Some students get overwhelmed by too much information on a page
Students who are dealing with ADD/ADHD tend to have difficulties with breaking up assignments
Provides student with small, frequent, attainable goals
Makes larger tasks look more manageable and feasible
Prevents students from becoming discouraged at the quantity of work before they begin
Helps students focus on the item or problem at hand
Improves students’ perceptions of the work and assignments
Increases student willingness and participation
Increases engagement, effort, and focus
Teaches students to pace themselves and take assignments one part at a time
Helps disorganized students maintain better organization and order
When should I do it:
When a student shows signs of being overwhelmed, anxious, unfocused, disorganized, lost, unmotivated, etc
When you are aware a student has ADHD/ADD or when they have symptoms of such
When a student is reluctant to begin, sustain, or complete work
When an assignment is longer, larger, more complex, or has many parts or sections
When an assignment will span across days, weeks, or any other prolonged period
When a student doesn’t know where to start
When a student tends to be “scattered”
When students have trouble organizing their thoughts
When students have learning or other disabilities or challenges
How do I do it:
Take a blank sheet of paper and cover up every item other than what you want the student to complete. After they complete that, teach them to move the sheet down
Determine what might be hardest/easiest for student. Have them do the easy items or the hard items first, which ever they prefer
Allow a break after student completes a portion of the work
Place one or a couple of items or problems per page. When the student completes a page, they walk up to place it in a tray or folder and retrieve the next page. They continue in this manner until the assignment is compete
Have students lump items, for example writing down questions 5 at a time and completing them, then moving on to the next 5, etc
For items with multiple part questions, have the student separate each part or question of the item into individual lines, having them focus on them one at a time
Have students verbally repeat back the parts of an assignment or task
Create a song or rap to go along with how to break down certain tasks or how to approach certain problems
