Running Head: OVERCOMING DISORGANIZATION & FORGETFULNESS

OVERCOMING DISORGANIZATION & FORGETFULNESS

Allison Lampard, Nicole Muldrew, Jordan Van Eerden
10020610, 10116775, 10052072
Individual Learning: Theories and Applications

OVERCOMING DISORGANIZATION & FORGETFULNESS

Presented Challenges
In the case study Keeping Track of Business, Nathan, a first year junior high student, is
not completing his German tests and has not handed in any homework assignments so far this
year. The parts of the assignments and tests that Nathan does complete, however, are correct for
the most part. When his teacher, Ms. Cecere, arranges an interview with Nathans parents she
discovers that most nights the parents observe Nathan complete his assignments, but they do not
get handed in the next day. They disclose that Nathan was diagnosed as having a learning
disability in the second grade and received special services in the schools resource room for the
rest of his elementary schooling. His previous teacher did not give Nathan or his parents any
suggestions to overcome this problem, she expressed that he was hyperactive and he was
administered drugs regularly which made him drowsy.
Implications
Nathan describes how his teacher worked on class work with him but did not offer any
strategies to ensure he was completing his daily assignments. Executive function, along with
attention and memory, is one of the foundations of learning (Packer, 2015). Nathans inability to
complete his school work suggests that he is struggling with planning for the future, a sign of
potential Executive Dysfunction (Packer, 2015). According to Packer (2015), Nathan is having
difficulties with organization when he fails to turn in his completed work, and with completion
when he starts tasks but neglects to finish them. Willis (2006) discusses the process of the
sensory input either being discarded or stored in the memory. This process includes passing the
information of homework along to the neurons in the amygdala, where it can be linked to
positive emotional cueing and move along to memory storage (Willis, 2006, p. 40). Since
Nathan struggled in his elementary years with the medications that he was on and with being

OVERCOMING DISORGANIZATION & FORGETFULNESS

able to focus, homework assignments are perceived as unimportant and potentially provoke
negative emotions that will block passage of this information into the frontal lobe memory
(Willis, 2006, p. 40).
Classroom Strategies
There are many strategies that we would employ to help address Nathans challenges. We
can put in place routines for the entire classroom that will benefit all students as well as set up
personalized goals with Nathan. Engineering the space students work in for optimal learning will
encourage classroom routines that facilitate learning and completion of tasks. These schedules
and routines will increase efficiency, lower anxiety and free up the working memory in each of
the students (Wilcox, 2015). All of these factors contribute to students success regardless of
whether or not they are struggling with specific aspects of achievement. In Nathans case it
would be beneficial to establish a specific time of the day when the entire class is to record the
evenings homework assignments and their due dates in their agendas.
Colour coordination within agendas would allow students to see when assignments are
due by a brief glance through the pages. In Nathans case, we can monitor that he is writing all
assignments that are due the next day in red for example and help him create a home checklist
ensuring that he will look at his agenda. Each morning students will then be asked specifically to
hand in the homework from the previous night, reminding other students, while not singling out
Nathan for his unintentional forgetfulness, to hand in homework. For Nathans purpose it would
be beneficial to give him something motivating like a sticker chart and one sticker every time
completed homework is handed in. At the end of the month the teacher can use Nathans sticker
chart to track his progress, potentially give a reward for 90% completion, and also have evidence
to show his parents.

OVERCOMING DISORGANIZATION & FORGETFULNESS

Nathan has expressed that he feels sitting in the front of the classroom would help his
ability to focus. James (2012) agrees that students in the front row perform better because they
become more engaged with the speaker. This encourages better note taking, participation and
study habits (p. 3). Nathan would no longer be distracted by his classmates behaviours in class
and could instead concentrate on the teacher and the tasks presented. By having a familiar
classroom routine the students know what to do and when. For example, they know the
expectation when entering the classroom is to drop off their completed assignment before they
take their seats at their desks. Since research shows that routines stored in procedural memory do
not require the same conscious attention as information held in working memory, students can
develop this automaticity and better focus their attention to the content of the work instead of the
organizational practices in the classroom (Sprenger, 2013; Willis, 2006).
Colour-coding class documents is another way to make life easier for students: a purple
sheet requires a parent to read, sign, and return, a green sheet is just a notice for parents, a blue
sheet is homework that needs to be handed in and a yellow sheet is just for practice. This method
of colour coordination will allow students including Nathan to be cognitively reminded through
colour and relational memory what each sheet is for and what students should do with it. This
will work for all students to develop their current organizational skills and establish effective
habits for the future. Teachers can use this method to determine that all the proper documents
have been received by the teacher and completed by the students.
Students like Nathan may require extra attention to ensure they are completing and
handing in their assignments. For that reason the teacher will want to set some personalized
goals, as demonstrated in the Case Study by the due date notebook and meeting with Ms. Cecere
briefly after each quiz or test. Packer (2015) suggests letting the child recognize their challenges

OVERCOMING DISORGANIZATION & FORGETFULNESS

and acting as a supporter for the strategies that they select themselves because the student who is
vested in achieving the goal is more likely to comply with the strategies.
Conclusion
By incorporating checklists into her class routine, Ms. Cecere can measure Nathans
improvement. She can keep a tally of which assignments Nathan hands in and see if his
performance is getting better as a result of the interventions. She can sit down with him and with
his parents and he can reflect on what areas need greater organization and develop a personalized
checklist. As was suggested in the case study, keeping track of test dates and when assignments
are due are essential to classroom success. Nathan can also monitor where he sits each class and
reflect on how that affects his learning and concentration.

OVERCOMING DISORGANIZATION & FORGETFULNESS

References

James, C. (2012). Classroom seating: Where you sit matters. The Collegian. Retrieved from
http://hbucollegian.com/?p=8236
Packer, L. (2015). Overview of executive dysfunction. Schoolbehaviour.com. Retrieved from
http://www.schoolbehavior.com/disorders/executive-dysfunction/overview-of-executivedysfunction/
Sprenger, M.B. (2013). Wiring the brain for reading: Brain-based strategies of teaching literacy.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Wilcox, G. (2015). Learning theories 445 individual implications: Progress monitoring [PDF
document].

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https://d2l.ucalgary.ca/d2l/le/content/85131/viewContent/1505698/View?ou=85131
Willis, J. (2006). Research-based strategies to ignite student learning: Insights from a
neurologist and a classroom teacher. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development.