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.
