Taking organizing and planning lessons from Ben Franklin - great tips for educators too

by David Andrade, http://tinyurl.com/edtechguy

I recently saw Ben Franklin’s daily schedule and planner on Larry Ferlazzo’s website (which is an awesome resource for educators). I was a long time user of Franklin Quest (now Franklin Covey) paper planners and used their planning software and methods on my first PDA and had heard that they had gotten some of their ideas for planning from Ben Franklin, but had never seen Ben’s planner. It was very cool seeing it. 

Ben Franklin was a prolific inventor and scientist and believed in being organized and on task. Many of his quotes and ideas are still in use today.

If you look at Ben’s schedule, you’ll see that he has two questions he asks himself and then some things he does every day. He asks himself “What good shall I do this day?” and then “What good have I done today?”. These are great questions to ask oneself when planning your day and then reflecting on your day, especially as an educator. Review your lesson plans for the day and get prepared. At the end of the day, review how the lessons went. Was there anything that should be changed or addressed next time? I also like how he has standard things he does everyday, like “taking the resolution of the day” and “prosecute the present study”. I take these as looking at what my goals are for the day and getting ready to do them. At the end of the day, he puts things away, relaxes, and reflects on his day.

This is something we all should do every day. Get up and get ready for the day. Think about what are tasks and goals are for the day, prepare ourselves for these goals, and then go and attain them. At the end of the day, we need to make sure everything is in it’s place, relax and reflect on the day. Putting everything away each night (or at end of school day) helps us to stay organized and on task. We need to relax and refresh our brain with music, entertainment and conversation. And then we need to reflect on our day. How did it go? Did I accomplish everything I wanted to? Is there anything I should change or do better?

Today’s apps allow us to stay more organized - calendars, to-do lists, notes, and more. We can have these apps email or text us with reminders so we don’t forget. We carry our smartphones with us everywhere, so we always have access to our data and apps. Heck, there are even apps that can use the GPS chip in your phone to remind you of a task or appointment if you go anywhere near that location (including your shopping list).

There are hundreds of paper planners, software and apps, and systems out there to help you get organized and plan your day. But, you are the main ingredient in the planning and execution of your plan.

Here are some tips and resources for planning and organizing your day:

Basic ideas from Franklin Quest:

1. Connect to Mission - what is your mission today, this week, in life?

2. Review roles - teacher, spouse, parent

3. Identify goals - daily, weekly, monthly, year

4. Organize weekly - and plan daily

5. Exercise integrity - integrity and values matter

6. Evaluate - your tasks, goals, values, and progress

Use some kind of planner - purchased or made yourself, paper or electronic, to keep organized and on schedule.

Have a daily task list, prioritized. Work on high priority 1st.

Have a daily, weekly, and monthly schedule with appointments and obligations.

Keep a daily record of events - commitments exchanged, journal entry, thoughts and ideas, agendas, conversations, notes, tasks, etc.

Related Articles and Resources:

Getting Students and Teachers Organized - tips and resources

Great tips, ideas, resources, links (including to paper and electronic planners)

Evernote - get organized - free and on all platforms

iGoogle as a educational/organizational tool - revisited

Thoughtboxes - organize everything you do - great resource for education

Wunderlist - free and easy to use task manager

Toodledo - An easy to use, free, powerful, online to-do list.

Getting Students and Teachers Organized - tips and resources

GET ORGANIZED!!

by David Andrade

http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/

I just saw a Tweet asking for tips on helping students to get organized, so I decided to write some tips up. I am a very organized person (type A personality and was an engineer for ten years) and I used to teach organizational skills to other employees at one of my jobs. There are a ton of different organizational methods out there, but it is actually pretty easy to be organized and stay that way using some free tools.

I use a variety of tools to keep myself organized and share them with other teachers and with my students. I have some links below to other articles I've written that are similar in nature, so please read those too.

Since this blog is about Teaching Paperless, I will deal with electronic apps and devices. 

The trick to being organized is to always use your system and not deviate from it. Take 5 min each morning, lunch, afternoon, and evening to get organized, check your schedule and task list, and make plans for the next time period. Keep your task list and schedule up to date and check it before making plans. Prioritize your task list based on what is most important or needed done 1st. Use a calendar or prompts or reminders to make sure you get things done on time.

Electronic organizing tools can be helpful because they can remind you of due dates, meetings, etc. through text messages, emails, and on-screen alerts. They can also link notes, web sites, and more together so it's easier to find things.

Here is how I stay organized: 

(I use electronic resources and can access them from anywhere)

1. I have a Palm Pre+ running on Verizon so I can access all of the tools I use at any time. That means I'm always able to take notes, create a task or calendar event, and review all of my stuff any time, anyplace. I can access all of my emails, my Google Calendar, Google Task List, and Evernote from it. I can also access all of my files via Dropbox. (and all of this is accessible from any computer and always in sync).

2. I use iGoogle to keep everything in one place on my computer. My calendar, Tasks, email, and Evernote notes are all available to me on one page on my computer. This means I can see everything very easily and keep myself up to date. I also have events in Google Calendar set up to send me a text message reminder.

(here's an article I wrote about using iGoogle to stay organized. )

3. I use Evernote to take notes, organize notes, organize info and web clippings, and as a lesson planning tool. I have access to this from any computer and from my Palm Pre+. I organize notes into notebooks and also have tags, making them easier to find when I need them.

4. I even have an app for my phone that will alert me when I am near a place that I have a task for (via GPS).

I tell my students about all of these, and I also share some great tools specifically for students, like Trackclass, Shoshiku, and Dweeber that can help them get organized with their classes, schedule, and notes.

Electronic Planning Resources (free)

Smartphones can access Evernote and web sites and many have their own organizing apps. 

Evernote

iGoogle (and other Google Tools)

Student Planner Sotware (all free) (lots of good ones here to share with your students)

(Palm PDA's and Smartphones (not the Pre or Pixi) came with Palm Desktop which was a great way to be organized on the computer and sync to your PDA or Palm OS smartphone)

Not necessarily Free

Microsoft Outlook (free if your school uses Microsoft Exchange for email) there is web access. 

Outlook Express used to come with Windows. Windows Live now offers much of same functionality.

Fee (not free)

Franklin Covey has electronic planning solutions (more well known for Paper Planners) 

       PlanPlusOnline is pretty powerful and is accessible from any smartphone. But, it's $14.95/month. 

Organizing Resources

Online Organizing

Get Organized Now - great site with great tips and resources

Julie Morgenstern - professional organizer with some great tips and resources

The big thing to remember is that you have to use your system consistently and you have to take a time to plan out your day. You have to prioritize things and realize that free time and sleep sometimes have to take a back seat to priorities. However, if you plan things well and do things each day, you can avoid the sudden backlog and all-nighters that many students end up experiencing.

Basic Steps for being organized:

1. Plan Ahead (every day)

2. Make a ToDo (or task) list

3. Put things in your calendar (and check your calendar during your planning)

4. Students: write down your assignments and due dates in organizer

5. Students: study/work on homework a little each day to stay ahead

6. Stick to your schedule and commitments

7. Reward yourself with some free time.

Teachers and students can benefit greatly form being organized. You are more efficient, get things done on time, don't forget things, and generally have less stress.