Use Binders to Keep Students Organized
Teach Organizational Skills to Middle School Students
Oct 10, 2009
One key component to middle school student success is organization. Many students are not naturally organized. One reason for the trouble with organization is that the students start changing rooms for classes, and they begin dealing with multiple teachers in middle school.
Keep a Three-ring Binder
A three-ring binder is a super way for students to keep all of their important papers in one place. The binder should be one-to-two inches and it should have three prongs that open and shut easily. For each grading period, the students should clear out the binder and start anew.
Use Tabs to Organize Binder
To keep the three-ring binder organized, students should purchase tabs for the binder. For example in language arts class, the tab could be labeled as follows: communications, reading, writing, grammar and vocabulary.
Three-hole Punch All Handouts
To help students, teachers need to three-hole punch all handouts, quizzes and tests. It helps to purchase a couple of manual three-hole punches and make them available for the students to use. In addition, many schools have electric hole punches that can punch large piles of papers at once.
Teachers Need to Help Students Keep Binder Organized
Many students like to use the "shove" method of organizing their binders. They shove everything in it without clicking open the metal prongs or rings. To stop this behavior, students need to be taught how to organize their binder.
When a teacher begins to require students to keep an organized binder, the teacher can show students an example of each paper. Then, the students need to be told which sections to place the graded papers. Every time papers are handed back to students, the teacher needs to take a few minutes to help students to place the papers in the right sections. After a few weeks, the students will become accustomed to placing their papers in the binder.
Give Binder Quizzes
If students are given a grade for keeping their binders organized, they will work even harder at it. One easy way to grade the binders is to give a quiz.
Teachers should choose five important papers. Then, they need to find one item on each of the five papers that students can locate and write as "answers" on the quiz. For example, a question on a binder quiz could be as follows: In the vocabulary section of the three-ring binder, find vocabulary list #3 and write down the fourth word on the list. Teachers should not give students a great deal of time to find the papers during the quiz.
The quiz should be oral so that students cannot look through the whole binder for the right paper. If students are organized, they should flip right to the vocabulary section, locate the list #3 and find the fourth word on the handout. This method is effective and efficient because it allows the teacher to see that the students have the important items. In addition, the teacher does not have to take boxes of binders home to grade.
Teachers who make students keep binders will see many students become more organized. However, for some middle school students, staying organized is a life-long goal that needs constant work.
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