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As a former teacher, I've seen the negative effect poor organization can have on students.
Students who struggle with organization often think it's impossible to get organized, but even just choosing one product on this list will help.
From highlighters to binders, these simple organizational tools can make a big difference for students of all ages.
To the Type-A obsessively organized out there, these products seem like common sense, but to a lot of my former students who can't seem to locate their pencil for class each day let alone their homework, these organizational tools are just what they need to get the school year started off on the right foot.
Time after time, I've seen students lose points on assignments or tests and sometimes even take a zero because they can't find their notes or materials they need. It's frustrating for them and for their teachers because even though school isn't testing them on how clean they keep their locker, some basic organizational skills are necessary to keep track of school supplies, notes, and assignments. Basic organization is also a lifelong skill that can help students succeed in their future career.
You don't need to buy a ton of products to help your child get organized, and you don't need to fork over a lot of money on them either. If getting organized at school overwhelms your child, start with just one thing on this list - a small improvement is better than no improvement.
As a former high school teacher, here are six simple products I recommend for students who are trying to be a little more organized this school year.
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If you only pick one thing on this list to help your child get organized, pick a planner. I know it's easy enough to keep track of everything electronically, but having a physical planner can be an effective way to get organized and keep track of everything in one place — assignments, homework, tests, meetings, clubs, sports, jobs, and whatever else students need to juggle. Another con of trying to do it all electronically is that many schools ban phones during classes. If a teacher assigns homework during class, students can easily forget about it before they have a chance to put it in their phones.
My high school issued every student a planner, so the habit of using a paper planner was ingrained in me, and I still use one today to organize my life. When a student has a physical planner with them every day at school, it will remind them to use it and keep track of their life.
To those who are unorganized, this might seem like a big step, but it can take your student a long way. If they take my advice and use the planner, they can further organize it by color-coordinating: red for homework, blue for soccer, and green for work. Alternatively, they can use highlighters to mark off items they've finished or events that have passed.
Highlighters are also useful for organizing and sprucing up class notes. If your child is a visual learner like I am, they may have had the experience where they're taking a test and can't remember the answer, but can remember exactly where it's at in their notes and what color they wrote it in. Especially if their brain tends to think this way, color-coding notes can help them organize their thoughts and better remember the information. A great strategy to do this with highlighters is to go back through notes after class and highlight important facts in yellow, definitions of terms in blue, dates in green, and so on.
Binders to collect and quickly find notes and handouts
The decision to use binders or notebooks and folders for classes might be made for your child by their teachers. If your student has a choice, binders can do wonders for organization. Binders allow you to move pages around; something you can't do with a notebook. They also help students keep notes and handouts organized. Rather than rifling through their folder to find a worksheet on pronouns then also rifling through their notebook to find their notes on pronouns, in a binder, a student can keep that worksheet right next to their notes.
With a well-organized binder, it so much easier to find things quickly. Many of my unorganized students lose papers in their backpacks, lockers, or who knows where. And when they can't find their homework, they can't get credit for doing it. Once they develop their own system for how they like to organize their binder, it will be a breeze to find any papers or notes they need. I also like binders for students who are working on improving their organization because they can move things around as they learn how to organize and decide what what works best for them.
Dividers are key if your child is going to use binders to organize their schoolwork. If they're going to use one binder for multiple classes, the dividers can be used to separate the materials for each class. When using one binder per class, dividers can still do wonders for organization. Some possible sections to create with dividers include homework, notes, classwork, labs, essays, review materials, tests, quizzes, and projects.
Post-it notes are great for students to mark a spot in their notes or a book quickly. Many of my students have used Post-it notes to add notes in the margins of their books so they can remember where important parts are or add their thoughts to the reading without actually marking up the book.
Post-it notes also work really well to add temporary information or tasks to a planner or binder. Some of my students have unorganized notes because they try to go back and add things in after they've already written a page of notes, leaving no room to add anything extra. Using Post-it notes to add extra notes or ideas helps keep a student's class notes clean and organized. Many people also tend to think of ideas or remember tasks randomly — not always when it's a convenient time to whip out a planner. Writing out a quick Post-it note and adding it to a planner later can help them keep all their thoughts in one place.
Arrow Flag Post-it notes can also help your child organize thoughts when reading books for class. An example of how this can work well is when you're reading a text that you will later write an essay about. Blue flags could mark quotes you might use in your essay, orange flags might mark supporting details to the point you're going to argue in your essay, and pink flags might mark parts of the book that are confusing and you want to remember to ask your teacher about.
Pencil case that can hold pencils and other small items
This is another organization accessory that will pair perfectly with a binder. Some older students wouldn't be caught dead with a pencil case, but my most organized high school students use them regularly. If you have a chronic pencil-loser, you might be surprised by how much a designated place to keep their pencils can help. They're also great to hold other small items like erasers, lead cases, and Post-it notes.
Pencils seem like such a simple school supply, but they're everything. Some teachers take points off if students come to class unprepared (no pencil equals unprepared), and I've even had students just not take notes in the past because they weren't comfortable speaking up and asking for a pencil. When they have a home for their pencils, it makes it much easier to hold on to them throughout the school year.
