Gmail Calendar, Organization, Filters

Personal History of Time Management and Organization

The majority of my students are High School and Middle School and are scatter brained.  They rely on their memories to finish assignments.  This consistently gets them in trouble with their grades. I personally learned organization in Middle School with a hand written schedule book.  In adulthood, I took a time management class that changed my life.  I learned that by placing all of my scheduled events, tasks and to do lists in an organized fashion on (paper or computer schedule), that my personal stress would decrease.

How I could help young students become organized?

Gmail Calendar makes life so easy.  Teaching the students how to place assignment due dates on a calendar and set up reminders would assist them in staying on task, having less stress and making better grades.  Rewarding this behavior with bonus points to semester grade would help them create a new habit that could stay with them for the rest of their lives.

Filters - What an incredible way to communicate directly with the student.  By teaching a student how to create a folder with all messages from the teacher, they will be able to see that there is a message from me no matter how many hundreds of emails that they have.

These are very simple tools to teach students and so easy to reward with bonus points.

I would teach the and guide the use of calendar and filters.
Points would be assessed with the student printing their calendar each month and turning it in.
Points would be assessed by matching turned in assignments with the calendar that they had previously turned in.


Class Dynamic:  All students turn in assignments late on a consistent basis and constantly ask when assignments are due.

Calendar Method Set in Place

Bonus Point Rules
Late - 10 point deduction per day
On Time - 5 point addition
Early - 15 point addition

Example of Calendar:

Essay Theme due on March 1............Turned in March 2...-10 point deduction (LATE)
Essay Rough Draft due on March 5...........Turned in March 5...+5 bonus point addition (On Time)
Essay Peer Review due on March 8...........Turned in March 9...-10 bonus point deduction (Late)
Essay Final Draft due on March 15..........Turned in on March 13...+15 bonus point addition (Early)

This student provided a 70% level essay, however with the total points added, they saved their grade by staying accountable.

They learned to turn in an assignment early to save their grade

I agree that if we want students to utilize this resource that we need to teach them how.  It is a great way to strengthen communication and help students prioritize and manage their workloads and deadlines for multiple classes. I also do like your early, on time and late point system.  That would save me from having to do a lot of last minute grading because students habitually turn things in after the deadline.  Bonus points would encourage many students to work ahead and prioritize science!  

Time Management is clearly an area when a majority of high school students could improve! For that matter, high school faculty are also weaker in managing project on deadline at times, so I think the Gmail calendar would be a tremendous way for any type of high school department or a student class/group to stay connected and keep timelines in check!

This is very clear and well organized tools. especially for a teacher who is dealing with many student with busy schedule, this tool tremendously save time and giving a effective work.