A school organisation question?

Question

hi. I am in high school and am about to start my GCSE's. there is just one problem though. I am soo disorganised. I also have a really hard time getting my homework organized. My grades are slipping because of all this and I wondered if there is some tips on getting files, papers, books and workbooks into order. I am on summer vacation now so I can't talk to my teachers but I have all my school stuff at home. I am a bit lost in where to start and need quite a bit of help!

thanks

FFP

Answer 1

If your room needs work -which it probably does- check out my answer here: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Remember, organization isn't just a one-time thing. If you want to be successful, you'll have to keep at it every day.

I don't know what you have to carry to school or how you prefer to take notes, so I can't offer specific advice; however, I think my general advice will work for you.

First things first. You should have a place to put all your papers, be that a folder or a binder. This is important. It's also useless if you don't start taking the extra two seconds to put your papers where they go instead of shoving them in your backpack. For this reason, even if you use a binder, you may find it more useful to have a folder since you can just stick the paper in while you're at school, and get it organized when you get home. The second part is critical; don't get lazy about it.

You also don't want to have too much paper. You might want to consider investing in a file drawer, or at least a box with hanging files. Throw out any paper you're absolutely sure you don't need, and keep track of what you think you might need later by keeping it in a file. Things you might want to hold on to include important assignments you want your teachers to know you did, notes you'll want to keep for end-of-year studying -use a binder clip or cheap folder for those so they don't get scattered- and anything that you're particularly proud of.

When you get home, dump all your stuff on your bed and take a look. If you have loose school papers, take care of them now, before they disappear in to the Twilight Zone. Keep everything put away and filed in a way that makes sense to *you*; there is no right or wrong way to organize. If you can find your stuff easily and nothing gets broken, then your system works.

Before you start your homework, make sure all your paper is in order. This should only take about a minute, since it's easy to get sidetracked in to doing other things like cleaning your desk as a way to procrastinate. I have a lot of trouble with this. Your desk should be free of extraneous c**p; a lamp and pencil cup are all you need, while a few mementos make it a nice place to study. It's much easier to get your homework done when you don't have to keep stopping to find worksheets or pens. Work with your folder or binder on your desk, with your backpack on the floor next to you. When you finish your science homework, put it where it goes and put your binder or folder in your backpack. Now you don't have to find it tomorrow.

Try clearing a shelf in your room and devoting it solely to school books, or getting your dad to build a simple shelf. (It's easy; you just need some wood and some cheap, simple metal brackets. Attach the brackets to the wall and the wood to the brackets, and you have a shelf.) When you're done, put away any books you don't need on your shelf. Anything you'll need for school the next day goes in your backpack as soon as you're done with it.

Turn off your mobile phone while you're doing your homework, and either avoid the computer or have your parents put software on the computer to keep you from going to non-school sites during homework hours.

If you can stick with this, you'll change your habits pretty quickly.

A word of warning: as paradoxical as this might sound, don't get too obsessed with having everything be organized. For one thing, it's definitely possible to go overboard -you should meet my grandmother- and then not be able to find anything, or to feel that you just aren't an organized person because you don't look like an ad out of a furniture catalog.

Good luck with your GCSE's :)

Answer 2

Start by defining a space where you store your school work, even if it's just one shelf, and remove everything else, no ornaments, no other books, just school stuff. Go to WHSmith (or similar) and treat yourself to some nice filing materials, maybe a box file per GCSE subject and pockets to carry homework to and from school. Colour code if you like.

Put up a 1 year on a page wall calender (big white board type thing, as used in offices) to write all your homework deadlines on as soon as you get them. Set yourself the rule that as soon as you get home from school you empty your bag, file everything and update your wall calender. Don't even sit down until you've done it. As soon as a piece of homework is finished pack it in your bag, don't leave it for later, do it right then so you don't forget, and tick it off on your calender. Then when it's been safely handed in cross through the tick.

If you can force yourself to do all that without fail you should find yourself much more organised and less stressed. It's called a trusted system. When you have a system that you can trust to keep track of your stuff for you then you can stop worrying about it.

If you want to read up on this sort of thing I suggest you do a search on GTD (Getting Things Done).