Most middle school teachers need to teach their students about organization skills. Even as adults, we know that organization is not something we inherently know; it needs to be learned.
With all things, the more you can practice, the better you can be.
While we’re not talking about the 10,000 hours suggested by Malcolm Gladwell, there are still opportunities to incorporate explicit teaching and practice of new learning skills, especially through middle school student organization skills.
Middle School Student Organization Ideas
Explicitly Teach Middle School Student Organization
When you teach middle school student organization, start by showing students what it looks like to have an organized space. Deliver a mini-presentation with visual references of clean and organized spaces a student will use, such as their desk, locker and (subject) binder/duotang.
To make this happen, take a picture of a student desk that is as organized as possible. A pro tip is to take this photo during your back-to-school class set-up, when the desks are actually organized and clean!
For a binder, maintain your version as the students build theirs. Provide it as a reference they can consult. A good spot to keep it is next to the space where students can grab handouts and missed work from when they are away from class.
You can tour one of my classroom setups here: How to Set Up a Middle School Classroom. For more classroom setup ideas, visit Easy Middle School Classroom Set Up Ideas.
Conduct Regular Clean-Outs
Set aside time at key points during the year – I like to do this weekly if it fits in my schedule or just before extended school breaks – to have students clean out their desks, lockers, and backpacks. When conducting these cleanouts, be sure to have extra garbage and recycling bins and/or bags available. It can be surprising to see what students can fit into their desks and lockers.
I like to keep desks empty to facilitate flexible seating options, rotary classes, and general tidiness. Typically, students do not permanently store their materials in the classroom. They store them in their lockers and bring them to class as needed. A good analogy for students is that the desks are like hotel rooms. You do not keep all your personal belongings in hotel rooms.
I use this set of flexible seating choice cards for classes up to 35 to facilitate flexible seating. The cards also help with classroom management and support middle school student organization skills, as students need to be able to shift spaces with their materials ready to go. Read more about budget-friendly flexible seating here: 5 Budget-Friendly Flexible Seating Ideas.
Help Students Organize Their Digital Spaces
While it’s important to organize our physical learning space, middle school student organization also applies to their digital space.
To model setting up and maintaining a digital space, create an online folder or practice account at the start of the year. And like the class binder model, do the same online to include the files and folders your students should have.
At the start of the year, use this account to walk students through naming a document, creating a folder, and moving things where they need to be.
Hopefully, this will banish those pesky “Unnamed Document” files and give students a head start on finding what they need when they need it.
Include the digital aspects in those regular (weekly or monthly) clean-ups, too:
- Google Drive/OneDrive Organization
Get students to clean and organize their Google Drive and/or OneDrive accounts. This can be when you review naming documents and folders and the click-and-drag option to organize everything into its proper place. - Email Account Organization
Don’t forget to include any email account(s) students may use since those tend to get out of hand quickly for most people. - Digital Citizenship Lessons
Start the year with digital citizenship lessons and then maintain it all year long with these lessons focused on how to operate and communicate online, designed for middle school students. Start with email etiquette as well as LMS organization and etiquette. Then, teach students how to organize their inboxes by responding and deleting or filing away messages.
Hole-Punch Everything
If your lessons are on paper, do not rely on students to take the initiative to hole-punch their papers. For middle school student organization, before you hand out papers to students, ensure they are hole-punched. This can be a class job you assign to a student, or you can see if your school photocopier offers this as an option, when you are making your weekly copies.
Manage and Reduce Paper Use
Paper clutter is one of the most common issues for teachers and students. Check out this simple tip for managing paper handouts in notebooks. You can also find ways to reduce paper usage in your classroom by reading this blog post: 14 Useful Paper Saving Strategies For Teachers.
Explicitly teaching middle school students organization skills can support a variety of other skills and lead to success in many areas.
Hopefully, the above strategies will help your classroom become as organized as possible and encourage students to stay organized as they continue their academic pursuits.
If you are looking for additional middle school student organization ideas, check out these articles:
- How To Teach Students Organization Skills
- 10 School Organization Tips for Students
- 7 Ways to Teach Your Middle School Child Organization Skills
- Ultimate Guide to Organization Tips For Middle School Students
If you’re a teacher looking to up your own organization game, check out these posts:
- Classroom Organization Hacks
- Classroom Organization Ideas
- Classroom Organization Tips For New Teachers
- Helpful Middle and High School Classroom Organization and Setup Ideas
- Professional Development Organization: Managing the Overwhelming Paper Load
Try These Other Engaging Middle School Teaching Strategies:
- Go through the list in this blog post, Preparing Students for Middle School. Check off the strategies you have tried, and then pencil the ones you still need to tackle into your daybook.
- In 10 Great Tips For Teaching Middle School Students, teachers are provided with excellent reminders of what teaching middle school actually looks like (spoiler: it’s not all Pinterest perfect!).
Check out this list of 18 Effective Teaching Strategies and assessment ideas that can greatly add to your classroom and teaching toolbox.
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