We recently received this email from a high school teacher who implemented Organized Binder a few weeks ago. We have changed names for anonymity:
“Funny thing happened today at a parent/student conference. The guidance counselor, vice principal, all other teachers, the student (we will call him Jake), and his mom were all present. Jake is literally failing every one of his classes and has been all year as the result of a lack of effort and understanding of the content. He refuses to keep any papers in any folders and his teachers were complaining that he throws everything out and doesn't write anything down. The meeting was not going well...
However, when it was my turn to speak, well, it was different. Although he is still failing my class, I was happy to say that he has all of his assignments in his Organized Binder, organized and in order, although not completed, they are there (note: he even received 25/25 on binder check). The solution we came up with centered around Organized Binder's green Agenda: Page C (see below). I suggested that his mom check his Agenda each day after school to see what he did in class, if he had homework, and see if a quiz/test was coming up, then initial it. The student agreed, no problem, and the guidance counselor said great idea!
I'm not a huge fan of Charlie Sheen, but can I just say....WINNING! I was so proud of my student for feeling in control for a split second and feeling proud of himself for keeping his binder at least organized with every assignment needed to catch up in my class, and a little proud of myself, too, for implementing Organized Binder and having it work so well for my students."