I taught a course students primarily took as an elective. Was it any less important? I sure didn’t think so, but in the world of Student girl thinkingscheduling and signing up for classes, mine sometimes got shifted to the “Lets talk about it if you have room left in your schedule” category.

For those of you who may feel my frustration – or maybe you want to do your part in helping your overburdened school counselors out by assisting in forward-thinking, here’s a simple, yet effective, tool: Academic Planning Matrix

A few quick steps and you are ready to go:

  1. Download the Matrix
  2. Edit to reflect your high school’s graduation requirements (or college entrance requirements)
  3. Pull student transcripts, or have students bring current transcripts to class.
  4. Set aside 15-30 minutes now (not the day before class sign ups) to guide students through completing the document.

The Good Stuff:

  • Students learn a valuable lesson about planning.
  • Students learn their schedule really is in their hands.
  • Students can objectively review their performance and set improvement goals.
  • You can revise and utilize to guide students toward your class!