parents and guardians aware when assignments become late or get entered as missing increases the likelihood that assignment will get completed too. The Parent/Guardian Portal in Schoolytics gives parents and guardians easy access to student assignments in each of their classes. There are even reminders you can automate when an assignment is late or counted missing.

3. Send automated reminders when assignments are past due

You know what they say about an ounce of prevention…

Setting up a Schoolytics account and syncing it with your Google Classroom ( remember: it’s free to sign up! ) lets teachers set up an automated report of late or missing assignments. You never have to click into each Classroom for assignment details!

You can even set up automatic reports for late or missing assignments—Friday late work roundup anyone? And now you can send a bulk reminder to every student with a link to their missing work.

4. Try a new communication method

Each generation of students is more online than the last, and Gen Z is spending most of its time on video-forward platforms like YouTube and TikTok. As teachers, we can either fight this reality or lean into it in our communication with students.

The good news is that the rise of online video has coincided with the advent of easy-to-use video creation tools, making it easier than ever to create engaging videos for free. Tools like Veed are great for trimming videos and testing your webcam to ensure you get the perfect take to keep students engaged and on top of their assignments.

In conclusion...

These interventions make it quick and simple to keep students on track for assignment completion. And they reduce the headache for teachers to have to manage chasing down late or missing assignments.

Have any other tips for helping keep late and missing assignments under control? Let us know on Twitter at @Schoolytics

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Why we can’t remember what we learn and what to do about it

Time is the enemy of memory – we naturally start forgetting almost as soon as we learn something new.

While our ability to store new information isn’t limited, our ability to access that information is limited by a variety of factors. However, a relatively easy technique has been proven to boost retention of learned materials: spaced repetition. Spaced repetition can be applied by any instructor to improve student learning outcomes in the long term [1] .

A history of forgetting

In the 1880s, German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus became fascinated with the science of forgetting. He theorized that forgetting is related to the passage of time. Setting out to prove this theory, he threw himself into a multi-year systematized study that tracked memory decay over time.

To understand how decay worked, Ebbinghaus created 2,300 nonsense sounds ( rur , mek , hek ) and memorized these, testing himself and varying the duration and number of practice sessions. By keeping track of how many times he had to rehearse each list of words and for how long, over many years, Ebbinghaus created the forgetting curve , a graph of memory loss over time [2] . The forgetting curve shows us that we forget most of what we learn in the first day, and our memory decays over time unless we practice what we learn at intervals. Ebbinghaus kept track of how long it took him to commit his nonsense words to memory, creating an equation, later plotted as a graph [3] .

The Ebbinghaus forgetting curve of nonsense words

Source: Erdelyi, M. H. (2010). The ups and downs of memory. American psychologist, 65(7), 623.

Ebbinghaus was the first to study memory by applying quantitative methods. While his study isn’t perfect, his careful measurements kicked off the study of memory using a clear methodology and did a lot to advance the field of psychology as a quantitative science. In the intervening years, other psychologists have assessed and modified his theory and worked to understand the relationship between forgetting and learning [4] .

Spaced repetition is a way of overcoming the forgetting curve

What we know. We know that multiple studies of spaced repetition (or spacing out study sessions) show that spaced repetition is a powerful way to remember something in the long term. Studies spanning grade school students to college students, using a variety of techniques – from studying word pairs to studying sophisticated biology concepts – show that students who used the spaced repetition technique outperformed students who crammed (or studied the material only once) [5] . Even in tests of transfer, in which students made inferences and applied what they learned in one setting to another, the students who took part in the spaced repetition conditions did better than those who crammed.

Most students cram for tests. It seems like the intuitive thing to do and it calls for far less planning. And cramming works, but only in the short term. Students will remember what they learned for the test the next day, but when tested a month or a year later, students who crammed will have a lot of trouble accessing the material. Since the goal of learning is to build on what you know and transfer that knowledge to new situations, students who do not use the spaced repetition technique, are placing themselves at a disadvantage.

