Planning and Prioritizing- Planning and Prioritizing is often a process that aligns better with higher-order thinking as individuals acquire similar skills as they mature to manage this better. The planning side of this process focusses on the ability for an individual to set attainable goals for them selves, as well as ensuring that they take the right steps to ensure it gets done. The Prioritizing side of this process correlates with an individual's ability to sort the important tasks and things in their lives as they come up to ensure that their original goal is still met, this will also be evident when a student is dealing with a task that may have many steps, but does not know where to start. This process will appear in the classroom as a student projects their tasks and establishes a direction in which the assignments will be completed.
'Where to Check' Board
A simple way to have students work their way through a series of tasks is by writing out the required elements for them. A 'where to check' board is a simple break down of what the teacher is expecting the students to complete during that period, also allowing for the teacher to attend to other individual students who require more assistance. The concept of this board was created to combat the continuous questioning of what to do next as and answer the nagging statement of "I'm done". By writing down these steps for younger students, eventually the students will develop habits of their own in planning out what they have to do throughout the task, or what to do when they finish said task. A teacher can establish this system early for full effectiveness later on in the year as the students will develop their autonomous planning abilities throughout the year. This strategy could also very easily fit with the self-monitoring toolbox.
Day timer/Agenda
Throughout school we have all experienced the use of an agenda and it has become a regular piece of school communication. The early use of agendas and emphasis on student autonomy in completion builds skills towards better planning and prioritizing processes for the students. The practice of keeping an organized agenda comes easier to some students, but not so well to others, hence the benefit from regular parent and teacher check ins to ensure that the agenda is being used properly.
How did these strategies work for you? Was there a better way of implementation or any information that we forgot? Please use the comment section below to provide us and our users with more information about this toolbox.