Overview For Teachers

ORGANIZATION: The ability to manage both one’s self and one’s own time and the time of others; use resources effectively; plan and prioritize work and personal life to meet goals and deadlines; the ability to overcome procrastination.

​

PURPOSE: Upon completion of this module, the student will understand the importance of being organized in the classroom as well as the workplace. In addition, the objectives listed below should be met.

​

OBJECTIVES:

 Ability to recognize the importance of being organized

 Ability to realize how being organized affects all aspects of their life

 Ability to demonstrate organization at school, at home, and at work

​

OVERVIEW:

This module focuses on teaching students the importance of being organized and having good organizational skills. Students will come to realize how organization can affect their success in the future at school and at work . In addition, students will have an opportunity to gain an understanding of the importance of effectively managing time and resources by participating in various activities designed to stimulate thought and discussion.

​

TEACHERS: WHAT ARE YOU OBSERVING?

What does organization look like in the classroom or in school in general? A great way to answer this and get things going is through engagement with the students. Ask your students these questions:

1. What does organization look like in class?

2. How does your organization affect other students? Example: Homework, group projects, sports, etc.

3. What does being organized look like within your learning?

​

RELEVANCY OF ORGANIZATION:

Employers have stated that organization, including the ability to plan and prioritize work, is vital to the success of an individual. Good organizational skills are also important outside of the workplace in order to meet goals and deadlines.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

LESSON:

Are You Being Productive Daily?
Time Allocation: 20  minutes
Materials/Resources: whiteboard, markers, paper, pens/pencils, sticky notes, computers/tablets/smartphones (students -
optional), sticky notes, sign to designate one wall as the “Time Waster” wall.

​

WATCH THE VIDEO:

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

ANTICIPATORY SET IDEA:

Read the following quote out loud to the class or write it on the whiteboard:
o “Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it, you can never get it back.” –Harvey Mackay
 Have students share their thoughts on the quote and how it applies to their life.

DIRECT INSTRUCTION:

Instruct students to reflect on what their average day looks like – what activities are they doing, how much free time do they have, and how are they spending their free time. Teenagers these days seem to have little free time in between all of their activities and school work.
 One a piece of paper, have them write down the three main ways they spend their free time on a daily basis.
  o Social Media
  o TV/Movies/Netflix/YouTube
  o Video/Computer games
  o Sports
  o Homework
  o Being outside
  o Spending time with friends
 Ask students:
  o Why is it important to be productive?
  o How will learning to be productive now help you later in life? How will it help you once you a have a career? Or a family of your own?
 Now, have students ask themselves these questions about the activities they just wrote down:
  o Are these free-time activities productive?
  o If not, what can you change to make them productive and a good use of your free time?
  o What are the necessary steps to begin to make those changes? What support do you need?
  o What’s one goal you can set for yourself towards being more productive and spending your time more wisely?

GUIDED ACTIVITY:

Have students find a partner and share their responses about how they spend their free time.
 As students are talking to their partner, give a sticky note to each student. When students are finished discussing, ask them to write down their top “time-wasting” activity on the sticky note. They will also write down the goal they came up with towards being productive.
 Students will post their sticky note on the designated “Time Waster” wall.
 Once they post their note, they will do a gallery walk to read what other students have posted

CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING:

 Technology Use: Survey: Create a short survey with Survey Monkey to check for understanding that students will complete before they leave for the day.

 Non-Technology: “Take and Pass” – Students will get in groups and will have one piece of paper per group. Then pose the question, “How does being organized affect your life?” One student will start and will write their response on the piece of paper. When they finish, they will pass it to the person on their right and they will then write down their response. Students will continue to write down their responses and pass the piece of paper until time is up. When time is up, students will debrief and will then share their responses with the class.

​

ETHICAL SCENARIO--Optional (if not using, skip  to "review and closing")

The Ethical Choice Scenarios have been developed to provide teachers with the ability to make the material applicable to real-life and relevant to the students. Within this guide, directions and prompts for the teacher will be in BLUE for ease of facilitation.

 

READ THE FOLLOWING SCENARIO OUT LOUD TO THE STUDENTS: 

SOCIAL WORK
Hanging out with your friends is not only fun, but critical to your social life. This weekend though is special. You and your friends have been waiting for this music festival for over a month and you are very excited. However, you just realize that you had forgotten that the Relay for Life event is also this weekend. You told the organizer last year that you would be happy to help this year for the whole weekend. Because the event runs for 48 hours, they often have difficulty recruiting volunteers. Serving as a volunteer for Relay for Life will look good on your college applications and your résumé and also provides you an opportunity to spend time with the doctors and nurses who volunteer. This is important because you hope to go into the medical profession someday and want to work with cancer patients. Having to decide between the two options is very hard, but you must do it. Prioritizing opportunities for your personal and
professional goals in life is important.

Which will you decide, hang out with your friends at the music festival or volunteer at the event that will give you an opportunity towards your career goals?

ASK THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS: (display them to the class if necessary)

1. How many of you have already been faced with this scenario in real life?

2. What was your decision and why did you make that choice?
3. What are possible positive or negative consequences of your decision?
4. How does your decision impact your long-term goals in life?

GUIDED DISCUSSION: ASK STUDENTS TO SHARE THEIR THOUGHTS ON THE SITUATION AND HOW THEY
ANSWERED THE QUESTIONS.

NOTE 1 : To help facilitate discussion, share any personal experiences you may have encountered with this same sort of issue.

NOTE 2 : Another option to foster further critical thinking is to then ask students, “Why are both investing in your relationships/friendships and your career important?"

NOTE 3 : Another option to foster further critical thinking is to then ask students, “What values do you think are in tension here, why is it a dilemma for you?”

CLOSING DISCUSSION: ASK THE STUDENTS , “DO YOU VIEW TIME AS A RESOURCE? HOW DO YOU PLAN AND DETERMINE YOUR PRIORITIES?”
 

REVIEW AND CLOSING:

Read out loud a few of posted Time Wasters that were repeated by a lot of students. Ask students how this activity can be turned into something productive and have a few students share their thoughts. Then, ask a few students to share their personal goals towards being more productive on a daily basis.

​

CORRELATION TO OBSERVATION TOOL: The Frequency Observation Tool (FOT) has a category where students will be observed and rated on their organization skills. This lesson will give them the opportunity to realize what changes they can make in their life to improve their organization.

DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION IDEAS
-Visual: Visual learners will benefit from having a printed copy of the worksheet to keep as a daily reminder.

-Auditory: Auditory learners will benefit from the group work and also the class discussions.

-Kinesthetic: Kinesthetic learners could create a diagram or web map instead of just writing down their responses to the questions..

-ESL: ESL students will benefit from working with a group in this activity in case they have questions or need clarification.

-At-risk: At -risk students would benefit from working with a partner for some extra interaction to keep them on task and focused.

-Advanced: To benefit advanced learners, you could have them partner up with a student who rates their level of understanding with a thumbs -down so they can help them better understand.

​