A Tool for Academic Success: The Student Planner

Source: Dayna Brandoff

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It's easy to feel overwhelmed by the approach of the school year.  As a parent, there is a lot to juggle to get your child back into her regularly scheduled program - carpool coordination, school supply shopping and the reinstatement of pre-summer routines.  As a student, it can feel just as overwhelming.  Your preteen may be feeling anxious about a whole different set of responsibilities - in some cases, it's the first time he'll have a locker, the first time he'll be changing classroom between subjects and the first time he'll have to navigate a new school building.  One way to help your child feel more in control is to encourage him to develop organizational skills through the proper use of a student planner.

Choosing a Planner

Many school districts provide planners to their students at the beginning of the school year.  If you are purchasing one with the rest of your child's school supplies, here are some important features to look for:

• Dates.  This sounds like a no-brainer, but make sure that the planner is for Academic Year 2010-2011, rather than a general student planner.  It is much easier to stay on track when you are dealing with actual dates rather than "week 1, week 2," etc.
• Week view.  It is important that your child be able to see the entire week laid out before him - so look for a planner with the week spread out across two pages (when the planner is opened flat).
• Room to write.  Choose a model that has enough room to write down an assignment for each class.  Be sure to take into account the size of your child's handwriting.  
• More room to write. Many models offer a "notes" section for each week - this is a good place for your child to jot down non-assignment items such as the contact info of people in his group projects or a reminder to bring money for an upcoming school trip.

Getting Started, Together

First step: clearly mark the front cover of the planner with your child's name (this is especially important if your child is using a school-issued model).  Next, sit down and begin filling in dates and setting up systems together, being very clear about how you think the planner should be used.  Here are some tips:

• X out the days that school will be closed for vacation.  Nothing like the prom.
• Fill in the fun events.  Check your school district's calendar for events like the Winter Concert, Spring Dance, etc.  Write these in a different color pen (such as red) at the bottom of the date box to differentiate these events from assignments. 
• Set up a system for homework assignments. For the first few weeks of the planner, write your child's class list (in order of his daily schedule) in each designated day.  This will provide a clear space to write the assignment for Math, English, Science, History, etc.  After 3 weeks, your child should begin making this list on his own. 
• Tests, quizzes and reports.  When a teacher announces an upcoming project or test, your child should write the responsibility into the box for the date it is due.  Some students find it helpful to highlight these items to make them stand out from the rest of their assignments. 
• Extracurriculars.  Anything that takes up time in your child's life should be recorded in the planner.  After all, these activities take away time that he can focus on school work.  If your child plays a sport, fill in game days and times. If your child takes art, dance, karate, piano lessons, etc. - be sure that those are reflected on the proper days.

Encouraging Good Habits

By starting the system for assignments, you've already begun to encourage good organizational routines but it takes repetition and reinforcement to make something a habit.  In the first few weeks of school, do a daily check-in with your child to make sure he is keeping up with his planner and using it to manage his time effectively.

• On Mondays, look ahead at the next two weeks for any upcoming tests or reports.  Talk to your child about when he plans to study/complete these projects.  Write these chunks of time into the planner, and hold your child to these appointments, getting him into the habit of planning for his upcoming responsibilities. 
• Look at the daily list of class homework - if any of the class spaces are blank, ask your child if there was an assignment for tonight.  If, for example, there is a homework assignment, but he wrote it down in his class notebook instead, copy them over together into the planner - you want to enforce that this is THE place to look for his assignments.
• The planner should have a designated home in your child's bookbag.  Because it is where he'll write homework assignments, he'll be taking it out at some point during each class - it will be easier to find if it is in the same place every time he goes to look for it. 
• Make sure your child checks the planner every morning (to be sure he's packed everything needed for the day) and every evening (to be sure he's completed all the assignments for tomorrow).

Staying in Dialogue

Ultimately, you want your child to be responsible for his own assignments and time.  Once you are comfortable that he can keep up his planner on his own, it is important to taper off the daily check-in to a weekly one.  Choose a time, every week, to check in with your child's calendar.  Sit down together and look at what's ahead for the upcoming week - reports to finish, tests to study for.  Looking at the extracurriculars, talk about when each to-do will get done.  

If, after changing to a less-frequent check-in, you find that your child is slipping (missing homework assignments, cramming for tests he forgot he had), you can always reinstate the daily check in to help him get back on track.

Why it's so important

It may seem far off, but there will come a day when your child sets out on his own.  Whether it's in college or in her career life, he will no longer have you looking over his shoulder, reminding him of an upcoming deadline.  Time management, a skill that is so important to academic success, is sadly not taught in the schools.  By taking the to time to encourage good organizational habits now, you are teaching your child a skill set that will benefit him throughout his lifetime. 

Dayna Brandoff is the founder of Chaos Theory Inc., a professional organizing company located in New York City. For further organizing tips or hands-on help, visit www.ChaosTheoryNYC.com.