Give me an "R"!

When I was a tutor at CGTP, I had a sixth grader who came to tutoring with a very messy binder that housed all her classwork and homework.  Not only did this disastrous notebook bother me (maybe because I am a bit of a neat nut) but my student could never find her work or notes.  It usually took ten minutes just to get her assignment out for the night because she had no idea where it was.  So, I decided to get my student organized.  We cleaned out her folders, threw away the papers that she no longer needed, assigned her folders for different subjects, and made sure her assignment notebook was in plain sight for her to write down her homework and projects.  I asked her to try and keep her binder as organized as it was that day for the next time we were to meet.  Well, it took a few times, but she finally came to tutoring with an organized binder, and when she did, we celebrated!  She was so excited to show me her clean and organized binder after numerous times of me checking and still seeing a mess, that this time was different, and we were both very proud.

At the beginning of the school year, when you first met your student, you both set goals together.  Goals that you could strive for achieving throughout the year.  Maybe it was to bring up a reading grade or study harder on spelling tests.  Those long-range goals are important, but so are short-term goals.  Short-term goals can help build responsibility and lead to those longer-term goals.  My short-term goal for my student was to come to tutoring with an organized binder, simple for me, but it wasn't an easy task for her.  When she finally came with a great looking binder, I knew that she had achieved her goal and taken on the responsibility of keeping herself organized.

Consider asking your student to set a goal just for today.  By choosing one small goal to achieve in that short period of time will set your student up for success.  A small goal might be remembering to put their name on their paper or keeping track of their pencils.  Focusing hard on one task for one day may help him or her remember it again for tomorrow and put a strong focus on taking charge of their own learning.