What we don’t know. Optimal spaced repetition allows memory to decay a little bit before reactivating it through study [6] . Rather counterintuitively, some forgetting has to happen for spaced repetition to be productive. When students cram, or even use too short intervals between study sessions, their memory is still active, and restudying doesn’t activate it. However, when the intervals between practice sessions are too long, the memory cannot be retrieved [7] .

While numerous studies show the benefits of spaced repetition, there is a lot we don’t know, including the optimal gap between spaced repetition sessions. Should they increase with every interval (going from one day between sessions, to one week, to one month)? Or should they remain the same? While the general consensus is that spaced repetition schedules should involve wide spacing, we don’t know the optimal spacing for every circumstance; there is no strong evidence that one schedule of spaced repetition is better than another [8] . While the timing has yet to be optimized, spaced repetition remains one of the most powerful, and long-term learning techniques that we can easily deploy. The key is recognizing the impact of the technique and putting it into practice.

What you should do. Instructors can address the problem of the forgetting curve and take advantage of spaced repetition using a process called interleaving. Interleaving introduces spacing of topics so that topics are not just covered consecutively but make an appearance in other lessons, assignments, or tests. When you interleave your topics, students have to continually adapt to each new topic and recall what they learned in previous classes. This prompts students to both actively retrieve previously learned information and surface connections or relationships between related ideas [9] .

You can include spaced repetition in your course by interleaving what you teach:

• Time your lessons so that you cover some of one topic, move on to another, and then get back to the original material.
• Design your exams and quizzes so that they cover more than one topic or set of related materials. Let your students know that you are doing this so that they know that they should study not just one topic but multiple topics, reactivating their memory of previous lessons.
• Insert previously covered material into current lessons. This can be as simple as cold calling on students and asking them to make the connection: how does this concept connect to a previous concept?
• Design your assignments with curricular connections in mind. Ask students to connect several concepts studied and explicitly refer to earlier concepts in their assignments.

Talk to your students about the benefits of spaced repetition. Show them the forgetting curve and tell them that for long-term retention, cramming is not a good idea. Spaced repetition will allow them to access what they learned so that they can use it when it counts: on tests and at work.

For a fun and interactive look at spaced repetition, check out Nicky Case’s How to Remember Everything Forever-ish

Bjork, E. L., & Bjork, R. A. (2011). Making things hard on yourself, but in a good way: Creating desirable difficulties to enhance learning. Psychology and the real world: Essays illustrating fundamental contributions to society, 2(59-68).

Carey, B. (2015). How we learn: the surprising truth about when, where, and why it happens. Random House Trade Paperbacks.

Carpenter, S. K., Cepeda, N. J., Rohrer, D., Kang, S. H., & Pashler, H. (2012). Using spacing to enhance diverse forms of learning: Review of recent research and implications for instruction. Educational Psychology Review, 24(3), 369-378.

Smolen, P., Zhang, Y., & Byrne, J. H. (2016). The right time to learn: mechanisms and optimization of spaced learning. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 17(2), 77.

Byrne, J. H. (2017). Learning and memory: a comprehensive reference. Academic Press.

Bjork, R. A., Dunlosky, J., & Kornell, N. (2013). Self-regulated learning: Beliefs, techniques, and illusions. Annual review of psychology, 64, 417-444.

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How to Cure a Forgetful Kid

This is a question I got from a mother:

I have a 13-year-old son who is a forgetful kid. I ask him to bring notes from school and he forgets them. He forgets his homework, he forgets to bring messages from school, he forgets he has a test, he forgets we have plans in the family.

I talked to his teachers and we agreed to communicate between us but he keeps forgetting his communication book. I feel lost and I do not understand why he is so forgetful in things that are important and remembers his computer stuff well.

What can I do?

This is not forgetting because of a memory problem. You can tell he remembers so many other things…

When kids keep forgetting things that are important to them , this is the sign there is a memory problem. When they forget things others want from them, this is more of an indication of lack of motivation .

