The Student Agenda – If you have one, why don’t you use it?
Do your students use the agendas that they’re so excited to buy that first week back to school? I’m lucky – many of my students do buy an agenda. Using it, however? That’s another story.
I’ve actually realized that I’ve been part of the problem.
I teach grade 7. I have been using the fact that I teach junior high, as an excuse of sorts. “They’re old enough to know what they need to do. If they don’t do it – that’s really their problem. I’m trying to teach them to be self-sufficient and independent here!”
Well, I’m thirty. I KNOW that I need to exercise. Do I always do it? Sometimes, I get lazy – plain and simple. Wouldn’t it be nice if I had a cheerleader helping me along? Wouldn’t I be more apt to go for a run? Well, I’m going to be more of a cheerleader to my students this year (probably in more ways than one). They know what they need to do (just like I do) but they’re going to need my help to get and stay on track.
Here are some things that I plan to share with my students to help them get on the right track with using their agendas.
Need-Do-Due Poster: Help your students use their agendas
Here are a few things that I’m also going to try this year, in regards to agendas.
1) Give students more time and REQUIRE that they use their agendas. I wasn’t forceful enough in the last few years with getting students to use their agendas – the result? They didn’t use them. I don’t plan on using my brute force or anything, but I do plan on setting my expectations MUCH higher!
2) Spend MORE time talking about the agendas at Meet the Teacher night - how I plan to use them, what parents can do to help etc. I plan to really talk them up!
3) We always send home monthly reports about student behaviors, homework etc. I’m thinking about switching to weekly reports and then having students staple the reports in to their agendas. Then, parents will know to ask to see the agenda each week to check out their child’s report.
I’m excited about the changes I plan to make with the use of agendas in my class this year. If you would like a copy of the tips and poster above, head over to my TeachersPayTeachers Store to grab a free copy. I hope that my raising of expectations and putting more responsibility on the students will increase their overall success!
What are your thoughts on student agendas?
Posted on August 20, 2012, in Back to School, classroom management, General Teaching, Home and School Connections, Middle School, Student Organization and tagged lessons from the middle, student agendas, student organization. Bookmark the permalink. 23 Comments.
Thanks for this. I have been giving a lot of thought to it. I require that they have them, and have tried several different ways of checking to see that they use them. Parents signing, variable checking to see if they are signed, checking through once a week to see if they are signed, etc. When homework isn’t turned in, checking to see if it is in the planner…nothing has been very successful. I have to admit that I am the same way as a teacher. I have mine all filled out now, but in six weeks, I usually don’t! I will have to have them help keep me accountable. I have school calendars, plan book, pensieve, etc., but that isn’t an excuse! Love the posters and the high expectations thoughts. I’m going to try it. Also, it is a great idea to have sports schedules in there. DUH~That’s what they will get excited about. Never thought about that!
Thanks so much for your comments Michelle. I’m right there with you. I cringe at the thought of how much time can be wasted checking agendas for signatures and then – what happens if there are no signatures? Was the homework done, but not signed off on? Which is more important? I haven’t got it all figured out yet. However, this will be an improvement over how I started the year with agendas last year. I know that there are students who don’t write anything down, probably won’t change that habit – but maybe if they see everyone else buying in…peer pressure? Good luck with your kiddos!
Krystal
Thanks so much for this Krystal. I teach 6 and I have tried the same things as you. I love the posters. I am about to print them and laminate them. Now I just have to find somewhere in my classroom to put them up….right beside the homework board would be perfect! My students don’t really have a choice in buying their agendas, and if there are financial issues, they are given one. My biggest issue is that I am not with my students at the end of the day every day to do agendas and I don’t have them first period. One thing that I do try to do is train them to take their agendas with them everywhere they go so they can fill them out. I also tell them to take them out when they need to write something done…most of the time. Maybe I need a cheerleader?
I totally think that we all need a cheerleader! I’m lucky that I have a couple of teachers at my school that I connect with and we try to cheer each other on as much as we can.
That’s hard – though, as far as consistency goes with not seeing them first or last thing. Is there any way that the teacher(s) who have them then could help out more with implementing your policy, since it will be to everyone’s benefit?
Krystal
One thing that is making setting up a ‘system’ for consistently using (and checking) agendas a bit tricky in my area is a move towards including organizational systems in the many ways children may need differentiation. We’ve got to get more flexible and creative to handle things like one student keeping a single page for weekly reminders, another using her iPhone calendar & task list, and a third using the fancy agenda offered through the school with yet another showing up with a perfectly functional but basic dollar store version.
In theory, I totally agree that different things work for different people, but I also think that it can be a bit of a cop out (I say this from my own personal experience as a sometimes-procrastinator!) and of course it makes things much more complicated for a teacher. How do I use my “homework incomplete” stamp in an electronic organizer? How does a parent “initial” something in there?
So glad that you brought this up, Tammy. Absolutely agree! I guess that in the end it all comes down to communcation. You can’t “stamp” the electronic version – maybe that means that you have a generic email that gets sent out. If they want their child to keep using the electronic verision of an agenda – they’ll get an electronic response. What does this mean, though? More work and time on the part of the teacher in the way of follow-up. There really is no easy answer – I guess that’s why it continues to be a problem.
