9 Ways to Model Organization

Posted In Teaching On July 28, 2023

Organization is an executive function that describes the ability to develop and use systems to keep track of materials and information. Students who struggle with organization often lose their belongings and come unprepared with what they need. They have a difficult time finding what they need and keeping their work neat. These struggles require students to spend time looking for their things and making do with not having the right tools, instead of spending that time learning. Showing students the systems you use to manage your materials, the strategies you use to prioritize and get ready for projects, and techniques you use to keep track of your thoughts and ideas, gives students valuable insight on how they can start to incorporate organization into their routines. The following behaviors can be modeled to your students:

• Show your students how the steps you take to organize your workspace helps you work more efficiently.
• Explain how giving each of your items a specific place to live helps you stay organized and find what you need.
• Share something you are reading and show how annotating is helping you keep the ideas organized.
• When watching a video with students, explain the steps you are taking to organize the concepts with notes.
• Show how you prioritize your tasks for the day and explain why you gave each task its priority level.
• Brainstorm thoughts on a topic and show your students how you organize them using a graphic organizer.
• With an upcoming project, explain to students how to you would organize the different parts of the project.
• Show how you use a checklist to make sure you have everything you need before starting your day.
• Explain to students your process for keeping track of important papers and digital files.