Kids forget things if remembering them may be painful. They will forget to unload the dishwasher every time, because they do not like to do it. On the other hand, they remember easy, fun things. Tell them you will bring them a present and they will remind you every day until you bring it.

Also, in life, you get what you focus on . If you focus on forgetting, you will create a forgetful kid. If you focus on remembering, your child will remember things well.

Rule #1 – Use positive language

Do not use the word “forget”. In fact, ignore acts of forgetfulness as if they never happened. Whatever happens, do not label your child .

Instead, focus on remembering. Say, “Did you remember to bring this home?” or “Please remember to bring this home today”. Be patient, as this will take time. It takes about 3 weeks for the brain to switch from an old habit (forgetting) to and cement a new on (remembering).

[Read more about using positive language ]

Rule #2 – Reward the desired behavior

At least twice a day, find something he remembered and say “It’s great you remembered to bring this home”, “I’m proud of you for remembering to bring this home today. You have really good memory”. Praise even tiny things, like “I see you’ve remembered to clear your schoolbag” or “I’m so happy you remembered to call me when you knew you were coming late”.

Rule #3 – Be direct and supportive

As angry and frustrated as you may be, avoid sarcasm. Do not say, “Lucky you didn’t forget your head” or anything like that. First, it contradicts rule #1 of using positive language and second, it is aggression in disguise.

You are helping your child develop good, responsible habits. Showing your frustration says to him, “I want you to remember for me”, which is external motivation.

To develop his internal motivation to remember, see yourself beside your son, the two of you looking and going in the same direction, slowly but surely. If you are there for him, he will do the best for both of you.

When he forgets something, say “That’s OK, it happens”, “It’s happened to me too”, “I know how it feels”, “You’ll learn from it” or “Next time you’ll remember”. Statements like these will make him feel that he is OK and that forgetting is not a state of being but an incident that you can learn from and make things better the next time.

Rule #4 – Teach him how to remember

The opposite of forgetting is writing down Danny Heimann

Make it worthwhile for him to remember the list. Put it in a good place and go over it with him. Always look for something he will benefit from. Use what he loves (something related to the computer is a good start, if he loves computers) to reward him for remembering.

Be creative. If he feels comfortable with the computer, suggest using the computer for keeping the list and maybe getting reminders.

Happy parenting, Ronit

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How to Motivate Kids

This Is My Reality as a Student With Dyslexia

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I often wake up to my alarm after a short night and step out of bed to a day I’ve fought through countless times. I rush my morning routine and sprint to my car to avoid being late. My radio switches to my favorite song, but I have other obligations—an audible book for an assignment due tomorrow. I’m only halfway through.

When I get to school, I start with Spanish, my hardest class. Despite being around all year, I have no clue what’s going on. This isn’t my fault—I’ve done what I can to stay afloat—perhaps something about how I learn just isn’t a match.

I then walk to Advanced Placement U.S. History, which I was told would be my hardest class. Here, I am in my element. Despite being three assignments behind, I’m actively engaged. Yes, my passion for history sparks my focus, but my teacher’s willingness to work with me and accommodate is what allows me to flourish.

In English, my mind is bogged down to its most rudimentary systems. The assignments take a certain amount of energy that my perfectionist nature is unable to take on in such an environment, and so I save them for later. After school, I have track practice or a meet, in which I stay until sunset pushing my body to its full extent. I get home for dinner and start my homework as soon as I can: 8:00 p.m.

This is my reality as a student with dyslexia: assignments that take three times as long as they’re meant to, late nights and early mornings to even slightly keep up with my classes, and teachers who think I’m just lazy despite the overwhelming workload.

The truth is that this disability manifests when there is a mismatch between teaching and learning styles. As a kid, I could not access the way reading was taught in school. I had to seek private, specialized reading instruction that my brain could comprehend.

