Keeping Your Middle Schoolers Organized

Picture This:

We all know that kid who does their homework every night.  But then, they can never find it the next day in class.  You feel bad not being able to give them credit because you know that they are being truthful, but you can’t start accepting homework based on merit because that could open a can of worms so you tell them that they can bring it in the next day.  Organization can be so tough for students!

We all know the student who has papers falling out of their backpack at every angle.  They usually keep everything in the same folder and can never find anything that they need.  You are constantly giving them multiple copies of every worksheet.

Who Struggles?

Teaching our students to be organized is a challenging part of our jobs.  I teach middle school, once the students get to me they have 8 years of disorganization in their schooling and trying to correct that is a struggle.

Students who may struggle with organizing themselves are students with difficulties with their executive functioning.  For more on executive function, check out my blog post that focuses on this specifically.  Accommodations for Students Who Struggle with Executive Function

Another reason students may struggle with their organization is that they have not found an organization system that works for them.

Tools to Help

Accordion Folder

Most of my students who struggle with organizing themselves, struggle with keeping track of their papers.  My go-to tool for organizing papers is the accordion folder.

Accordion folders give students the power to organize their papers, while still keeping them in one place.  I teach students to have one section for each subject, and a separate section for homework.  When students are in class and they receive papers that they need to save for later, they can put it in that subject’s section.  If students are given papers that need to be completed for homework, they put it in the homework section.  When they are ready to do their homework, they can take everything out of the homework section of their folder.  As they complete the homework, they put the finished paper into the class section where it belongs.  This method, so far, works well for a lot of my students.

Pencil Case

This next tool seems simple, but I find it makes a big difference.  A pencil case!

Pencil cases are something that as students get older they sometimes stop using.  But a lot of my students are constantly digging through their bags to find a pencil, their glue stick, scissors, or a highlighter.  If they get a pencil case at the beginning of the year that is big enough to hold all of these essentials they will be much easier to find when they need them.

Student Planner

The third tool that I find to be essential to student organization success is the homework planner.  I have plenty of students, that no matter what I say, are convinced that they will remember all of their homework without writing it down.  This rarely works!  The first thing that I implement for a student who is disorganized and not completing their homework is agenda checks.  Now at my school, the students can buy an agenda from the PTO at the beginning of the year.  If this is not how it works at your school check out this agenda with great reviews.

When I put a student on agenda checks, with start with it being the teacher’s job to remind the students to get their agendas signed.  But, quickly, as the student gets used to it, we switch the responsibility to the student.  The student is responsible every day to get their agenda signed by a teacher, confirming that they wrote the homework down thoroughly and accurately.

What Works for You!

Of course, not every student is the same.  We have all learned that the hard way.  Some of these tools may work for you, some may not.  Finding tools to meet the specific needs and personalities of our students is a lifelong quest.

Do you have any tips that work great for your students?  Share in the comments!

See also:

Special Education Organization Essentials

Supporting Students Who Struggle with Executive Functioning