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Getting Organized & Good Work Habits
Posted: 22 Feb 2006 03:47 PM |
Discuss strategies for helping your student keep organized. Here are some tips for helping with Organizing Materials and Work Space:
Being ready to learn often means being prepared for the next activity, having to shift gears from one task to another, and having all the necessary materials on hand. In order to develop this aspect of learning readiness, students must engage their attentional abilities (especially that of previewing), as well as their memory skills.
Through previewing, a student is able to look ahead and be prepared to deal with upcoming circumstances, challenges, and academic tasks. For example, previewing helps students prepare for a test, get ready for an upcoming class, and smoothly transition from one activity to the next. In addition, students who preview are able to determine which materials are needed for a task and to remember to have those materials on hand. As a result, they are better prepared for activities and better able to follow through on assignments.
Tips:
It may be helpful to give students advance notice about upcoming activities and the materials needed for those activities, offering suggestions like: “In our next activity, I will ask you to plot these points on graph paper,” or, “You will need to take out your language book and journal notebook for your next subject.”
Provide time at the beginning of the day for students to preview their class schedule, as well as time at the end of the day to preview their homework/study schedule. For middle and high school students, you might divide homeroom into two half periods, one short period in the morning and one short period in the afternoon.
Recommend, and if possible, confirm that the student has an ‘office space’ at home where he/she has work materials, a calendar, strategy sheets, etc. to facilitate a strategic approach to learning at home.
Provide students with desk organizers for materials and notebooks at school and at home. Color-coding notebooks and folders may help students organize their work and make materials more easily accessible. Guide students as they create their own color coding system.
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Re: Getting Organized & Good Work Habits
Posted: 01 Mar 2006 08:24 PM |
| I'm new to this, so please forgive any social rules I may not acknowledge in this process. I have a 5 year old in a pre-K program at a Montessori school. His teacher acknowledges that he is extremely smart and quite capable of accomplishing "works" (a Montessori word for task) well into the kindergarten level. However, he continues to return to easier works that he has already mastered and "whips" them out, spending the rest of the day socializing with his peers (his true love in life) and observing the lessons that the teacher is giving the kindergarten children. We are instituting a "contract" to get works checked off as well as a "silent timer" that shows time elapsing so he can limit the amount of time he spends on a repeating task. Any other ideas or suggestions? |
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Re: Getting Organized & Good Work Habits
Posted: 09 Mar 2006 08:09 PM |
| Last spring my school a middle school was given a Federal Grant to develop a small class of what we call below basic students in math and language. I was asked if I would like to take the math class. I have been teaching 7th and 8th grade math for over twenty years. I readily accepted because I found the idea very interesting. I was given four 7th grade classes of children that were far behind. We use a standardized test every spring in our state to determine where a student stands in each academic subject. The classses cannot have more than 15 students and in fact have stayed smaller throughout the year. It has been quite a learning experience for me. And I know this course has been a tremendous help in identifying and understanding areas that need to be addressed for these students. With most of them much progress has been made in the mastery of math skills. I can go at a slower pace and they have gained confidence in themselves and are beginning to believe that it is possible for them to learn math. I could go on and on about what I have learned. I will give a few examples. My primary emphasis has been to learn the basic operations in whole numbers,fractions,decimals,integers, and percent problems. We have made so much progress. Most of my students couldn't even subtract whole numbers correctly. And you can imagine the rest. So academics has been the primary focus. These students have slipped through the cracks for probably many reasons. I learned not to assume anything with them. Simple directions in the textbook overwhelmed them. Vocabulary was so poor. They were many years behind. We worked together as a class on the lesson and then I helped them individually. I offered free tutoring till 5:00 three days a week. It gave them another resource to count on. Organizational skills for many were nonexistant. I hjave really enjoyed this year and seeing their growth. |
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Re: Getting Organized & Good Work Habits
Posted: 09 Mar 2006 11:28 PM |
| Lots of kids like to "repeat" all kinds of experiences - the same book, movie, movement, noise (!) over and over again. I think they learn alot from this, hopefully that practice makes perfect no matter the task. It's good to enjoy that mastery, or to compare and build on layers of observations. If the Montessori teacher helps him have time for new learning, reviewing/repeating works for mastery and social time, great. You have a smart boy, he will push himself when the time is right, for now, let him be curious about K and be social. Anne |
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 zola
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| Joined: 18 Mar 2006 |
| Total Posts: 1 |
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Re: Getting Organized & Good Work Habits
Posted: 18 Mar 2006 08:22 AM |
Thank you so much for your work and understanding. You are a blessing.
As a parent of a girl diagnosed with ADD I have found the biggest challenge is to help her realize her many strengths and possibilities. This is a challenge when dealing with the many distractions and disorganizations created by her ADD. I have found that once she misses a direction (verbal or written) it snowballs until she is in the midst of confusion which further makes her feel "unsmart".
We have found a variety of techniques that help her. I guess my biggest lesson has been to stay flexible, the yellow folder that worked so well last year may not work this year as an organizer, etc. |
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bforst
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| Joined: 05 Aug 2003 |
| Total Posts: 1 |
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Re: Getting Organized & Good Work Habits
Posted: 25 Apr 2006 10:08 PM |
Sounds like you've got a solid plan to work on. Keep in mind, learning to socialize is an important skill to develop and you might view pre-K as his place to do this. This is especially true of an oldest or only child, in my opinion. Think of your son's pre-K program and a "safe" place to try those skills out.
