How Can Students Prepare For School Reopening During The Pandemic

With MCO being implemented again, what can you do? This article highlights 7 steps you can take to prepare for school this year. Check out this link for the article in Bahasa Malaysia version.

1. Stay updated from the Ministry of Education and your school on school reopening status

• Follow https://www.facebook.com/KemPendidikan/, @KemPendidikan or https://www.moe.gov.my/en/
• SPM and STPM candidates, read-up to imagine how school would look like when you return: Garis Panduan Pengurusan Pembukaan Semula Sekolah
• Always double-check with your school on the status for school reopening

2. Set personal goals for the year

• Goals give us direction in our life, if we don’t have an end goal, we don’t know what we want to achieve. Like driving a car without a final destination.
• Goal-setting allows us to understand ourselves better too.
• So let’s try to take as much control of our life as possible in this time of uncertainty.
• Download this template to begin: Goal Setting Template (the template has been tested and proven to be helpful for goal-setting for Malaysian Secondary School students)

3. Prepare your own study schedule

• Take charge of your own learning since schools might be closed for you.
• A study plan for yourself holds you accountable for your own learning goals.
• Design your own study schedule OR track your studies on a journal.
• Example of how you can design your own study tracker on a journal:

Credits to Alia Lee Xin, @tewpura_arts

4. Fix your sleeping routines

• Sleep is vital to good health and optimal concentration during the day.
• Use a sleep tracker app OR a journal to track.
• Example of how you can track your sleep on a journal:

Picture on the left is taken from @sharonajournals while picture on the right is taken from @damanimom on Pinterest.

5. Review what you have learnt last year

• Refer to the notes or journal you made, are your 2020 goals achieved?
• Are you prepared academically? Revise the notes you made or browse online for quick revision. Check out the resource page here.
• Make your own notes according to Cornell note-taking method for quick revision next time! (Making notes using Cornell note-taking method: Cornell Notes Method of Taking Notes)

6. Create your ideal home learning spot

• List down materials needed: a device, data plan, maybe an earphone and of course a neat and clean study corner
• Example of workstation at home:

A study board in front of you keeps you accountable for your goals and actions plans. A conducive workstation also improves your mood and allows you to work more efficiently.

7. Practice self-gratitude & have a self check-in routine

• Keep track of your emotions as it helps to identify your needs and wants.
• Whenever you feel overwhelmed, practice STOPP, identify what is within your control and what is not.
• Practice exercises that calm your mind such as listening to calming music, exercising, counting down from 20 to 1 etc.
• Examples of how you can track your emotion on a journal:

Credits to Alia Lee Xin, @tewpura_arts

That’s a wrap! We understand things have been frustrating with MCO happening again, we hope you are able to identify resources around you to plan for the best year possible for yourself.

1. Stay updated on school reopening status
2. Set personal goals for the year
3. Prepare own study schedule
4. Fix sleeping routines
5. Review what we have learnt
6. Set up effective workstation
7. Practice self-gratitude and self check-in

Acceptance leads to peace.

Accept that things are going to be messy and uncertain this year.

Choose to accept that we can’t control everything and focus on things we can control instead.

A Maths teacher, Cikgu Loh said, “In any quadratic function graphs, the lowest points represent the turning points. Pandemic can be a great challenge for everyone, but it can also serve as our turning points in life.”

Hope you find this article useful and feel free to share around to your friends who might appreciate this! Join our student community on Telegram if you are looking for more support in this unprecedented time!

This article was written by Ang Chiew Teng, a Programme Lead for Project ID, with support from our programme and Project ID Student Outreach Team, Marscella Ling and Alia Lee Xin.

Project ID is an education social enterprise that runs high-impact programmes empowering students to lead self and others with 21st century skills. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, Project ID has run over 70 online workshops with more than 1600 student participation across Malaysia.