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 4:
Tip 4. Make homework part of your routine
Schedule homework for a set time each day; choose a time that feels good to you. It might be right after school or after some downtime at home (and maybe a snack). Keep your homework time and place consistent from day to day. If after-school activities make that impossible, create a weekly plan that includes homework time for each day. Set yourself up in a quiet spot where you can spread out materials, such as a kitchen table or bedroom desk. Avoid electronics. If you can’t resist checking your phone every time it buzzes, you’ll lose your focus and your work flow. Pro Tip: each time you sit down to do schoolwork at home, always start with the task that you’re looking forward to the least. Getting the most unpleasant assignment in your planner out of the way first will give you a sense of accomplishment and fuel your motivation to knock down the rest of your homework.