I am entering my 31st year as an educator. I’ve learned a lot about what makes students successful during that time and while there is not a single model that leads to success for all, there are certainly some qualities that arise in students who do well.

I’ve been writing columns for a long time and I know I’ve written about this before but it’s worth revisiting this topic occasionally.

The first quality most successful students have is that they want to do well. They care about their performance in school, their relationships with their teachers and parents and they are prepared to put in the time and effort necessary to do well.

Personal motivation is an essential ingredient to persevering when the learning becomes challenging. Successful people persevere.

The second quality they have is that they are organized.

They keep track of their notes, books and assignments and they meet deadlines. Many bright young individuals do not do as well in school as they could because they do not put enough effort into establishing the basic routines necessary to keep themselves organized. They lose too many grades to late assignments and failing to study for forgotten tests.

The third quality of successful students is that they are adaptable.

They like some teachers more than others but they don’t let their feelings about teachers affect their grades. They may not like a particular teacher but they’ll figure out how to do the best they can in that class.

Good students do well in ALL subjects, not just those they like or those taught by teachers they like.

The fourth element is that they are decent readers. The school system, and frankly the computer world as well, focuses on the use of language in passing along knowledge.

The ability to read, comprehend and retain written information is very important to dealing with a workday that is full of new information that must be processed and applied or regurgitated quickly.

Those who can’t or don’t read, simply fall behind.

The fifth, and for now final quality found in most successful students, is a life in balance.

They tend not to be students who play too many video games or spend too much time on the computer or their cell phone or spend all their time outside of school hanging out with their friends.

They do all of those things, of course, just in moderation.

In other words, they tend to find the right balance between work and play and know how to set priorities when competition for time occurs.

I should mention, before I finish this up, that I do not necessarily believe that high grades alone make for a successful student.

While I do think a student should do as well as he/she can in the classroom, I am also a strong proponent of students being engaged in the athletic, artistic or academic teams and clubs that take place outside the classroom.

Thus, I define a successful student as one who both does as well as he/she is capable of doing in the class and is fully engaged in enjoying all the pleasures school can offer.