Student organizational skills curriculum and college readiness | The Middle School Student's Guide to Ruling the World!

June 2010: Susan Mulcaire was recently interviewed by Robyn Lewis, Senior Editor for Pearson Education's new College and Career Readiness blog (scroll to June 11 posting). skippingdinner.com

Here are some TIPS and LINKS to help you get started on the road to success in middle school. Feel free to use the tips and links for your school newsletter or website! Click on each blue title to read more.

Feb. 2010: Another "must-read" excellent study on middle grades educational practices and their relationship to student outcome: Gaining Ground in the Middle Grades www.edusource.org This study provides specific, actionable practices that middle grades educators and leaders can implement now to improve student achievement.

See also: "Putting Middle Grades Students on the Graduation Path: A Policy and Practice Brief" by Dr. Robert Balfanz and associates at the Center for Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins University and the Philadelphia Education Fund. This report illuminates the critical role the middle grades play in the national goal of graduating all students from high school prepared for college, career, and civic life. It confirms that in order for schools to keep students on the graduation path, students must be taught organizational and self-management skills, such as study and work skills, time management, note taking and assignment completion strategies. The full report and Executive Summary can be accessed on the NMSA website at www.nmsa.org.

**************************************************************

Tip! Can a group project be used to teach your middle school students skills they will need for success in college and career? Definitely! For the rest of their lives -- throughout high school, college, and then in the workforce, they will be members of group projects in the form of study groups, research, business or sales teams, committees or boards. The middle school group project is a great opportunity to introduce students to the dynamics of team work. Consider teaching mini-lessons about group dynamics and group psychology. Early on in the group project, have the groups engage in some team building activities. During the course of the group project, teach students negotiating or conflict resolution techniques. Teach them skills and techniques they can use to bring together different personalities and talents, overcome conflicts, disagreements and set backs, in order to create a product or achieve an outcome. The ability to foster team work and success is a skill they can use in middle school and beyond!

Hint: Go to Fun Forms from the Guide to download the Group Project Organizer to help your students successfully manage their group project.

Tip! The goal of middle level educators is to get -- and keep -- students on a college track. So, why allow your students to develop habits -- including research habits -- that do not serve the college readiness goal? Permitting students to cite Wikipedia as a source impedes the development of good research skills, and allows students to develop a habit or practice that does not serve the college readiness goal. Most colleges and college professors do not consider Wikipedia to be a "citable source" for a college paper. While Wikipedia is an excellent place for jump-starting research, or for checking basic facts, it is a tertiary source, at best. Unfortunately, throughout middle and high school, many students are allowed to rely on Wikipedia, and enter college without acceptable research skills. So, what's the best policy? 1. Follow a “Look But Don’t Cite” Wikipedia policy mirroring what will be expected of students in college. 2. Teach your students about primary, secondary and tertiary sources, the differences between them, how to find them and how to use them. Don't let them develop habits that do not serve their college goal!

Tip! Motivational experts tell us that visualization is one of the best ways to create motivation. Seeing yourself achieving a goal makes it more likely you will actually achieve it. So, if you want your students to increase their college readiness, why not have them start "college" in middle school? Create an exploratory called “University of [Your School Name.]” The main objective of the exploratory is to learn essential college readiness skills, such as good work habits, time management, organizational, study and research skills. But, take it another step by helping students visualize themselves as actual college students. Here's how it works: Select 5 or 6 colleges (Northwestern, Duke, Texas Tech, Howard, UCLA, any college will do...) Using a sorting hat (a la Harry Potter), or going by period, "enroll" students in a college. (You can also have students select one or two of the colleges, complete a college "application" including a personal statement essay.) Throughout the year, as your students learn essential college readiness skills, they also have fun following and comparing football, basketball and other standings for their college, wearing college colors on occasion, researching and taking classmates on a virtual tour of their college campus, learning the fight song, investigating and comparing majors, etc. Have students contact the college's communication or outreach department for posters or other promotional materials to design a college bulletin board or host a college day. Sponsor friendly competitions between colleges (ie. a lunchtime soccer game -- Florida State vs. Boise State, or Who Has the Most Famous Alumni? Faculty Member? Mascot?) Take a field trip to a local college. Ask faculty members to volunteer to be college “Deans” to help organize and supervise activities. The point is, the more a middle school student can visualize actually being in college and making a connection to college -- any college! -- the more likely it is that they will set and meet a goal of going to college. A “University of ..." exploratory is a fun way to increase college readiness!