Krystal
Hi! I homeschool, but will be helping my friend teach her child as well. They will becoming over to do school with us a couple of days a week, as I have a lot of resources to share with them. They are only starting Kindergarten, but this does dound like a great tool to incorperate early on. What dolar store has these? Also, wha all should a good agenda include? I imagine this part will change ob verthe years. I have a teaher’s planner, & a teacher’s record keeper. I bought both of our chikdren calenders, pencil zip cases, packets with a plstic zipper at the top for papers. These all have holes to go in a 3 ring binder, which istill meed to get each of them, before starting after Labor Day. I also got themeach a pcket for papers that does not have the holes, but snaps closed. I thougjt that vould be for stuff that stays here, & the binder could goback & forth with her, or to the park, if we do school outsideon nice days or science outside, field trpis, ect. What ese should I include? Thanks! Sorry, typing on my phone!
Another tip for keeping your place in a paper agenda – some classes I’ve taught really liked to fold over the pages of the agenda as they used them, to make the current day easier to find. They would alternate folding the top corner and the bottom one. By the end of the year, it made the agenda super-thick, but it worked!
Ohhh, I like that! Thanks Tammy:)
Krystal
Agendas have been such a struggle for me that I’d all but given up. Thanks for your tips. I’m going to use them!
Kristin
Let’s hope that they help!!! This whole teaching thing is a work in progress, I think:)
Krystal
I love this! My students are also in that honeymoon phase and are totally in love their agendas (even though I confuse them by calling them assignment notebooks at times…whoops!) but I can tell they aren’t fantastic at getting it filled in all the way. I printed off a copy of the need-do-due page and the tips page to go next to my assignment board. During advisory, I am going to talk with my homeroom about how to use their agendas in the most efficient manner.
Thanks so much Laura! I hope that the ideas help:)
Krystal
Amen!!!! My 7th graders are the same, though we use paper clips to mark our page and hold the previous weeks together.
Amy
http://newlifeitsanewdayandimfeelingood.blogspot.com/
I homeschool. What dollar store sells the student agendas, so that I may incorperate this in to our classroom as well? We might be taking work outside to the park on nice days, doing science outside, & we will be going on fieldtrips from time to time. I am helping my friend homeschool her child, as I have a lot more resources than she does, so her daughter will be coming to our house to have school in our clasroom a couple of days a week. I will be printing off & sending home worksheets for her to do at home on the other days & bring back to get graded & given a reward or prize, like stickers or dollar store goodie. They are Kindergarteners. What all should a good agenda have for elementary age students? I bought each of them calenders, zippered pencil packs, zip plastic file for papers, little pencil sharpeners, pencils, etc. Thnk you!
A colleague of mine frequently adds an extra credit question on assessments that asks something like “what was the homework on September 14th?” Students then look back in their agenda to find the answer. If they didn’t fill it in, they can’t get the credit. I think I am going to try this with my 8th graders this year.
Ohhh – how sneaky! I love it! You could even do it monthly for a bonus point on – whatever! Thanks for the tip.
Krystal
Hello I’m a math teacher for grades 9 and 11 . We are using online students agendas. Each student get a password and could check his homework from the school page on the net. I think this is the best. Our school is in Lebanon middle east.
It just makes sense – especially if they all have phones to record their homework into this online agenda – again NO excuses! Thanks for your comment – and all the way from Lebanon – so cool!
Krystal
I used them this year by having the students write in the days agenda at the beginning of the day (basically the objectives I had written up on the board for that day) but after thinking about it, I wondered what purpose it really served besides keeping them busy for the first few minutes of class. Even one of my brightest and most respectful ones asked me one morning ‘Mr. Gibson, why do we fill in our agendas.’ My answer was ‘well it helps you kind of think about and prepare for what we’ll be doing for the day’ but even I knew that was kind of a lame reason.
For next year, I think I’ll have them fill them out at the end of the day with upcoming dates and anything that needs to be brought back to school. Good post.
Thanks so much for your comment! I have been struggling with actually getting my students to follow through on with using their agendas at the end of the class/day. When they don’t have them, forgot them home etc. it sort of defeats the purpose. If it teaches even a few of them time management skills, though – it’s worth it! BTW, I think that having them record the learning goals is a great idea. I’ve been trying to get those learning goals posted more often – but that’s a lot of work too. Important, but a lot of work to make sure that they’re always up to date.
Krystal
You know what??? I haven’t had my students take out their agendas in months. My fault. I so completely agree with you-we all need cheerleaders to help prod us on, so I’m gonna be their cheerleader!
I like how you mentioned them also using it for friends’ b’days, sports, etc. This makes it more personal for them which makes them more apt to use and look at it. Great idea!
Shannon
http://www.irunreadteach.wordpress.com
My middle school son doesn’t use his agenda either and he has a variety of reasons why (not enough time, teachers not clear, couldn’t find it, etc.). And it was having an effect on his grades – he didn’t know when tests were, he wasn’t getting the hw done, so I petitioned the school (he DOES have an IEP so I could get away with this) to have weekly reports sent home. Nothing terribly detailed, just what hw was missing, what tests/projects were due soon and any comments. So I’m a huge fan of the weekly report.
And I so agree that even as adults we need cheerleaders, not just to expect these kids to be self-sufficient and independent. So thank you!!