Organizing Projects

For many local students, school starts this week. The rest get to wait until the day after Labor Day to return to the halls of formal education. It will not be long until they are assigned their first project. Whether the subject is reading, or science or social studies, the student is required to plan, organize and meet a deadline. These are important skills that they will use many times when they run their own homes and follow their grown-up careers, but they are seldom taught in school. Some students find ways to get the job done on their own, but most students need to be instructed and guided.

Some professional organizers (like Key Transitions) offer support for project organization and use a wide variety of tools and techniques to allow the individual to be successful in reaching the goal. There are, however, basic steps that can be reiterated every time a student has a project. Repetition of the process will help develop skills needed to accomplish time-sensitive tasks.

1. Establish the begin date and end date of the project.
   
2. State the goal of the project. This sounds easy but can be complicated. Is the goal to read the book or to be able to express in writing the plot and message of the author. The goal is the latter. Reading the book is one of the steps for achieving the goal.
   
3. Create an action list by naming the steps that need to be taken to accomplish the goal and assign target dates to each of the steps.
   
4. Decide what materials are needed to accomplish each step and incorporate acquisition of the objects in the action list.
   
5. Assign responsibility for each action step. Does an adult have to buy materials? Does the student have to obtain soil samples from different locations that require transport by someone else? Is there group cooperation involved or assigned research to be done?
   
6. Review the target dates to make sure the assigned times are realistic and allow the project to be accomplished on time.
   
7. Work the project using the action list as a guide.
   
8. Ask for help when you need it. The list lets you know when you are running into trouble and have to modify your plan.

This process will become second nature after the students have used it several times and found how successful it helps them to become.

Beverly and Kristen
www.KeyTransitions.net