There are ways of teaching that could work for everyone, based on the science of reading, but this wasn’t the practice at the time. Now, many schools are shifting to a research-based approach in early literacy instruction that meets the needs of all kids. However, advocacy work can still be done to support the educational experience of students with dyslexia.

A bias against learning differences remains prevalent in many classrooms. It is for that reason that in a difficult class like AP U.S. History, which involves hours of reading and writing, I’m able to excel, compared with a moderately less rigorous classes in which I struggle. It comes down to how the lessons are structured.

Teachers need to be aware that certain styles of teaching don’t work for every kid and they need to offer alternative structures that make learning more accessible. I’ve had teachers who teach exclusively lecture-based classes where students are expected to take notes and listen. As a student who is unable to take notes because of my disability, this doesn’t work. A fix for that is as simple as providing alternative resources alongside the lectures: a worksheet to follow along with, a slide show students can go back to after class, or perhaps even an activity that further plays with the concepts.

Many of these alternate resources can be guaranteed by federally mandated 504 plans; however, if someone is unable to access constant support from family and outside services like I was fortunate enough to have, 504 plans may not be enough. Education that is inequitable in structure leads many students to struggle anyway. We need to shift our thinking from creating accommodations that patch over the flaws in our current system to instead designing classrooms that create universal access for all types of learners.

This can prevent students from being sucked into academic tracks that don’t push them to their full intellectual potential—if school systems are willing to provide support and education by creating an equitable and accessible class structure from the start.

Everyone is different in the way they process information and learn. If we only teach content in one way, we are discriminating against students whose brains work differently. We must take note of this bias and implement more accessible instruction in classrooms to guarantee these students the right to their deserved future.

I have an invisible disability. It exists from 8:40 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. It’s brought into reality by the biased nature of our current educational system. I am going to graduate soon and move on. I’ll be fine.

But I don’t want you to forget the 3rd grade versions of me who may not have people in their life advocating for them. If we acknowledge these inequities, we can formulate more productive structures that can help all students equally.

We must provide education that works for everyone because we don’t want these students to be sucked down into a track that prevents them from engaging in the academics that push them to their full potential. These are smart kids who just happen to learn differently. Why would we make them suffer in school for something they cannot control?

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What Kamala Harris has said so far on key issues in her campaign

As she ramps up her nascent presidential campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris is revealing how she will address the key issues facing the nation.

In speeches and rallies, she has voiced support for continuing many of President Joe Biden’s measures, such as lowering drug costs , forgiving student loan debt and eliminating so-called junk fees. But Harris has made it clear that she has her own views on some key matters, particularly Israel’s treatment of Gazans in its war with Hamas.

In a departure from her presidential run in 2020, the Harris campaign has confirmed that she’s moved away from many of her more progressive stances, such as her interest in a single-payer health insurance system and a ban on fracking.

Harris is also expected to put her own stamp and style on matters ranging from abortion to the economy to immigration, as she aims to walk a fine line of taking credit for the administration’s accomplishments while not being jointly blamed by voters for its shortcomings.

Her early presidential campaign speeches have offered insights into her priorities, though she’s mainly voiced general talking points and has yet to release more nuanced plans. Like Biden, she intends to contrast her vision for America with that of former President Donald Trump. ( See Trump’s campaign promises here .)

“In this moment, I believe we face a choice between two different visions for our nation: one focused on the future, the other focused on the past,” she told members of the historically Black sorority Zeta Phi Beta at an event in Indianapolis in late July. “And with your support, I am fighting for our nation’s future.”

Here’s what we know about Harris’ views:

Harris took on the lead role of championing abortion rights for the administration after Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022. This past January, she started a “ reproductive freedoms tour ” to multiple states, including a stop in Minnesota thought to be the first by a sitting US president or vice president at an abortion clinic .

On abortion access, Harris embraced more progressive policies than Biden in the 2020 campaign, as a candidate criticizing his previous support for the Hyde Amendment , a measure that blocks federal funds from being used for most abortions.

