From the very beginning of the year, students will be given the tools necessary to keep their possessions, books, notebooks, and other material organized. Within the limitations of the desk space and cubby space available, the students would be given some choice of how exactly to keep their supplies and possessions. However, there would be a rule of no procrastination, and the requirement that once they have chosen how they wish to organize their supplies and possessions, they must always stick to it and put things away immediately when they are no longer used. For example, they might choose to use different color-coded folders to save past assignments from different subjects, or they might commit to keeping textbooks on one side of the desk, while notebooks on the other. Students would be given goals such as, when the teacher asks that they get a certain textbook and notebook out, the students have each organized their supplies in such a way that they are always ready to go within approximately ten seconds. I would implement this strategy by giving students the time and supplies they need to organize in the way of their choosing. However, after they have each formulated their plans, I would have them give reasons for why it works for them and why they think it is the best way for them to organize themselves. After that, I would have them use the system for at least two weeks, and then we would have another class discussion where students can discuss whether their plan has worked for them or if they need to make changes to keep things neater or more easily accessible. 
Students will taught how to develop a chart to regularly keep track of their grades. The chart would have a column for quizzes, a column for tests, a column for writing assignments, a column for homework completion, and other columns as necessary. In the squares within these columns, students would record their progress over time by making grades they are happy with as well as grades they believe need improvement, and they could choose how they want to mark these grades. They might mark them with different types of stickers, check marks and X’s, smiley faces and sad faces, whichever method engages them in the process. The goal would be to encourage student self-reflection about their own progress through a visual record of a longer period of time. This strategy would be implemented by initially modeling a type of chart to the students and having them create one of their own, while allowing them to choose how they will fill in the information about their grades. They will be initially guided when they first begin to use the chart, as I would circle around as they fill in the chart when quizzes or assignments are handed back. After they have been taught how to use it, I would occasionally have students write a short introspective piece about how they feel about the progress shown on their chart.
