How do you Organise YOUR Life?
I like organisation. This is no big surprise for those who know me well. In fact I like organisation so much I’m often asked for advice on organisational skills. I personally use Microsoft Outlook in order to keep my life in order. This is partly because I’ve always used Outlook and partly because this is what I use at work. I like to organise every minute of the day. I like to categorise every part of my day. I feel like I am in control when my life is colour coded and organised. Some people would suggest that this would mean I am OCD and perhaps I am.
Lately I have felt that my organisational skills have been failing me as I’ve been bogged down in email and my to-do list has been getting ever longer and not shorter. So after doing some thinking and some reading I thought I would share some of my thoughts and findings…
- Read emails 3 times a day (first thing in the morning, around lunch time and at the end of the day)
- Read the subject line and first few lines of the email and decide to…
- Delete it
- Deal with it
- Flag for Follow up
- Make it a Task
- Spend a set amount of time dealing with the emails you Flagged for Follow up – make it a task or appointment in your calendar
- Reduce your email to zero or as close to zero as you can (sometimes you are waiting on other people to give a response)
Tasks
- Make big tasks into lots of little tasks
- Categorise your tasks
- Order the tasks based on importance and urgency
- Realise that some days you won’t get through as many tasks as you would like
Calendar
- Colour Code it by importance
- Make Appointments out of tasks
- Over Guestimate the time it will take
- Take the time to plan out the day
Would love to hear your tips on how you keep your life organised and your inbox close to zero.
Basic ICT Skills – Doesn't Everyone Have Them?
I had the opportunity yesterday to assist at a PD session on the use of Word, PowerPoint, and Audacity. Things that I’m sure a majority of teachers take advantage of everyday sometimes to the detriment of learning. Now this was a session for those who felt they had a beginner level. I was surprised. I have been spoilt working at a school with a high level of technology. Now I know that not all schools offer the PD that is required to keep up to date with the latest technology but surely at least everyone can use Word and PowerPoint. I was proved wrong yesterday. And was wondering if this was a major mistake of those of us in education – the assumption that everyone can use Word and PowerPoint. Do we ever really teach our staff or students for that matter the correct way to use these tools?
Basic skills such as inserting WordArt, Pictures, Symbols or manipulating these to display the way you want them to. Adding transitions and sounds to slides to make them viewable without the teacher. Just using these basic skills to make nicely displayed worksheets with lots of colour or using PowerPoint to create flashcards.
Perhaps our failure to our students is not making sure that our teachers have the basic ICT skills to create the resources which keep them engaged in learning.
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