I will be teaching a group of 7th graders this upcoming year. The subject is "Organizational Skills". Any ideas/suggestions/ websites to check in order to deal with this topic successfully?
Thanks so much.

Just a couple of ideas, but I hope they get you in the right direction.

Teach them how to use a calendar or date book. There are so many systems like this out there; just take a look at the calendar section of Walmart or an office supply store. We have some specially made for out students that includes a calendar laid out monthly-style. But after each of those it has a weekly-style calendar. You can easily create one in a word document using the "table" set up. The ones that have worked best that I've seen have the days of the week across the top and the various school subjects down the side; this creates a small box for each day of the week for each class. Whenever a student walks into a new class, they should right down whatever the teacher has written on the board as the day's objective or agenda. They can also write down any posted homework assignments. If the teachers at your school don't post this kind of information, perhaps you could coach them on this because it is a great organizational tool. I post my warm-up activity, daily agenda, and homework on the side board in my classroom next to the calendar.

Here's one that's a little out there, but it has worked for me - color coding. I've used this strategy in many ways, when I was in school and now that I'm a teacher. For example, if the students at your school have textbooks assigned to them, then they are going to have to keep up with all of them - making sure they get to the right class, making sure to take them home when they have homework. Plus they have to deal with other materials as well. I hated taking home more than I had to, or carrying around too much stuff at a time. I began to color-code my textbooks and folders for classes. Like science would be green, so I would cover the textbook with a green cover and use a green folder for the class. Some people may keep everything in one big folder, so folder tabs could do here. So when I looked to my calendar mentioned above, and I saw I had homework for science, I knew I needed to grab my green stuff to go home.

Thanks so much for taking the time to offer these fine suggestions. I will definitely use them with my students.

Sidon:

I thought of a another idea, and I found some of my "keep them organized" files. I have attached the weekly agenda calendar I mentioned in my last post. I'm also attaching an assignment log.

The assignment log is for students to record their grades on the papers they have had passed back to them. Some teachers like to let the students look at their grades then hand them back in for the teacher to keep on file until a certain time (end of six weeks, semester, year). This helps students see how they are doing. Also, some teachers like to pass back papers on a regular schedule, like on Tuesdays while the students are doing independent work. It can also help the students know if they are missing any assignments. I've observed some classrooms (elementary) in which the teacher actually displays something like this on an overhead - a sort of master copy so the kids know which assignments are being graded and what they received (as well as if it's missing or not).

A couple of other thoughts: how about keeping organized at home, such as having a place set aside at your house for you to do homework. Or how about putting your school-things in the same place in your house so there is no stress in the morning looking for a backpack or a completed homework assignment. How about some time-management techniques such as doing homework at the same time each day (the hour dinner) or how to break down large projects lke science projects or research papers into smaller tasks each with their own deadlines.

Sorry, it would only allow me to attach one file at a time.

This might be a bit young for them, but a website called Flylady.org has some really good tips for students for keeping up with school as well as home life. The address for the Student Control Journal is: flylady.net/images/student_CJ.pdf

It is a free website, so I don't think there is any problem posting it here. It is a PDF file and is quite lengthy, but it might have some ideas for you. Good Luck, Bobbi:)