Becoming a Better Writer by Utilizing Organizational and Time Management Skills
Last month, I commented on how the pandemic has been good for education in that it has made students more flexible and adaptable.
On the flip side, I think the pandemic has made students significantly more disorganized and unclear on how to manage their time, resulting in them struggling to complete and be consistent with basic educational tasks, which has been concerning to observe. Never before in my 20 years of being an educator have I observed something like it and on such a large scale.
One student who has been an exception to this is Saharsh, one of my sixth-grade students: his organizational and time management skills seem to have persevered through the pandemic's wrath.
Saharsh was the first student to sign up for my Revision Review service at the beginning of May 2022. Since then, he has religiously submitted his revisions to me twice a week; he has yet to miss a submission, and the work he has turned in has always been thoughtfully and fully revised.
I recently told his parents that Saharsh's and their joint efforts at home are impressive and have helped tremendously with Saharsh's writing progress, allowing him to complete quality papers and at least twice as fast as most students.
How Saharsh has been approaching his writing revisions is how all students (i.e., elementary through high school students) should be approaching their school writing assignments. Saharsh is truly a model writing student and the embodiment of real leadership.
Saharsh, like other students, has several weekly extracurricular activities (six of them!) in addition to his school responsibilities. However, he consistently makes writing a priority and follows through on tasks related to it by having designated days to complete his first and second rounds of weekly revisions: on Thursday evenings, immediately following his writing classes, and on Monday evenings, preceding them.
He also makes seamless adjustments to his revision schedule when he encounters schedule changes (e.g., when his writing classes moved from Mondays to Thursdays, when he has had make-up classes, etc.).
Also, Saharsh doesn't spend an exorbitant amount of time on each round of revisions (approximately 20 minutes each round), but he clearly uses that time well because he consistently turns in quality work.
Because Saharsh has been so diligent with his revisions, editing has become second nature to him, according to his mom. She recently shared with me that he edits her emails when he is around—a brilliant application of taking what is being learned in class and applying it in the "real world," helping students' written communication skills blossom.
Although Saharsh has been doing a stellar job with his revisions, I don't think he would be having the results with his writing that he has been if it were not for his mom, Mohana, diligently keeping a watchful eye on him and providing him with occasional reminders to do what he needs to be doing when he should be doing it and for how long he needs to be doing it, providing him with the structure that learning how to write requires.
So, many, many "thank yous" to you, Mohana, for your tireless efforts and teamwork! And thank you, too, for sharing with me the beautiful story from Hindu mythology of the tiny squirrel that helped build Lord Rama's bridge between India and Sri Lanka.
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