By Deena Yellin, Sunday, February 10, 2008
Three worn notebooks. A half-eaten sandwich from yesterday’s lunch. Some crumpled papers. Oops — that was last week’s homework assignment. And those are only some of the things hidden in the black hole that is the knapsack of the disorganized student.
Fortunately, there are plenty of experts willing to help the frazzled keep their papers, pencils and schedules in order. Assuming, of course, you are willing to dole out $100 or more per session.
These über-organized mavens have made an industry out of helping the muddled become as prepared as Boy Scouts. They arm their clients with color-coded filing boxes, binders and folders so papers can be divided into categories and produced when needed.
Carrie Greene of CarrieThru Coaching and Organizing in South Orange said those who struggle with these issues typically grapple with organizing materials as well as time. Many suffer from lowered productivity as a result, she said.
Greene advises creating as much structure as possible. Even something as obvious as where to place a knapsack needs to be established to promote routine. “Your child also must understand that completing homework means that he knows what the assignment is, he finishes the assignment, puts it in the knapsack and then hands it in to the teacher on time.”
Children should do homework at the same place and time every day. “It doesn’t need to be at a desk or even in a quiet room, as long as they follow their own work habits,” she said.
Vicki Roche, a life coach in Morristown, helps her teenage clients by working off assignment planners and calendars. “We go over what they need to get done that week, and we discuss their long-term projects. I help them to plan out the steps involved in getting things done week by week so they don’t have to resort to cramming. This helps them learn the skills of planning their projects by creating a time frame.”
Students today have it harder than their predecessors, acknowledged Norwood Schools Superintendent Andrew Rose. “In contrast to years ago when much of school learning centered around memorization and rote tasks, the learning requirements are different today,” he said. “Today, there’s a lot more multitasking required, and a lot more homework assignments are project-oriented. So children who are not organized can founder.”
Donna Goldberg, an organizational coach for the past 17 years who works throughout the tri-state area, believes organizational skills can be learned.
Goldberg was motivated to become a coach after years of helping her son with his organizational problems. He has since become a successful college student. Now she is not only a sought-after coach, she is the author of “The Organized Student.” It offers a range of solutions for everyday organizational problems, including strategies for the backpack, locker, notebook and desk.
Goldberg believes that part of the problem today stems from teachers distributing too many handouts. Years ago, students learned from a textbook and that was it, she said. “I go to clients and see the papers are flying back and forth to school. The kids are struggling with finding their materials,” she said.
Some students struggle when their classes are departmentalized and they have minutes to move their materials to another class and transition to a different subject.
“You have to keep working with them to help them through all the changes,” she said.
Monica Roth of Monmouth County said that her fifth-grade daughter, Rachel, was so disorganized she was constantly missing deadlines for homework and losing her papers for school. Then they met with Goldberg.
“She organized her subjects so that they are color-coded. She has an accordion file for all her papers in one place. She goes over how to plan reports and how to plan ahead,” Roth said of her daughter. “Everything is easier for her now.”
Pamela Macleod, who launched the Englewood business Organized From A to Z nearly four years ago, says it’s not just the backpacks and the papers that need to be filed away, it’s the parents of disorganized children who often must learn how to de-clutter.
“Everyone has so much stuff nowadays and nobody knows where to put it,” she said. While she works one-on-one with children who need help, it’s not in isolation, she said.
“If there’s a lot of chaos in the household, it won’t work. You can have a perfectly organized bedroom for a child, but if a child has ADD or emotional challenges, you need his entire environment to be perfectly uncluttered and organized. The entire home needs to be structured.”
She forces everyone in the home to purge items and organize closets and drawers. As for the papers that come home in the knapsacks each day, she said she makes filing boxes with color coding according to subject.
Not everyone touts organizational skills as the precursor to academic and intellectual success. Westwood Regional Schools Superintendent Geoffrey Zoeller said that while organizational skills help students maximize their time, he noted they are irrelevant to brainpower.
“Being organized allows students to approach homework and projects in a more efficient way and relieves stress in getting things done,” he said. “But I don’t know that organizational skills result in any greater academic achievement. Some of the greatest minds I’ve ever met had no organizational skills whatsoever.”
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