Policy experts suggested that although Harris’ current policies on abortion and reproductive rights may not differ significantly from Biden’s, as a result of her national tour and her own focus on maternal health , she may be a stronger messenger.

High prices are a top concern for many Americans who are struggling to afford the cost of living after a spell of steep inflation. Many voters give Biden poor marks for his handling of the economy, and Harris may also face their wrath.

In her early campaign speeches, Harris has echoed many of the same themes as Biden, saying she wants to give Americans more opportunities to get ahead. She’s particularly concerned about making care – health care, child care, elder care and family leave – more affordable and available.

Harris promised at a late July rally to continue the Biden administration’s drive to eliminate so-called “junk fees” and to fully disclose all charges, such as for events, lodging and car rentals. In early August, the administration proposed a rule that would ban airlines from charging parents extra fees to have their kids sit next to them.

On day one, I will take on price gouging and bring down costs. We will ban more of those hidden fees and surprise late charges that banks and other companies use to pad their profits.”

Since becoming vice president, Harris has taken more moderate positions, but a look at her 2020 campaign promises reveals a more progressive bent than Biden.

As a senator and 2020 presidential candidate, Harris proposed providing middle-class and working families with a refundable tax credit of up to $6,000 a year (per couple) to help keep up with living expenses. Titled the LIFT the Middle Class Act, or Livable Incomes for Families Today, the measure would have cost at the time an estimated $3 trillion over 10 years.

Unlike a typical tax credit, the bill would allow taxpayers to receive the benefit – up to $500 – on a monthly basis so families don’t have to turn to payday loans with very high interest rates.

As a presidential candidate, Harris also advocated for raising the corporate income tax rate to 35%, where it was before the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that Trump and congressional Republicans pushed through Congress reduced the rate to 21%. That’s higher than the 28% Biden has proposed.

Affordable housing was also on Harris’ radar. As a senator, she introduced the Rent Relief Act, which would establish a refundable tax credit for renters who annually spend more than 30% of their gross income on rent and utilities. The amount of the credit would range from 25% to 100% of the excess rent, depending on the renter’s income.

Harris called housing a human right and said in a 2019 news release on the bill that every American deserves to have basic security and dignity in their own home.

Consumer debt

Hefty debt loads, which weigh on people’s finances and hurt their ability to buy homes, get car loans or start small businesses, are also an area of interest to Harris.

As vice president, she has promoted the Biden administration’s initiatives on student debt, which have so far forgiven more than $168 billion for nearly 4.8 million borrowers . In mid-July, Harris said in a post on X that “nearly 950,000 public servants have benefitted” from student debt forgiveness, compared with only 7,000 when Biden was inaugurated.

A potential Harris administration could keep that momentum going – though some of Biden’s efforts have gotten tangled up in litigation, such as a program aimed at cutting monthly student loan payments for roughly 3 million borrowers enrolled in a repayment plan the administration implemented last year.

The vice president has also been a leader in the White House efforts to ban medical debt from credit reports, noting that those with medical debt are no less likely to repay a loan than those who don’t have unpaid medical bills.

In a late July statement praising North Carolina’s move to relieve the medical debt of about 2 million residents, Harris said that she is “committed to continuing to relieve the burden of medical debt and creating a future where every person has the opportunity to build wealth and thrive.”

Health care

Harris, who has had shifting stances on health care in the past, confirmed in late July through her campaign that she no longer supports a single-payer health care system .

During her 2020 campaign, Harris advocated for shifting the US to a government-backed health insurance system but stopped short of wanting to completely eliminate private insurance.

The measure called for transitioning to a Medicare-for-All-type system over 10 years but continuing to allow private insurance companies to offer Medicare plans.

The proposal would not have raised taxes on the middle class to pay for the coverage expansion. Instead, it would raise the needed funds by taxing Wall Street trades and transactions and changing the taxation of offshore corporate income.

