As a teacher, helping students develop their autonomy is one of the biggest challenges you face on a daily basis. This goal is not limited to increasing their independence and sense of responsibility, however. It also entails helping students develop learning strategies, which together form an integral component of academic success. Indeed, certain skills and abilities that are directly related to a child’s learning capacity will develop and become more refined as their autonomy increases. In this article, we go over a few Alloprof tools and resources that you can use to help your elementary schoolers become more autonomous.
One way to help your students remember everything they need to bring to school is by encouraging them to develop routines and create lists. Our morning routine chart is a highly effective downloadable tool that you can print and hand out to students. It is basically a list of 12 suggested actions students can do each morning before they leave for school. Students can display it in their room or kitchen, and even use the blank spaces to add other small tasks or chores they might need to do. There is no better way to start the day!
When students get home from school, they usually want to drop their backpack by the door and get on with their leisure activities. And who can blame them? However, one of the most effective ways to foster independence at school is to ask parents to give their kids small chores they can do at home. This printable tool for developing an after-school routine allows young students to build up their confidence by doing little tasks every day, followed by a small reward such as doing a well-deserved leisure activity.
For students who are already accustomed to completing at-home tasks along with their school assignments and who want a new challenge, you might suggest they check out the wheel of autonomy. In addition to presenting them with different ideas for homework time and lesson reviews, this handy tool can help children who have a harder time making decisions.
As children progress through elementary school, they will gradually develop a homework routine tailored to their grade level and at-home responsibilities. Adapting to this routine can be challenging for some students, especially since all children develop autonomy at their own pace. To help your students take charge of their homework in the first few grades of elementary school, try coming up with a routine that will show them ten good habits they can adopt at homework time. They can also add their own habits to the empty spaces depending on what suits them the best.
Even if we typically equate autonomy with independence, this life skill also requires the ability to recognize our needs and limitations. With this in mind, we have put together a list of phrases on how to ask for help to encourage students to reach out when they need it.
The agenda is a student’s best ally when it comes to developing autonomy and being more organized, regardless of their grade level. Making sure this tool is a part of your students’ daily routine is a great way to help them remember everything and develop effective time management strategies. Some of Alloprof’s tools were designed to complement your students’ agendas. Namely, students can insert this printable checklist into their agenda to ensure they remember all the essential materials they need to bring home in order to do their homework. We also created this weekly homework chart to help students get used to keeping a list of all the important tasks they need to do each week.
Learning how to manage your time and prioritize tasks is made easier and more fun with the Motivational Timer! We highly recommend showing it to your students and their parents. This user-friendly application makes it easy for students to organize their study sessions, and encourages them to reward themselves every time they reach a goal. To use it, students can either select one of the app’s default subjects or add their own. The next step involves deciding how much time to spend on each task. The timer also lets you choose among an array of themes to get you even more motivated! Among others, it can look like an hourglass, an interstellar journey, a fall setting, or a sailing ship.
Writing : The Alloprof Teacher's team