Student Organization



Helping students get organized is no easy task!  Get some great ideas from fellow middle and high school teachers who participated in the #2ndaryELA Twitter chat!  #teaching #languagearts #organization

Student organization is an important topic. Too often students just cram things into the abyss of their bookbags (or make a zillion copies on their Google Drive) only to realize later they NEED THAT ONE document.  So how can teachers help?  

This #2ndaryELA Twitter chat was all about helping students to be organized at the middle and high school level.  Teachers shared their thoughts and ideas on how to accomplish this task and you can read them below!
Hi! My name is Lauralee, and I will be hosting tonight's chat. I teach high school in Central Illinois and blog at . My first book just went on sale TODAY! Tonight, we are chatting about organization with students.
Q1: What do you find as your students' largest struggle with organization?
A1: Putting things back where they go... Some pockets in their Notes Notebook are empty.

A1: sometimes they have 30 files in their drive titled “essay.”
A1 - finding a system that works for them. Building habits. Attention to detail!
Q2: What, if any, organizational systems or programs do you implement in your classroom or schoolwide?
A2 I think we need to TEACH organization - not just implement. Many people aren't naturally born organizers...our Ss have binders using the AVID way, I use digital folders/Gclassroom and spiral notebooks.
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Totally agree. Organization is something that takes time, effort, practice, and modeling from teachers!
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YES! Many teachers think that kids know how to do it...and it just makes it worse. I'm struggling now with my teaching team to support kids writing in their planners, not just telling them to do it and figuring they've done their job.
Oh yes - I actually stamped the planners of my 6th graders to verify that the work had been written in!

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Yes, and giving them TIME to organize their digital files, too!
A2. There should be a whole lesson about labeling files and creating folders. Google drive is a dream.
A2: I personally love Google Drive. I have folders and folders within folders within folders. And all kinds of notebooks. For my students: each class has a color, and everything for that class (turn in tray, bins for workbooks, missing work folders) is that color.
A2: I once had a binder system, and this worked! I need to decide if I want students to have certain digital folders, bc I want the system to make sense to them.
Q3: How do you get students to "buy-in" to organizational procedures?
A3: Modeling and talking helps students see the benefits. Lots of modeling and emphasizing what works for individuals.
A3: Definitely modeling - yes - Also I've recently considered giving bonus points to those who can show me the week's work in their folders...
A3: I go over organization practices in class and go over it again when I notice an issue. Students “buy-in” when they see others pull out the assignment immediately while they are still looking for their assignment.
A3: I share my own difficulties with organization and how I overcame them. I let students know the "why" and heavily model organizational habits as well as acknowledge students who write down important dates or correctly file papers/documents.
Q4: How do you hold students accountable for organization? Is it part of a grade or a portfolio?
A4: At this point, I don't take grades for organization. I once did for the binder system, but I have mixed feelings about doing that.
A4: in my previous school we did an end of year portfolio. Well organized kids did a much better job evaluating their work because they could find everything.
A4: I don't think I'd ever give a grade for organization, I'm more interested in what students can produce. Students are kind of naturally held accountable if they end up not turning in work, doing it late, or doing a half-hearted job because they forgot about it.
A4b: Also if a student is unorganized but can still do good work, doing a binder check seems like giving a grade simply for compliance rather than their actual achievement.
Q5: How do you help students keep digital files organized?
A5 I teach them how to create a folder for the year...sub folders for classes...how to color code and use numbers to organize their digital system. WE also use google sites!
A5: Thankfully we have a tech instructor and they help the students with this.



A5: It's all in the naming. I show them how to name their files. Once you've given a file a descriptive name, it doesn't really matter if you just shove it anywhere, Folders can be helpful, but the majority of the time Ss can just search and find it with good naming.


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