When it comes to reducing drug costs, Harris previously proposed allowing the federal government to set “a fair price” for any drug sold at a cheaper price in any economically comparable country, including Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Japan or Australia. If manufacturers were found to be price gouging, the government could import their drugs from abroad or, in egregious cases, use its existing but never-used “march-in” authority to license a drug company’s patent to a rival that would produce the medication at a lower cost.

Harris has been a champion on climate and environmental justice for decades. As California’s attorney general, Harris sued big oil companies like BP and ConocoPhillips, and investigated Exxon Mobil for its role in climate change disinformation. While in the Senate, she sponsored the Green New Deal resolution.

During her 2020 campaign, she enthusiastically supported a ban on fracking — but a Harris campaign official said in late July that she no longer supports such a ban.

Fracking is the process of using liquid to free natural gas from rock formations – and the primary mode for extracting gas for energy in battleground Pennsylvania. During a September 2019 climate crisis town hall hosted by CNN, she said she would start “with what we can do on Day 1 around public lands.” She walked that back later when she became Biden’s running mate.

Biden has been the most pro-climate president in history, and climate advocates find Harris to be an exciting candidate in her own right. Democrats and climate activists are planning to campaign on the stark contrasts between Harris and Trump , who vowed to push America decisively back to fossil fuels, promising to unwind Biden’s climate and clean energy legacy and pull America out of its global climate commitments.

If elected, one of the biggest climate goals Harris would have to craft early in her administration is how much the US would reduce its climate pollution by 2035 – a requirement of the Paris climate agreement .

Immigration

Harris has quickly started trying to counter Trump’s attacks on her immigration record.

Her campaign released a video in late July citing Harris’ support for increasing the number of Border Patrol agents and Trump’s successful push to scuttle a bipartisan immigration deal that included some of the toughest border security measures in recent memory.

The vice president has changed her position on border control since her 2020 campaign, when she suggested that Democrats needed to “critically examine” the role of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, after being asked whether she sided with those in the party arguing to abolish the department.

In June of this year, the White House announced a crackdown on asylum claims meant to continue reducing crossings at the US-Mexico border – a policy that Harris’ campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, indicated in late July to CBS News would continue under a Harris administration.

Trump’s attacks stem from Biden having tasked Harris with overseeing diplomatic efforts in Central America in March 2021. While Harris focused on long-term fixes, the Department of Homeland Security remained responsible for overseeing border security.

She has only occasionally talked about her efforts as the situation along the US-Mexico border became a political vulnerability for Biden. But she put her own stamp on the administration’s efforts, engaging the private sector.

Harris pulled together the Partnership for Central America, which has acted as a liaison between companies and the US government. Her team and the partnership are closely coordinating on initiatives that have led to job creation in the region. Harris has also engaged directly with foreign leaders in the region.

Experts credit Harris’ ability to secure private-sector investments as her most visible action in the region to date but have cautioned about the long-term durability of those investments.

Israel-Hamas

The Israel-Hamas war is the most fraught foreign policy issue facing the country and has spurred a multitude of protests around the US since it began in October.

After meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in late July, Harris gave a forceful and notable speech about the situation in Gaza.

We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering. And I will not be silent.”

Harris echoed Biden’s repeated comments about the “ironclad support” and “unwavering commitment” to Israel. The country has a right to defend itself, she said, while noting, “how it does so, matters.”

However, the empathy she expressed regarding the Palestinian plight and suffering was far more forceful than what Biden has said on the matter in recent months. Harris mentioned twice the “serious concern” she expressed to Netanyahu about the civilian deaths in Gaza, the humanitarian situation and destruction she called “catastrophic” and “devastating.”

She went on to describe “the images of dead children and desperate hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third or fourth time.”

Harris emphasized the need to get the Israeli hostages back from Hamas captivity, naming the eight Israeli-American hostages – three of whom have been killed.

But when describing the ceasefire deal in the works, she didn’t highlight the hostage for prisoner exchange or aid to be let into Gaza. Instead, she singled out the fact that the deal stipulates the withdrawal by the Israeli military from populated areas in the first phase before withdrawing “entirely” from Gaza before “a permanent end to the hostilities.”

