West Spring Blog No.1 - We're Online!

We have a brand new website to call our own. A prelude to our new school in 2005. Of course, the website will continue to undergo through various upgrades. Forums and tagboards and stuff but lets start here - the West Spring Blogs.

The exams are over now and the holidays are just round the corner? Before you go running around into the holidays and enjoy yourself silly (which you well deserve), take a step back to reflect about what’s happened this year. Reflections are a significant part of our routines to ensure we are performing at our highest performance levels.
Be true to yourself.

Ask yourself these questions

• What you have done right?
• What you’ve done wrong?And should not be repeated again.
• What could have been done better?
• What are the lessons learnt?
• What effective systems or routines you’d use next year to make sure 2005’s gonna be a great year for you?
  

Congratulations
For those of you who have done well, let me congratulate you for all the hard work you have put in this year. All your focused work, the sheer effort to pull through the assignments to meet datelines, the dedication to those meticulous pieces of assignments which received high grades, the art of being organized, concentrating in class, the inner belief that you are capable and strong, all the punctual submissions – all that and more to get that solid grade at the end of the year. It was well worth it wasn’t it ?!! Congratulations once more. You earned it. And no one can take that away from you.

If you had done mediocre (average) or not done too well, the time for serious reflection is here & now. Don’t bother asking yourself “Why have I not done well?” Stop redefining the problem!! Coz once you set the question in your mind, the brain automatically tells you 1001 reasons why you have not done well. And stop blaming everyone else.

Rather concentrate on the solutions.

• What can I do better to improve my grades?
• Who can I ask and seek help from?
• What are my goals for my subjects next year?
• What do I need to relearn and consolidate in order to make sure my mistakes are not repeated?
• How do I ensure my datelines met and on time?What are effective study strategies?
• Who can I role model after so I can achieve the same grade as him/her or better?
• How can I make learning fun for myself?
• How do I monitor my academic progress?
• How to ensure that my academic life, social lilfe, spiritual life is well balanced?

A pointer to everyone:
The 60 minutes you spend concentrating in class, putting in 100% effort, clarifying all your doubts is equivalent to 3 hrs at home trying to figure out the formulas and reading extra with 300% effort. A sheer waste of time and energy.

So rethink again about your study strategies. Be positive about your approach. I’d like to share with you the Adidas website which I found extremely fascinating and uplifting. The layout is great but more importantly, the stories of athletes who are the world’s best in what they do and their indomitable spirit to overcome the impossible through sheer believe and effort. Impossible is Nothing.

Let 2005 be a great year for all of us. The preparation starts now. We are a great school. Coz we believe.

MR RUDIE ASMARA
WestSpring BlogMaster