Get Organized

Have you had a nice weekend? It's hard to believe that tomorrow starts a new semester. As you finish up the weekend and prepare for the start of the 2nd semester, I hope you will spend a little time getting organized.

Go through your materials from first semester. For those classes that were only a semester long, store information that is interesting and will be potentially useful to you in the future. This would include any papers, articles, resources, and handouts that were helpful in mastering the concepts from class. For year-long classes, keep all of your first semester materials, but review your papers, notes, and handouts to see if you need to continue carrying it to school or if you could store it at home until closer to final exam time.

Clean out your bookbag. As you go through your bag, take a critical look at what you have and consider what you will need for second semester. Decide if your past organization system was working for you and, if not, decide now what you'd like to do that will be different to help keep you organized during the second semester. (Hint: If your bookbag looks like the one pictured, you definitely need a new organization system. Sadly, I see far too many that look just like this.) Make a list of supplies you need - new folders, binders, papers, pencils/ pens, etc. and try to get them as soon as possible so that you start off on a positive note.

If organization is a struggle for you, remember that I am available (as are the academic assistants in Room 209) to help you with new organization strategies that might be more effective.