DIY Planner - Planning ideas for teens - Comments

Link linkety Link

ygor — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 03:00:01 -0400

Link
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"I think the surest sign that there is intelligent life out there in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us." (Calvin and Hobbes/Bill Waterson)

Planners for Children/Teens

lbkwrm — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:24:11 -0400

Check out the Student Control Journal at flyladydotnet. It's routine based rather than time based. It also is set up a bit like a workbook so it helps them think about what they need to do during the day. Not to mention it's a free download... Always with in budget for those of us with small fry!

First thought: use a project template ?

ygor — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 03:25:16 -0400

Example - pp 39/40 of the Classic Core template
Then you can try dividing the assignment into smaller parts.

This assumes a LARGE assignment versus the kind that is due tomorrow and involves reading a chapter or three or doing a few pages of math problems.

If I was home when the kids got in, I would ask them to show me the agenda and go from there.

I'm just shooting from the hip here. Hope some part of it helps.
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"I think the surest sign that there is intelligent life out there in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us." (Calvin and Hobbes/Bill Waterson)

GG, you are right, this

PJango — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 14:45:27 -0400

GG, you are right, this isn't a school planner issue! I'm well aware that I'm 'mind blind' to some things here, not seeing first hand what the teachers are providing.

regarding groups? that's so hard! Both my high school boys ran into this, mine are high honor roll kids, and would often be the one in the group that would be penalized the most with a group grade, even tho they had done the majority of the work.

one of the teachers noticed this, and put a different spin on things...she graded my son on the actual bottom line project, and anytime a group member was slacking, the other kid got penalized points. that's a first!

A different planning concept...

GG — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 06:43:24 -0400

When my daughter was in school, there were often checkpoints for longer assignments, like papers and researh projects. The teachers gave them a final due date and there were several intermediate dates -- maybe a few days for them to select a topic, a week to do some preliminary work, like a tentative bibliography, another week to get an outline with thesis sentence and topic sentences for the main points, then a rough draft, maybe a preliminary final paper, and then the final due date. Each of these steps would be absolute deadlines, and the teachers would give the students feedback and direction, such as too narrow or too general a topic, need for more sources, need to develop better topic sentences, etc. Part of the final grade would be based on how timely the student met the intermediate checkpoints. I always thought it was a lot of work for the teachers, but it was helpful in keeping the kids motivated and working along the way, instead of waiting until the last minute.

Often there would be a message sent to the parents that this project would be going on, and a slip of paper for parents to sign and return, acknowledging that they were aware of the project and should be providing encouragement and not planning anything that would interfere.

If the student got off-track or didn't get started, the teacher and/or parent would be aware of the problem in time to get them back on track.

There were always grading rubrics (never had those when I was in school) that made it clear what the grade would be based on.

If your school doesn't provide these checkpoints, you could set some up yourself. I found that some teachers were very detail-oriented and had everything laid out, and some left things up to the kids and parental oversight was needed. Actually I think both ways are good -- the first helps kids get organized and the second approach gives the kids a chance to develop responsibility on their own.

You might try setting up something like this on your own if your school doesn't have such a system. Have more oversight for the younger kids, and as they get older still keep an eye on what they're doing, but give them more flexibility.

I don't think this is a student planner issue. Student planners are usually no more than calendars or agendas where important dates and assignments can be recorded. I'd set up a separate sheet of paper for this, with four or five dates for the checkpoints. You could sit down and plan it with your student and agree on the dates, what should be accomplished when. Then keep the sheet where you can refer to it or make a note in your own and the student's planner that you need to meet on this on a certain date.

When your students get a group assignment they could also set up something like this. I was surprised once when my daughter was in a group, and one of the kids didn't do his part. This really brought down the entire project, and the teacher gave all the kids in that group a bad grade, even the ones who had done their parts. I guess it was a good lesson, but a hard one for my daughter. If they'd had some way of checking on the slacker, they could have done his part and gotten a better grade. I guess that was a valuable life experience.

