<%@ taglib uri="/WEB-INF/tld/od-html.tld" prefix="odhtml" %>

Home > School Info Center > Organized to Learn: A Guide for Parents and Teachers

Organized to Learn: A Guide for Parents and Teachers Organizing is a Learned Skill With five days full of classes to keep up with -- not to mention after-school activities, family time, and time with friends -- good organization is key to helping students manage their time, not feel overloaded, and, of course, concentrate on learning. In this article, we'll look at some of the ways parents and teachers can help students find an organizational system that works for them and stick with it throughout the school year. Organized Students Are Not Miniature Organized Adults What exactly does an organized student look like? You might be surprised to know that it's different from what an organized parent, teacher, or other adult might look like. After all, students are just kids in the process of acquiring life-long lessons about everything from how the solar system operates to what it takes to work on a team and, of course, how to keep track of themselves, their things, and their time. As you begin to formulate strategies for helping a student devise an organizing system, keep the following characteristics of an organized student in mind: Keeps a (relatively) neat desk and book bag. Has a system for remembering his schedule and assignments. Is generally ready to start class when the bell rings. Keeps track of assignments efficiently, and turns them in on time. Knows how to get started on a big project, even if that means asking a teacher or parent for further clarification and help. Can plan the steps required to complete a complex project. This isn't a trivial list. All of these characteristics are learned skills that many adults hone on a regular basis. Your Role The bottom line: Students aren't automatically organized; they need to be taught how to be organized. And just as doing their homework for them won't help them learn how to write a paper or solve a math problem, organizing for them won't help them learn how to organize. Think of yourself as a facilitator and advisor, and encourage your student to own the organizing process for himself. The Right Tools for the Job Just as adults need the right organizing tools to keep an office or home running smoothly, students need the right set of supplies to get and stay organized. Many of the same organizational tools that work for adults may also work for children, but they have to be re-tooled to fit the student, especially taking the student's age into consideration. Every student should be equipped with: A good three-ring binder. This is the first and most important organizational tool a student can have. It should be big enough to accommodate all the papers and folders that they will accumulate over a semester, quarter, or other grading period. Three-holed pocket folders. These folders fit neatly into a three-ring binder and are a great way to keep track of the homework, project instructions, permission slips, and other loose paper. Encourage your child to think about what kind of paper they will need to keep track of, and then label each folder accordingly. With pre-labeled folders, a student is ready for the papers before they get them. Teacher Tip: Carefully review the list of supplies your school provides to parents so you know what kinds of binders, folders, and other organizers students will have when they come to class. Students may not know the best way to use all of these materials, so look for practical ways to integrate using these supplies to manage assignments and projects into your lesson plans. A calendar. Students who have to keep track of five-to-seven classes a day can benefit greatly from a calendar to keep track of assignments and projects, as well as school and other activities. Calendars give students a big-picture view of their schedule and are invaluable tools to help them learn to look for and manage scheduling conflicts, weeks where multiple projects are due, important activities, and more. Parent Tip: While your child should be responsible for maintaining his own calendar in his notebook, work with him to keep it in synch with a larger family calendar in your home. This will give you a big-picture view of his responsibilities and assignments so you can plan your time and family activities with them in mind. As you work to resolve scheduling conflicts and make time for your child to focus on learning, you'll be teaching time management and prioritization by example. A pencil container. Whether it's a zipper bag that fits in a three ring binder, an old-fashioned pencil case, or a pocket in a backpack, every student should have a place to keep pens, pencils, erasers, index cards, and other small items. A backpack or other bag: Without question, every student needs a way to haul her gear from place to place. However, keep in mind that while bags and backpacks are great for holding binders and textbooks, but they can also be a problem when students jam homework papers into them without bothering to put things in the correct place in the binder, much like the dryer that eats all the socks. Look for a bag with different compartments, and encourage your child to empty her bag at least once a week to find missing homework assignments, that lost banana from lunch, and other important things. Parent Tip: Make getting your bag organized for the week a family affair. Plan some time every Sunday afternoon or evening to gear up for the next week. This works particularly well with elementary school children who want to be like Mom and Dad getting ready for work. If you can encourage this habit when they are young, they won't think twice about it when they are teenagers and want to pretend you don't even exist. Two Steps to Getting Your Student Organized While all students should ultimately be responsible for their own organizing style and approach -- or they simply won't stay organized -- there are several steps you can take as a parent or educator to create an environment that is conducive to being organized. You should involve the student in every possible way and give them as much freedom as possible to make choices and have a voice in the process. Many good organizing lessons will flow naturally from these activities, so your student will learn useful skills without even knowing it. Step 1: Set Up a Kid-Friendly Work Zone A tidy and distraction-free place to work can help kids stay focused and on task. While you could just stick a desk in the most convenient spot in your home, it will really pay off if you put some careful thought into its location. A desk in the kitchen may be very convenient as you try to prepare dinner and help your child with homework, but if there's a TV or other distractions in the vicinity, what you get in convenience you'll loose in lack of focus. If possible, set up a study area outside the child's room. When you can draw a line between work and recreation areas, it sets clear boundaries about what should happen in each place. It's easier to avoid the temptation to play during study time when playthings aren't in sight. Put the desk in a quiet, low-traffic area, away from the TV and CD player Agree ahead of time on a list of items that may (and may not) be kept on the desk. For instance, calculators are a "yes" item; electronic games are a "no" item. Encourage your child to start this list themselves, and then go over it with them later. If something is obviously missing to you (like a notebook or pens) don't just fill in the list, but challenge your child to think about every activity they need to do at the desk and what they will need for