Crunch Time

With the School Year closing out, it is Crunch Time at school.
With Balticon approaching, where my ACapella group is featured, it is Crunch Time with prep for that.

There is just so much to do.  And everyone seems to think it must be done NOW! Emails pile upon emails.

It's Crunch Time for my students too.  And they are PANICKED.  "I have all of these tests to study for and so many projects to do!" complained one of my students.  So we started talking about Priorities.

What is easy and quick to do now?  What needs more time and attention?  How much is it worth?  When is it due?  These questions flew around my classroom.  So we started writing them down.

Somehow, my students were never taught the concept of a checklist, even less a prioritized one.

Organization is important.  But students don't understand WHY.  They just know that their teacher will "perform a random binder check" and if their papers aren't in "the correct section," they will get a 0.  But WHY do we organize our papers? So many reasons come to mind: So we can find them again; For easy studying; For easy reference; etc.... And not every system works for everyone.  I often give my students options, and let them pick one that works for them.

"Magistra, you're the most organized teacher we have!" one of my students told me once.  I was surprised.  I am an organized person, most of the time, but the MOST organized?!  Surely that couldn't be true.  As I've been on the Technology committee this year, I've been realizing how much I actually make a POINT of organization and MODEL it for my students.  And they begin to get it.

Once again, I come back to two questions: How? and Why?   How do we keep our students and ourselves from going insane at Crunch Time?  How do we model organization for them?  And How do we teach them not only WHAT to do, but WHY we do it?