HTH,
GG

can you give me some insight

PJango — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 03:08:01 -0400

can you give me some insight into waht we're missing here? so when the kids write their assignments down, what are we missing?

alot of my high school boys' assignments are multi part. yes, the math is just the next set of problems, but english, can have several open assignemnts with diferent stream of due dates.

when they were little we did the stopsign thing. yellow meant yellow alert, due date coming up, green meant I think it's good to go - red meant due dates.

can you tell I have ADD by the way I'm grasping for understanding?

school planner

PJango — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 03:04:54 -0400

I'm so lost in this nested thread, ugh. but. want to make some comments and ask a couple questions:

first of all, I think planners for school are a good idea, but it's utterly frustrating, because they only tell my three teens

1. what the assignment is
2. when what parts/end is due.

it doesn't do a THING to tell my daughter how much of an assignment she ought to comeplete tonight, what she shoudl be doing NOW.

there isn't any concept of TIME in those planners

sorry for YELLING but I'm so frustrated.

I can't tell you the number of times my kids say at 4:30 no homework, and then that magical memory happens at 9:30 - then all three of them are vying for the computer to type their papers!

our schools require planners, and for my seventh grader, teachers require I sign it, but my DD is still turning stuff in late, missing stuff, etc. she already lost her algebra book once, she left one of her instruments on the bus, and lost a packet of papers I signed.

my point about the planner is I think the teachers just think everyone has an executive funtioning brain - NOT in our home!

those books on ADHD brains, are good, but again, it doesn't help us manage our time.

ideas?

My third grade son just

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 02:49:48 -0400

My third grade son just started at a new school and this school begins in kindergarten using a planner. They write all of their assignments and extra activities in it along with homework. There is a place for teachers to make notes to the parents and vise versa. I think it is a great idea to start them learning to keep their assignments, etc organized from the beginning when they are just learning everything. That way it is just a part of them as they grow.

Olympics Online

LisaPT — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:56:45 -0400

I've watched quite a bit of the videos at the nbc site. No problems at all except that the commentators are often typing in their comments as the events happen, which they seem to hate doing. It does make it easer to read the commentary on the computer while I'm watching the games on TV though.

Obviously, I need to plan for the next Olympics a bit better. Obviously, I need to sleep instead of work.

Got a Usenet type news account ?

ygor — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:41:40 -0400

I've seen video downloadables in alt.binaries.tv and alt.binaries.multimedia
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"I think the surest sign that there is intelligent life out there in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us." (Calvin and Hobbes/Bill Waterson)

hoping

Sara — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:14:33 -0400

I'm hoping to be able to watch them online... anyone tried this yet? i've missed so many of the events i wanted to see >.<

my artwork | my blog

DVR

ladycat — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:07:55 -0400

That's what the DVR is for. I've set mine to record the sessions that contain events that I awant to watch, and then I watch them the next evening after work, or when I have time. Weekends have definitely been Olympics catch-up time for me. Watching it this way also lets me fast forward through commercials and events I don't especially care about that are shown ahead of or between the events I want to see.

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"I want to live in Theory. Everything works there."

planning aids

LisaPT — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 03:25:32 -0400

Since the plans of others are most likely the reasons my plans get messed up, I actually thought ygor posted them as a planning aid. Although this week I think I am my own worst problem and would have to use them on myself. I will not go to bed. I must stay up and watch the olympics. In my part of the world the games are on live all night long.

Yawn...

Heh.

caligatia — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:57:42 -0400

Things like that are the reason I don't have kids. Because I would actually use those links. ;)

And then there is the extreme ...

ygor — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:10:08 -0400

Link
Link
I promise, these links go to nothing rude or nasty
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"I think the surest sign that there is intelligent life out there in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us." (Calvin and Hobbes/Bill Waterson)

Planning ideas for teens

StacyFinch — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 21:26:47 -0400

With school quickly approaching, I would like to help my two boys set up a planner. Their teacher started to last year, but did not follow through. I think it would be a great skill for them to learn now instead of struggling through their early adult years.

I am thinking their planners would each include school (little to no homework at their small private waldorf school), chores, extracurricular activities (sports for one, music for the other), contact information.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks,

Stacy

D*I*Y Planner - Planning ideas for teens - Comments