Start 2nd Semester Off Right

Monday begins the second semester of the school year. I continue to be amazed by how quickly the year is going and cannot believe we are already at the half way point. Hopefully you are enjoying the weekend. Your teachers are required to submit grades on Tuesday and then you will receive your report cards on Thursday.

As we head into the 2nd semester I would like to remind you that this is an ideal time to get organized! Last year, part way through the 2nd semester, one of the (at the time) seniors, came in and I caught a glimpse of his *very* messy bookbag. Actually, messy doesn't even come close to describing it and I see LOTS of disasterous backpacks. We spent several class periods going through his papers to figure out what was and what was not needed. I was SHOCKED to see that he had papers from 1st semester of his JUNIOR year! Clearly he really needed a major organization overhaul and the main place that most of the papers ended up was the trash.

The start of the 2nd semester allows you the perfect opportunity to reorganize your materials. When you are looking at your old school work there are several things to keep in mind - saving the information is useful if you have it organized so that you can access it to find and use it again in the future. I strongly encourage you to save all materials for year-long classes and for any classes that have potential relevance to your future - this includes anything that was particuarly interesting or helpful to you from your classes.

After you have figured out if you will be saving the items or not you need to determine if you have to continue carrying it on a daily basis to and from school each day or if saving it at home is sufficient. If you are able to leave it at home, keep it organized and leave it in a spot where you will know where to be able to find it quickly in the future.

Besides clearing out the information that you don't need to carry to and from school, it is also important to think about whether or not your organization system is working for you. Some classes require you to stay organized in a particular format like maintaining a binder, but most of the time teachers will let you find a system that works best for you. So, if you tend to have lots of random sheets of loose leaf notebook paper that you constantly have to sort through that never make it into your binder, then perhaps it is time to consider a spiral notebook. If you have used a spiral notebook and tend to have random pages of notes for different subjects mixed together, then this system is clearly not working so perhaps it is time to try a folder with the three ring clips filled with blank notebook paper for taking notes. There are countless ways to get organized and I am happy to help you with ideas, but the important point is to try something and keep up with it. The more natural your organization system is to your personal style the easier it will be for you to maintain it in the future.

There is an organization principle called, "OHIO," which stands for Only Handle It Once and it is a great philosphy. When you are dealing with papers or notes you don't want to have to constantly flip through tons of stacks of papers - it is much better to only handle it once and put it in it's proper place so that you will be able to find it again quickly if needed.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and happy organizing!