Back to School Time: 12 Tips for Using a Planner to Stay Organized

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by Eileen Bailey
Wednesday, August 04, 2010

The ability to organize and plan is essential to school success, but this still is elusive or non-existent for many children with learning disabilities. A daily planner can help keep track of assignments and create a way for students to know, at a glance, what work still needs to be done.  Below are ten tips for using a planner effectively:

Make sure you have an "academic" planner. When shopping for a planner, check to make sure it is clearly labeled "academic." Academic planners begin in September and end in June to follow the school year.  Summer months are not usually included. Calendar year planners, used in business follow the calendar, beginning in January and ending in December. Your child will need an academic planner.

Choose the right planner. Some planners include extra information. They may have sections for commonly misspelled words, metric conversion factors and maps. Some are geared to specific age groups. Find the planner that will best help your child.

Make sure the planner has your child's name, the teacher's name and the classroom number clearly marked. This way, if the planner is lost (or when the planner is lost), it can be returned to your child or the classroom.

Use the planner to communicate with the teacher. Ask your child's teacher to check the planner on a daily basis for notes from you. You can jot down if your child had a difficult time with an assignment or if you have a question about an upcoming project. This also gives the teacher a way to stay in constant communication with you about what she may be seeing in the classroom. Obviously, if there are things you would prefer not to discuss in front of your child, the notation should be "please call me at your convenience."

Have your child check the planner every day. Each night before homework is completed, your child should check the planner to make sure he remembered all assignments. Each morning he should check to be sure he has not forgotten any items or homework that needs to be brought to school.

Help your child plan long-term assignments by breaking them down and listing what should be completed each day in the planner. Rather than listing just the final due date, write down each step along the way to help your child stay on track.

Use the planner as a checklist for assignments. Have your child place a check mark or highlight as each assignment is completed. You can use this to help monitor the progress of your child's homework.

Have the teacher check to make sure all assignments are written down. Your child's teacher can initial to make sure the assignment is list is complete.

Have your child make checking the planner a part of his daily routine. How many times has your child completed homeowrk based on memory rather than actually checking the planner? Stress the importance of "double checking" by using the planner.

Include the names and phone numbers of a few classmates in the planner. This helps by providing your child with the ability to contact a classmate if he has questions about the assignment.