Organization Tips

Highlighting Ways to Get Organized

Tips to structure assignments, les to be prepared for the new school year

Malak Samara samarmal000@hsestudents.org

Aer last year, students are slowly adjusting to fully being back in school by rebuilding key skills like organization. In order to maintain their les, assignments and school life, polishing their time and structure management could be the element to get them back on track to normal school tendencies. “Organizing school les and assignments lays the foundation for a more coordinated and tidy school year,” sophomore Jerry Yang said. “You won’t have to bother shu ing through all of your papers. Moreover, staying organized is a fantastic way to help promote and improve your management skills.” Having distinct sections in folders, binders or notebooks for each class can help smooth over the process of trying to nd assignments, homework or notes for a certain course. “I have kids that share a folder for everything and that just doesn’t work,” biology and AP Environmental Science teacher Heather Ferguson said. “I don’t care if it’s a folder, I just want a separate ‘something’ for my class. I think that’s going to be the easiest thing.” Since teachers are using Canvas frequently this year, due to the system built last year, making sure digital assignments and copies are organized is important. “Usually, I create a OneDrive folder for each of my classes,” Yang said. “Whenever I complete an online assignment for a certain class, I can just save the le into the corresponding class folder. Also, I like to label all my documents with the class name rst and then the assignment name.” Labelling is a useful skill when trying to organize and separate school assignments by class or even date. It can make all the di erence when trying to nd the corresponding piece of work to the class or lesson. “I think a really important thing is to have everything in folders,” Ferguson said. “ ere’s those color code things on MacBooks that you can put little dots by it [the digital folders]. Name it something that makes sense. en, don’t just keep saving new copies of something, just delete the old ones if you’ve improved it the rst time because then you’re gonna be confused with which one you’re using.” Utilizing resources such as folders, notebooks, planners and a multi-pocket backpack can assist in organization and time management. Checking the Canvas calendar can help a student stay up to date with their assignment “Check your Canvas calendar,” senior Brie Foster said. “Maybe get a planner so you can actually write down what needs to get done, so you can check it o .” Establishing an organization method can have countless di erent bene ts other than helping with nding certain les. It can help students develop time management skills and better work ethic. “Organization has helped me save a bunch of time when it comes to searching for les,” Yang said. “Furthermore, an organized archive looks visually more appealing.” According to kidshealth.org, the development of organization skills can prepare students for life outside of school. It is a skill that people need in their everyday life, no matter where they may be working, what they may be doing or how they may be doing it. “[Organization] is one thing I am very meticulous on,” Ferguson said. “If you do it right the rst time, it saves a lot of work for you later.” However, one struggle when it comes to organization is maintaining the certain system or structure the student built to try and stay organized. If the arrangement of les, assignments and work isn’t kept up with, the setup starts to deteriorate. Foster suggests starting o small when beginning to organize and get used to the habit of writing homework assignments down, separating les and documents by class and staying organized. “As you get more used to it, it’ll be easier to do every day,” Foster said. Staying organized can have multiple bene ts, whether that be the development of certain life skills or making school life easier to manage and maintain. “ ere’s just so much going on in everyone’s life,” Ferguson said. “Besides work, I have family, and [the students] have school and jobs. [Organizing is] just one step that makes your life a little bit faster and a little bit easier.”

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1 Items for Organization:

1. Planner: Using a planner can help a student determine when certain assignments are due or when they need to study for tests. 2. Checklist: Once students get their projects or homework done, they can check them o their list to keep track of what they have to do and what they have done. 3. Dividers: Utilizing dividers can di erentiate where certain copies go and which class they belong in.

1. There are di erent colored folders to di erentiate each class, a laptop for online les and assignments and highlighters to organize notes and due dates. Photo by Malak Samara. 2. Graphic by Malak Samara. 3. Example of a To Do list on the Reminders app. Graphic by Malak Samara. 3