each. These teach critical thinking and planning skills. Be sure there is a space nearby to put study items away. A desk drawer is one option, although drawers (much like backpacks) are cluttered quickly. File boxes, folder stands, and other more functional containers my serve your purposes better. Brainstorm with your child on ways to keep track of bigger projects that they may work on over a few days or weeks. Does each need its own notebook, box, or file folder? Teacher Tip: While you obviously can't visit each student's home to help them get set up, consider sending a checklist home that they and their parents can use to create a work zone. This reinforces to your students and their parents the importance of a distraction-free and organized work area. Step 2: Make a Plan Structure is powerful. When you can help a student plan how they are going to manage assignments big and small, planning will eventually become a habit that will dramatically improve their performance at school. To facilitate planning: Go over the child's list of homework assignments when she gets home. Help her decide what order she will do the assignments in, and discuss ways to note that and track her progress. A simple list of tasks is very powerful, especially once she starts checking them off as complete. It'll help her keep her work in perspective, plan her time, and see progress as she makes it. Take time each day to review homework for completion and mistakes. To model planning behavior, take just one or two minutes each day to coordinate your review plan with her work plan so she sees how important planning is. Work with your child to find a way they like to keep track of assignments and projects. As your space and budget permits, hang a small whiteboard, bulletin board, and calendar up around the desk to give students a way to keep key projects and information in front of them. A whiteboard is a good place to jot a list of the day's homework assignments, and a bulletin board is a great place to display completed projects, important reminders, and other useful information. Support the natural consequences that come with planning or failing to plan. For example, one missed field trip because of a forgotten permission slip may be temporarily painful (for everyone in the vicinity), but the lesson it teaches about planning will last a lifetime. On the flip side, an afternoon off or a trip to the movies because your child completed a big project early will reinforce the benefits of making a plan and sticking to it. Parent Tip: If your child is having a hard time working through his homework assignments each night, schedule a meeting with his teacher to discuss the issue. Be sure to describe exactly how you are working with your child to plan and finish assignments, and then strategize together on ways to lighten the load or make it more manageable. Helping With Task Management So far, we've discussed how to help a student get organized to better manage their tasks, but that's only the first step. You have to teach them how to manage their time and tasks as appropriate to their age group, and then incorporate the organizing schemes and study space you've so carefully helped them to design. Kid-Friendly Instructions Unlike adults who have learned over the years to take notes and multi-task, most students, particularly young ones, don't yet have the skills to absorb and manage complex instructions without a bit of help. Whether you are giving instructions to students in the classroom or helping your child interpret and complete the instructions they have received, keep the following in mind: Students, especially young ones, haven't yet learned how to break a complex instruction down into its component parts. To teach them this valuable skill, provide a description of a complex task and then break it down into several steps, or plan time to help them break it down themselves. Stay focused on the most important aspects of the project and avoid fluff. It has never been more important to be succinct. Use as few words as possible to get the point across. Ask the student to repeat the instructions back to you to be sure she truly understands what needs to be done. Illustrate exactly what you want done by going through the motions yourself. Help the student create a checklist of things to do and remind him to check off each item as he completes it to chart his progress. Once students are adept at managing simpler assignments, you can help them learn to master very complex projects that may span days or even weeks: Begin by helping the student create a master list of the tasks the project will require. While you could simply provide this list yourself, encouraging the student to create the list with your guidance teaches critical thinking and project management skills they will need later in life. Decide on a deadline for the completion of the project, and then help the student work backward to decide on sub-deadlines for the various steps in the project. Encourage the student to schedule in specific times to work on each step, and treat each step as any other assignment for that day. Remind the student to use the master list as a reference and to keep things moving in the correct order. Suggest that the student determine what supplies she will need to complete the entire project, and then gather everything that's necessary before beginning the project. When the student encounters problems, help her to find her own solutions rather than telling her how to solve them or doing the work yourself. Staying Involved Helping a student get organized is just the first step in facilitating her learning. Good organization removes distractions and helps students focus on learning from an assignment, rather than finding the assignment instructions in the first place. Here are some ideas that parents can utilize to stay better in touch with student progress and truly augment the learning that goes on daily in the classroom: Keep all of a student's past papers and assignments organized for easy reference. Sometimes a quick look back at a completed assignment is all that a child needs to refresh his memory of a geometry problem. Be sure younger children understand letters and numerals independently of one another, not just in the order they were taught. For older children, keep track of their assignments, and quiz them to be sure they understand the concepts they are expected to learn for their assignments. Any way in which you can make learning fun will make things much easier. Keep a look out for good videos, books, and computer games. These can help children learn without them even being aware of it. Taking an interest in all your child's work and bragging about it to others in the child's presence helps the child to develop a healthy self-esteem, which in turn helps that child be motivated to do good work and stay organized in the process. As you begin helping a student find her own organizing scheme, be patient and never forget: Organizing and time management are learned skills. Your job is to teach and facilitate, not do. Everyone has her own personal style, and you want to help a child find hers. It may not be the style that works for you, but she'll be more apt to use an organizing system if she created it for herself. People change and so do their organizing needs and styles. Plan to check back in regularly with your student to find out how his organizing scheme is working and help him find new solutions if the current ones aren't working. Enjoy this time with your student as you teach her the fundamental skills of organizing and time and task management. The skills they learn today will serve them well for years to come.