I participate in several time management/personal productivity discussion groups. The exchange of ideas healthy and even when disagreement arises, I think we all come away a little smarter.
One of the things about these groups is that you never know when something you write off the cuff, totally on the spur of the moment, resonates with someone else. Such is the case with a reply on the subject of helping students be more organized. Tonight I found the idea struck a chord and a fellow blogger quoted what I had to say on his blog. The link is here, and the post goes as follows:
Everyone open your planners…
I absolutely love when I find pieces like this where schools at the administrative level down are grasping basic organizational concepts and teaching the kids how to do them. Oh if I had only been taught these skills in school…
— In [email protected], “Dr. Frank Buck” wrote:
Deb,
One of the best things I did as an elementary principal was to purchase student planners for the entire student body. As far securing funding, I was able to get a couple of small grants a couple years. School systems also receive some federal finding earmarked for parental involvement. Our use of the planners qualified for that.
The secret was getting all teachers to use them and use them in much the same way. Teachers had to stop telling students “Now, don’t forget to…” and instead to say, “Everyone open your planner. On tomorrow’s square, write down (whatever).” At the beginning of the week, my morning announcements would include events coming up. My comments would always start with’ “Open your planners.” I would tell them what to write, where to write it, and then tell them that when they saw those few key words what it would remind them to do.
Teachers used the planners to write a quick note to parents, knowing that the planner would be the one thing every parent would look at every night. (We really stressed that to parents, so after a while, the value of the planner as an easy way to keep parents informed just became part of the culture of the school.)
About half of being successful in school is organization. As for the other half, well, most of that is organization as well.
Frank
Yes, the planners worked like a charm for us. If I were to accept another principalship (and most certainly if it were a secondary principalship) establishing student planners would be among the first orders of business. Everybody talks about how they need to be more organized and manage their time better. Yet, nobody teaches this. Simple time-management tools can, and should, be part of the culture of schools.
K. J. Palmer
September 24, 2007 12:16 pmWe do this in our middle school. Teachers are required to post the tests for the week (among other things) on the board during homeroom. Students are then told “Open your planners” and are guided and checked throughout the process of putting everything in. This type of thing continues throughout the day.
I can only imagine how much easier college would have been for me had my school done this!
Dave Sherman
September 24, 2007 8:01 pmI agree that we need to teach students how to organize themselves. However, I am uncomfortable when we expect all students to do this in exactly the same way such as with the exact same planner for every student. Does your superintendent decide exactly how you are to organize your professional life? Does he/she give you the calendar and tell you that you must use this specific one? If we can agree that we should differentiate the curriculum for different students based on their individual needs, then we also should differentiate the ways they can organize themselves. What about PDAs or laptops, or cell phones with calendars,or spiral notebooks, or pads of lined paper, or note cards? There are so many effective tools that we can teach students to use, and then ask them to make the choice that is best suited for them.
Finally, I disagree with teachers saying “Now, everyone take out your planners and write this down…” That may be needed for the first few weeks of school, but after that, the students become too dependent on the adult, and they never become self-directed in their organization and learning.
Dr. Frank Buck
September 25, 2007 1:42 pmDave,
I appreciate your input, although we do differ in opinion. The problem I see with far too many schools is that they issue planners to students, but then there is no structure as to how to use them. Individual teachers and individual students use, misuse, and often ignore the tool.
Some students figure out or stumble upon some system of organization just as I did in the 12th grade. Left to their own devises, most will stumble through their school days writing on their hands or trying to remember it all. They grow up to become adults who write on their hands and try to remember it all until the whole house of cards comes crashing down and they scream “I’ve got to get organized.”
Instead, let’s give them a solid tool and model solid strategies for using it. Later, they can branch out and choose a different tool and tweak the system. They have got to have the foundation, however, on which to build.
s.rogers
October 19, 2007 11:48 pmI am an elementary teacher who found this site while looking for ideas on how to use a planner correctly. My parents want to be able to tell what was done in class, what was already turned in, what the homework is and what classwork needs to be finished at home. I have come across lots of planners but how do I teach them how to use them?
My RSP parents in particular want to help their students learn a method that they can use from year to year.
Dr. Frank Buck
October 21, 2007 7:48 amExcellent question! I think it is really a two-pronged approach. One prong is getting the student to get maximum use of the planner as a tool to organize them and remind them of what they should be doing. The second prong is getting all of the adults who work with a student (general ed. teacher, special ed. teacher, parent) to use the planner as a communication tool.
In working with students, using the planner on a daily basis is crucial. It becomes the one place where the student writes homework assignments, grades given (if you wish), reminders that “picture day” is coming up on Thursday, or anything else which comes up where the student is going to have some responsibility. That way, he/she has ONE place to look.
I would suggest as part of the end-of-the-day routine having students place the open planners on their desks and review with them what should have been written down during the day. During this time, you can circulate around the room and look over students’ shoulders to be sure what they are taking home is going to be complete and legible.
I think it’s important that every day there is SOMETHING written in that planner. If every day there is something new when Mom or Dad looks at that book, then they are more likely to look at it every day.
If you and the parent are both eyeballing the planner daily, that means either one of you can write a quick two-sentence note that the other person will be sure to see. That really beats the note you write which can all-to-often wind up at the bottom of the bookbag never to be seen again.
With your special education students, you have another person in that communication loop. The special education teacher can also use the planner as a way to write a quick note about the student’s progress to you, the parent, or both. If the planner is a good idea for all student (and adults), it can be the a life-saver for the special education student in terms of providing structure and routine.
Best of luck! I hope this helps.