How to Do Well in School

How to Do Well in School

BY MAYOR ANGEL TAVERAS Artwork by Eliza Domingo-Sutcliffe

Doing well in school is important.

If you want to be a doctor, a lawyer, a nurse, a teacher, or police officer, you need to do well in school. President Barack Obama did well in school.

Doing well in school feels good, and it’s fun.

It’s not hard to do well in school. But you do need to do a few things.

Get up early and eat a good breakfast. It’s hard to learn on an empty stomach.

Get to school on time every day. If you’re late, you might miss something really good.

Pay attention and listen to your teachers. They want to help you do your best.

Do your homework, read, and study every day. Your brain needs exercise just like your muscles.

Visit the library, especially in the summertime when school is out.

When you need help, let someone know.

Asking questions can help you understand.

Try hard. Even if you don’t get it right the first time, try again.

You’ll get better at anything if you keep working at it.

And definitely: Have fun.

If you do well in school, you can do anything you want. You can even be Mayor of Providence!

This book was created by Providence Mayor Angel Taveras for the “Making Learning Visible – Inspiration Takes Flight,” a professional development seminar at Ready to Learn Providence. In this project, over 150 preschool children, with the support of their teachers and family child care providers, demonstrated their expertise through the creation of “How-to” Books. Over a four month period, educators met at Ready to Learn Providence to engage in rich discussions about how children learn, how to document that learning, and how to make it visible.

Adults in the community were also asked to contribute “How-to Books” for an exhibition at the Providence Children’s Museum where children’s learning could be made visible to a wider audience.

This project was a collaboration between Ready to Learn Providence, Making Learning Visible (a program at Project Zero, Harvard University) and the Providence Children’s Museum. Funding was provided by the RI Child Care Resource and Referral Center.