Who's ready for the new school year??
I can't hear you!
Anybody?
Okay, maybe I'm the only one who gets this excited about back-to-school.
And maybe this comes as a surprise to some...especially to those who know how much I love summer, but I do! I can't help it. It's not because the kids go back to school or the consistency of a regular schedule. It most certainly isn't because autumn is coming. I love back to school for the organizational supplies.
Yep, I'm that kinda geek. Two of my favorite stores are Staples and The Container Store. Fortunately for my bank account, they both are far enough out away that I can only go for specific needs.
Over the next few weeks, I'm going to share some of my favorite organization ideas. Some are of my own devising, but I'll be honest, most of them I've found online and have tailored to my own needs. I invite you to do the same!
Organization Idea #1: The Lesson Binder
Several years ago I was working for another music studio. There was a discrepancy between their account of how many students I taught that week and mine. It all worked out in the end, but it was a week of back and forth between the owners, the parents, and myself. To keep myself sane (and to keep this from happening again), I put together a little binder to keep track of my own schedule.
It worked beautifully and soon I started using it for more than just scheduling. I kept record of the warmups I did with my students; and very informal lesson plans. I tracked my work related miles (every independent contractor should be doing this!). I even started my own practice challenge among my students.
All of this extra work lead me to my current lesson binder.
I use this binder solely for lesson plans. I keep a separate notebook, which I'll discuss later, for everything else. Each day has it's own folder to hold planning sheets for my students. I label each day with a printed post-it.
Last year I discovered how easy it is to print on Post-It notes and I've been doing it for so many things. Start by printing this template of squares onto some card stock. Add your text to each box, put the number of post-its on that you need onto the card stock and print away! Just make sure you put the card stock in the printer the right or you'll completely miss your post-its like I did my first time. :)
The final thing, which is actually the first thing, is my annual at-a-glance calendar. I started doing an annual calendar when my studio-wide activities were getting jumbled up in my brain. I couldn't remember what I had and hadn't already done or what I wanted to do next. This calendar, which you can see I haven't filled in yet :) has fixed all of that.
Organization Idea #2: The Notebook (no, not that one...)
There are 2 things that keep my life in order; my iPhone and my notebook, which I refer to as my brain book. I keep everything important in one or both of those locations.
For years, I kept a journal size notebook to track my to do list. It eventually grew into more of journal that chronicled my days in list form. I recently discovered that my method of entries in my brain book is actually a thing: Bullet Journaling. I won't go into deep detail here, but a quick internet search will give a ton of different ways to organize your bullet journal or brain book. Here's how I have mine set up.
My super cute notebook...who can resist this whale, honestly...has 3 sections. I'm using the first 2 for my daily planning and the last for my blog post ideas.
I spent a good amount of time researching journal prices and I've come to the conclusion that most of them are a ripoff. You don't have to go crazy on an unreasonably expensive journal/notebook. I bought this one at Walmart for $4.
On the inside of the first section I have a 2016-2017 annual calendar. Next to that is the index. This has come in handy already! At the beginning of the week, I write the first page number in the left column and the dates in the right column. At the end of the week, I fill in the last page number in the left column. This is also a good place to organize any special notes you've made on specific pages. I put post-its and business cards on pages then label them in the index for easy finding in the future.
I write out my to do list, starring all priorities/important tasks, then check them off as they're completed. Whatever isn't completed gets "migrated" with an arrow to the next day. This summer, I used my brain book for lesson activity tracking as well. It worked for these few months, but I definitely prefer my lesson binder and will be switching back next week.
Planning like this organizes my thoughts and really helps keep me on task - I like to think I'm good at multitasking, but I'm really not.
How do you organize your thoughts? To do lists? And other life activities?
I hope you've enjoyed this little glimpse into my organization strategies...up next week: Organizing your students!
I can't hear you!
Anybody?
Okay, maybe I'm the only one who gets this excited about back-to-school.
And maybe this comes as a surprise to some...especially to those who know how much I love summer, but I do! I can't help it. It's not because the kids go back to school or the consistency of a regular schedule. It most certainly isn't because autumn is coming. I love back to school for the organizational supplies.
Yep, I'm that kinda geek. Two of my favorite stores are Staples and The Container Store. Fortunately for my bank account, they both are far enough out away that I can only go for specific needs.
Over the next few weeks, I'm going to share some of my favorite organization ideas. Some are of my own devising, but I'll be honest, most of them I've found online and have tailored to my own needs. I invite you to do the same!
Organization Idea #1: The Lesson Binder
 | ||
| My current lesson binder |
It worked beautifully and soon I started using it for more than just scheduling. I kept record of the warmups I did with my students; and very informal lesson plans. I tracked my work related miles (every independent contractor should be doing this!). I even started my own practice challenge among my students.
All of this extra work lead me to my current lesson binder.
I use this binder solely for lesson plans. I keep a separate notebook, which I'll discuss later, for everything else. Each day has it's own folder to hold planning sheets for my students. I label each day with a printed post-it.
Last year I discovered how easy it is to print on Post-It notes and I've been doing it for so many things. Start by printing this template of squares onto some card stock. Add your text to each box, put the number of post-its on that you need onto the card stock and print away! Just make sure you put the card stock in the printer the right or you'll completely miss your post-its like I did my first time. :)
The final thing, which is actually the first thing, is my annual at-a-glance calendar. I started doing an annual calendar when my studio-wide activities were getting jumbled up in my brain. I couldn't remember what I had and hadn't already done or what I wanted to do next. This calendar, which you can see I haven't filled in yet :) has fixed all of that.
There are 2 things that keep my life in order; my iPhone and my notebook, which I refer to as my brain book. I keep everything important in one or both of those locations.
For years, I kept a journal size notebook to track my to do list. It eventually grew into more of journal that chronicled my days in list form. I recently discovered that my method of entries in my brain book is actually a thing: Bullet Journaling. I won't go into deep detail here, but a quick internet search will give a ton of different ways to organize your bullet journal or brain book. Here's how I have mine set up.
My super cute notebook...who can resist this whale, honestly...has 3 sections. I'm using the first 2 for my daily planning and the last for my blog post ideas.
I spent a good amount of time researching journal prices and I've come to the conclusion that most of them are a ripoff. You don't have to go crazy on an unreasonably expensive journal/notebook. I bought this one at Walmart for $4.
On the inside of the first section I have a 2016-2017 annual calendar. Next to that is the index. This has come in handy already! At the beginning of the week, I write the first page number in the left column and the dates in the right column. At the end of the week, I fill in the last page number in the left column. This is also a good place to organize any special notes you've made on specific pages. I put post-its and business cards on pages then label them in the index for easy finding in the future.
I write out my to do list, starring all priorities/important tasks, then check them off as they're completed. Whatever isn't completed gets "migrated" with an arrow to the next day. This summer, I used my brain book for lesson activity tracking as well. It worked for these few months, but I definitely prefer my lesson binder and will be switching back next week.
Planning like this organizes my thoughts and really helps keep me on task - I like to think I'm good at multitasking, but I'm really not.
How do you organize your thoughts? To do lists? And other life activities?
I hope you've enjoyed this little glimpse into my organization strategies...up next week: Organizing your students!
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