Tip! Follow up on matters that affect your grade.

Knowing when -- and how -- to speak up is important to be an organized middle school student. Whether it's as simple as tracking down a teacher to reschedule a missed lab, check on a grade, or ask for another copy of that lost worksheet -- don't let shyness, embarrassment, limited English skills, concern about being in trouble with your teacher - or any other matter -- keep you from doing what you need to do to follow up on matters that affect your grade. Sometimes for middle school kids, its hard to speak up. So here's a tip: Practice! Figure out what you are going to say to your teacher to explain your dilemma. Then, practice saying it aloud to a friend, or to your mom or dad. Know what you are going to say and how your are going to say it. You'll feel more confident when you talk to your teacher. Remember to say "please" and "thank you!"

Tip! It's Group Project time! Group projects can be a great middle school learning experience, but they can be difficult to manage.

The key to a successful group project is communication. Group project members should exchange phone numbers and email addresses as soon as the project has been assigned. Hold a group meeting. (Hint: Use the Group Project Organizer you can find at "Fun Forms from the Guide.") Make sure that each project member clearly understands what his or her project task is, when and where it is due. Distribute tasks fairly. Decide on dates, times and locations for project meetings and note the dates in your planner! Good luck!

Tip! Start the new semester out the right way. Update your planner!

Log on to your school's website. Check out the annual calendar. Note in your planner all of the dates and events that impact you like finals, breaks, bell schedule changes, rallies, team, sports or play tryouts, and holidays. After that, focus on your personal schedule. Note in your planner items that impact you over the next month, like sports practices, ortho appointments or birthdays. Write them in your planner! Have your planner, and a pen or pencil in hand the minute you walk into your classrooms and write down assignments and all other class schedule items that impact your time and management of your workload. Use abbreviations and separate entries with bullet points!

Tip! Did you know that in middle school, what you do and how you do it can be just as important as what you know?

You may be the smartest kid in the class. You study hard. You ace tests and quizzes. But, maybe you're not quite as diligent when it comes to homework or other assignments. You've got a few missing or late assignments, and you forgot to make up that lab you missed. "It doesn't matter," you tell yourself, "My teacher knows how smart I am because of my awesome test and quiz scores!" Well, you may be in for a shock. When your final grade arrives in the mail, you stare in disbelief at the grade you received! What happened? You've just found out the hard way that in a grade averaging system, those seemingly minor missing and late assignments can wipe out all of your good efforts on tests and quizzes. Under grade averaging, those assignments, homework and labs all counted toward a percentage of your final grade. So, be smart! Know and understand your teacher's grade averaging schedule. Do all of your assignments, turn in your homework, and make up missed work. Remember, even the small stuff counts!

Tip! Good organization starts with your binder. Keep your papers, homework and handouts separated by class.

Never file language arts papers or handouts with science stuff, or math papers in your biology section -- you get the idea. Keep important handouts in sheet protectors in your binder. The sheet protectors will keep them right where you can see them, and keep them from falling out of your binder and getting lost or trashed. Homework, permission slips, and papers that go from school to home and back, should be kept in a pocket folder in your binder. Always put your homework in your binder as soon as it's finished. Never leave it on your desk to put into your binder the next morning.

Tip! Go to The Middle School Student's Guide to Ruling the World! and get the rest of your workload organized!

Read Susan Mulcaire's article "Addressing the Middle School Organizational Skills Conundrum" in FASA's Communicator, Winter 2009. Read

The National Middle School Association featured Susan Mulcaire's article "Are Your Students Prepared for the Organizational Demands of Middle School?" in September's E-Connections newsletter. Read

The Palo Alto Daily News wrote about the Middle School Guide on November 5, 2007.Read

Here are some excellent Homework Help websites:

Fact Monster Homework Center: www.factmonster.com/homework

Yahooligans!-School Bell: www.yahooligans.yahoo.com/school_bell/

Jishka Homework Help: www.jishka.com

Multnomah County Library Homework Center: www.multcolib.org/homework

Yahooliogans! Reference: www.yahooligans.yahoo.com/reference

Math

Dr. Math Middle School Archive: www.mathforum.org

Math.com - Homework Help: www.math.com

Check back every month for new organizational tips!

Webmath: www.webmath.com

Language Arts