Harris didn’t preside over Netanyahu’s speech to Congress in late July, instead choosing to stick with a prescheduled trip to a sorority event in Indiana.

Harris is committed to supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression, having met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at least six times and announcing last month $1.5 billion for energy assistance, humanitarian needs and other aid for the war-torn country.

At the Munich Security Conference earlier this year, Harris said: “I will make clear President Joe Biden and I stand with Ukraine. In partnership with supportive, bipartisan majorities in both houses of the United States Congress, we will work to secure critical weapons and resources that Ukraine so badly needs. And let me be clear: The failure to do so would be a gift to Vladimir Putin.”

More broadly, NATO is central to our approach to global security. For President Biden and me, our sacred commitment to NATO remains ironclad. And I do believe, as I have said before, NATO is the greatest military alliance the world has ever known.”

Police funding

The Harris campaign has also walked back the “defund the police” sentiment that Harris voiced in 2020. What she meant is she supports being “tough and smart on crime,” Mitch Landrieu, national co-chair for the Harris campaign and former mayor of New Orleans, told CNN’s Pamela Brown in late July.

In the midst of nationwide 2020 protests sparked by George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer, Harris voiced support for the “defund the police” movement, which argues for redirecting funds from law enforcement to social services. Throughout that summer, Harris supported the movement and called for demilitarizing police departments.

Democrats largely backed away from calls to defund the police after Republicans attempted to tie the movement to increases in crime during the 2022 midterm elections.

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19 Facts About Tim Walz, Harris’s Pick for Vice President

Mr. Walz, the governor of Minnesota, worked as a high school social studies teacher and football coach, served in the Army National Guard and chooses Diet Mountain Dew over alcohol.

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By Simon J. Levien and Maggie Astor

• Published Aug. 6, 2024 Updated Aug. 9, 2024

Until recently, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota was a virtual unknown outside of the Midwest, even among Democrats. But his stock rose fast in the days after President Biden withdrew from the race, clearing a path for Ms. Harris to replace him and pick Mr. Walz as her No. 2.

Here’s a closer look at the Democrats’ new choice for vice president.

1. He is a (very recent) social media darling . Mr. Walz has enjoyed a groundswell of support online from users commenting on his Midwestern “dad vibes” and appealing ordinariness.

2. He started the whole “weird” thing. It was Mr. Walz who labeled former President Donald J. Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, “weird” on cable television just a couple of weeks ago. The description soon became a Democratic talking point.

3. He named a highway after Prince and signed the bill in purple ink. “I think we can lay to rest that this is the coolest bill signing we’ll ever do,” he said as he put his name on legislation declaring a stretch of Highway 5 the “Prince Rogers Nelson Memorial Highway” after the musician who had lived in Minnesota.

4. He reminds you of your high school history teacher for a reason. Mr. Walz taught high school social studies and geography — first in Alliance, Neb., and then in Mankato, Minn. — before entering politics.

5. He taught in China in 1989 and speaks some Mandarin. He went to China for a year after graduating from college and taught English there through a program affiliated with Harvard University.

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Forgot to turn assignment in even though I did it before due date 😭😭😭

Never though it was gona happen but it did!

Usually I get my assignment done but don't submit it until a day or so later so I can review it

Unfortunately my assignment was due last Friday, I already got it done way before the due date but sadly never turned it in that day :(

Today I got hit with a 0

I already sent email to the professor but I know with these things its hard to trust a student, because someone could miss the due date but use the excuse that they forgot to turn it and the professor wouldn't be able to tell if someone is lying or not...

Anyways, I know I will prob get hit with the "I have to be fair to every student" card so should I just accept this 0 and move on or have any of yall dealt with this and succeeded?

Its so embarrassing btw, when you work so hard on an assignment only to forget the easiest thing which is to turn it in on Cavas...

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