TEACHING SECRETS: ORGANIZING MIDDLE SCHOOLERS
TEACHER MAGAZINE
BY LAURIE WASSEMANOCTOBER 3, 2007
SUBMITTED BY: TIMOTHY FEIMER
This article hit home both in my professional and personal life. I have 2 middle school children and have seen how being unorganized makes it very difficult to survive in the middle schools. We have calendars for each child to keep up with what’s due and what’s coming up. Professionally I have used a couple of the organizing techniques and found they work excellent:
Agenda books: not happening in my school unless the students want to buy them on there own. The assignment check list maybe possible but even the copying in my school is at a minimum.
Schoolnotes.com: I use and love it. It gives the parents a way to keep in contact with me and for my students to contact me if there is a misunderstanding in the homework. I always respond as long as it is before 10 pm. This also lets the parents see any of the long term projects and what is going on in the classroom.
Preparation guide: I have not used but very much like the idea. I am constantly going up against no pen and paper and it causes a commotion in the room when they are asking for the stuff. This is something I want to implement ASAP.
Team homework: is a little more difficult and would require the cooperation of the other teachers.
Pocket folders: I use these already for my long term projects but I can see relevance for the everyday use.
All in all I feel the article give some very useful organizational tips to be used in any subject area. I especially liked the fact that it is geared to the middle school students since I believe they have the biggest adjustments to make. Any way to make the adjustments easier will promote a more successful transition into the middle and high schools and hopefully a more positive educational outcome.
1 comment:
Organizational skills are so important for students. Students who are organized are usually successful in school. They are not scrambling to find things or get things done. Students need to be taught these skills and the tools you discussed seem to be a great start. Every teacher, no matter what subject, should help their students become more organized and teach them these skills.
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