Another Tool to Help Keep Your Students Organized

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All of us have students in our class who need a little extra nudge to keep their work area organized. (I have a whole post dedicated to teaching study skills here.) One of THE best tools that I have found to aid in the quest to stay organized is to have student helpers. These student helpers can monitor and politely remind others in their group to keep their area in order. Here's a quick way to utilize your student helpers with The Desk Check.

The Desk Check

1. Initiate a weekly or daily desk check.

2. Train a few students as desk checkers to monitor the organization of each student's work area. 

3. Perform a desk check. You can do this task before school, during the day, or after school. Simply choose whatever works best for you and your students. 

4. If there is a problem with any desk, the checker should call you to do a more thorough check.

Remember, organization is a process. The idea is to identify and support those students that need a little extra nudge. After all, organization is a life-skill that will follow your students into their future college and career endeavors.  Once mastered, these learned abilities will generate guidelines for your students to utilize throughout their home, school, and work environments.  

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Cindy Goeden

Cindy Goeden has enjoyed being involved with Shurley English for the last sixteen of her twenty-six years in the field of education.  Working with various levels of students in elementary, junior, and high schools, in both the private and public arenas, Cindy surely is thankful for the providential day that she was introduced to Shurley English, which changed forever her approach to Language Arts instruction. That has led to her current job of having the joy of sharing about Shurley with other educators.  Her love of learning has prodded her to earn over two hundred and twenty hours, which includes two bachelor degrees in education.

 

Cindy currently lives with her husband, Donald, in Indianapolis, Indiana, where she enjoys puttering in her flowers, changing up her décor with the seasons, and occasionally getting out and traveling with Donald to either explore a new beach or view historic sights and gardens.