Dear year 7 students,

I am a grade 9 student requesting your help, this year I have been getting good grades and a good performance in school. I wrote this with the aim of helping me on how I can improve to start doing homework more often.

Sometimes, it is really tiring to do the homework when you are relaxed and happy. If any of you can help me achieve this goal of mine I would be very grateful. Also, I would also like to have some help in regards to some experiences I had in Canada. Sometimes I feel anxious crossing the street. It has been really hard.

Thank you for having the opportunity to analyse and help with my problem. 

All the best,

Year 9 student

Dear Y9 student,

 I understand your problem and I think it is actually really normal to feel overloaded with school, since I feel the same every time I have homework to do! I know how it feels to have boring activities, so I will do my best to help you. I realise how hard it is to do your challenging activities at home, especially the long ones. It is usually worse when you are feeling happy, relaxed and excited about something, as these experiences may cause anxiety, which may distract you from the work. But when you organise your time well, you feel less stressed while doing work. It's generally a good idea to manage your time, and stay calm while doing your homework.

 I see how you are feeling and I could observe two main problems, the first one, struggling with organising your time when you have to do your homework, mainly when you are feeling relaxed, happy, and tired. I'm sure it is something I think every student struggles with, since homework isn't the nicest thing to do.  And I also understand how experiences in other countries could cause anxiety when you come back to Brazil. You could try to create a homework schedule and choose a time during the day to do all your homework. By doing that I'm sure you will organise yourself better. This routine might help you develop a habit, making it easier to transition from doing something nice, to doing your homework. In addition, if you struggle with anxiety because of past experiences, make sure you respect the lights in the traffic, and always be careful, try doing vision and breathing exercises, and talk to adults or coordinates. When able to do it properly, it helps in so many ways to keep track of past activities and future ones too.  

Many students, including myself,  struggle with the transition from nice activities to focused study time. When you’re feeling relaxed, it can be difficult to do your homework, leading to a lot of procrastination and stress. To make this transition easier, one thing you could try is creating a cosy study environment with no distractions. Try finding a quiet space where you can organise your materials and sit in a comfortable chair. I'm sure it's going to be better. But mainly, I think you should really have a homework schedule, where you pick a time of your day. I recommend doing  it right after school, so you don't forget. If you finish your homework on time, you will have the opportunity to go out with your friends and have  fun. I think organising your time will prevent you from getting distracted from other activities, and you will probably focus more on your lesson.  

Feeling anxiety after spending a long time in another country is something perfectly normal, since you get used to the environment from somewhere else. Also, Brazil is way different from Canada, so there are a lot of differences that can cause stress and anxiety. To help manage this anxiety, practice mindfulness techniques such as breathing or visualisation exercises. And before crossing the street, focus on yourself and see if any cars are coming, only cross the street when the light is red, never when it's green, and always pay attention. Also, if there are any negative experiences unrelated to crossing the street, have you thought of talking to an adult, your parents, or the school coordinators?  They might help you. 

Organising your time for homework and managing anxiety are hard things to do, but with the right techniques and people to talk to, I'm sure you will achieve them. By creating a homework schedule, and doing vision and breathing exercises, not forgetting to look at the lights in the traffic, I know these issues will be gone.  However, if I had this problem and none of these things worked, I would try to look for a therapist, they would know how to help you better than anyone, since they are trained for that. But I really hope everything that I told you works, good luck with everything, I'm wishing you the best! 

Sincerely,

Y7 - Filippa B.