You might ask yourself why he sticks to the easier works. Is he playing it safe? It's a perfectly normal human reaction and you might congratulate yourself on having a son who "Plays it safe." But taking risks and challenging oneself might not be intrinsic in your son and he will learn them in the safety of his school.
This young man will make you proud. Sit back and enjoy the ride! |
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Re: Getting Organized & Good Work Habits
Posted: 27 Nov 2006 12:54 PM |
My high school students have many difficulties staying organized. If they do not stay organized, they have a much more difficult time coping with all of their work responsibilities and become more overwhelmed. My students need to have their notebooks broken down into categories within each subject area. This allows them to better understand all the separate requirements within each class.
We also have time set aside in order to have regular notebook checks to confirm that they are staying organized. The students who are keeping organized are much more successful. |
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tmeyers
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| Joined: 11 Aug 2006 |
| Total Posts: 1 |
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Re: Getting Organized & Good Work Habits
Posted: 08 Jan 2007 01:27 PM |
| It is interesting to read about your experience. I have a student who fits a similar profie with deficits in phonics and mathematics. While slowing down the pace helped with your students,time is of a concern to my situation. My student can identify that he has some weaknesses in these areas yet acts up when new concepts are being introduced. This classic situation has me perplexed as to how to impart on him that it is OK not to know and move him forward to a new behavior. His need to appear in control at all times impedes him from the acceptance that we all have weaknesses and it is OK to let others know he needs help to learn the material differently or repeated. Any suggestions would be most helpful. |
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lcurrey
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| Joined: 11 Nov 2006 |
| Total Posts: 1 |
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Re: Getting Organized & Good Work Habits
Posted: 15 Jan 2007 11:21 AM |
We do a similar thing with my younger, fifth grade students. At the beginning of the year as a class we guide them as they insert dividers into their notebook for each subject. We hole punch assignments and handouts so they can easily insert them. We instruct them to keep things in order by putting new handouts in as if it were the next page in a book.
In addition, they have a copy of the class schedule in their notebook, and a homework planner. At the end of each day assignments are posted on the board and time is provided for them to write assignments down. This is a requirement in our class and we do surprise checks or have them check with a partner to make sure they have written everything down correctly. Having the schedule in their notebook and up on the wall, helps those who don't transistion easily.
Having one main notebook helps them keep organized so that they aren't shuffling too many materials around.
If you teach these skills at a young age, hopefully, they will become more independent with their organization as they are older. |
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mello
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| Joined: 06 Mar 2007 |
| Total Posts: 1 |
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Re: Getting Organized & Good Work Habits
Posted: 06 Mar 2007 11:32 AM |
I teach grades 9-12 and I find that EVERYONE can have problems with organization at times. I find that difficulties in this area can lead to higher levels of stress along with lower achievement grades. I provide students with incentives to motivate them to keep their materials organized throughout the course of the year such as additional points towards their marking period grade. I also sometimes meet with one of my advisees to help keep her materials organized since this is a huge obstacle for her overall success. I will continue to work with my students to help them embrace what organization can do for them and their present and future academic success. Good organizational skills are important life skills!!
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Re: Getting Organized & Good Work Habits
Posted: 17 Apr 2007 07:33 PM |
| For the 9-12 graders, I give them a syllabus at the beginning of the new term, where I provide the guideline of the course including text, supplemental materials, course goals, course description, grading standard, and learning strategies. Every Friday, I will send them a weekly schedule, where I outline the activities we will do in the next week's classes. I remind the students to review the syllabus and the weekly schedule very often. At the same time, I prepare the course folders for every student, and keep all of their homework sheets, quizzes and written test papers in these folders. Every week, I will use half an hour in one class and ask the students to organize their folders by themselves. Through this way, on the one hand, the students have to take responsibility to organize their own learning materials; on the other hand, they have chance to review the exercise they did before. |
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Re: Getting Organized & Good Work Habits
Posted: 18 Apr 2007 03:21 PM |
| I would suggest have the young gentleman teach some ot the other students once he completed an activity. If he is an expert and enjoys talking with others, then make him a teacher and show him how he can help others while at the same time use his time wisely. This was not written by Deborah Steurer, but Joe Dittrich who used her name and password. 4-18-07 |
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mumrock
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| Joined: 04 Mar 2007 |
| Total Posts: 1 |
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Re: Getting Organized & Good Work Habits
Posted: 23 Feb 2009 09:10 PM |
Hello everyone: This is my first post, and my first kid, so I hope I'm doing it right with both!
My 12YO son isn't turning his work in. His teacher showed me his grades if all his work was turned in (As and Bs) and what his grades are because they're not turned in (Cs and Ds). I think he really thinks he's turning it in, because he was shocked to hear that he hadn't. His friend's mom says her son hasn't been turning in all his work either. (He goes to a different school.) How much of this just goes with the territory, and when should I intervene?
He has a very long bus ride (over an hour) and plays a Nintendo DS to occupy his time. Could the video activity be contributing to his forgetting?
Any shared experiences would be appreciated. Thank you for your time! |
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