Courtenay Whalen is a master at teaching students how to organize themselves. She's been teaching middle school for 16 years, and she is an AVID trainer and teacher. AVID is a program that teaches executive functioning and organizational skills (among other things) to students headed to college. She wrote a series of guest blog posts about how to help your middle schoolers get organized for back to school. Honestly, though, these tips will help students at ALL levels create and maintain an organizational system to maximize their success!
This is just the tip of the iceburg of her knowledge. Read more about her on our tutor bio page HERE.
This week she'll be sharing her top 5 organizational tips for Middle School Students. If you or your child is in high school and HASN'T nailed these, this is the place to start. Without futher ado, here's tip 3:
Tip 3: It only works if you work it
We’ve already talked about the importance of having a system for organizing your school supplies. Whether at school or at home, being successful with organization depends on making sure that everything is in its proper place; math papers don't belong in your Spanish folder. Be consistent. Your supplies and materials are much less likely to get lost if you always keep them in the same spots; this means putting all papers in the right folders, and always keeping pens and pencils in the same pocket of a backpack. However, it’s easy in the final moments of class or rushing out the door in the morning to simply shove papers in a backpack or random folder. While you can recover from these missteps, it’s important to remember that your system will only keep you organized if you actually utilize it. Color coded folders and a daily agenda are useless if they’re empty and blank. Pro Tip: Set up a weekly “check in” with yourself to go through your backpack. Ask yourself: How am I succeeding in keeping myself organized? Where do I still have room for improvement?
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