Mastering Organizational Skills for Future Success at Chicago Academy

1. ORGANIZATIONAL SKILLS Karen Baggot Student Support Service Provider Chicago Academy

2. Organizational Skills • How will developing organizational skills now help in the future? • College • Job • Collaboration • Security • Home • Manage finances • Budgeting money • Leisure • More time for relationships with others

3. Spatial – organizing your space to achieve maximum results Advantage: All you have to do is look at your space to prompt you to know what to do next. Informational – organizing information to achieve maximum results Advantage: A To-Do list allows you to see the details of what needs to be done. Organizational Strategies

4. Spatial Organization • Stacking school books in your space in homework by the class schedule order, place writing supplies in the same place, etc. • Arranging binders in your space for each class • Employing one folder with clearly labeled folder • Putting the book bags at the door the night before. • Maintain a neat book bag • Other useful devices: Electronic organizer (palm pilot, blackberry, etc) • Using a Filing cabinet, bins, or filing systems in your space for old work or work in progress storage • Desktop organizers

5. Informational Organizer • Dry erase board a “To Do” list • Informational Organization includes the use of: • color-coding, three ring binders, matrices (tables), outline, hierarchical organizers, etc. • For example, color-coding may be used to organize time management planners. • Assign a different color for each subject area. • The colors are then used to quickly distinguish different activities or pieces of information. • Three ring binders may be used to sort printed information by subject heading. • Again, it is personal preference as to how you prefer to organize. There are a variety of methods to choose from.

6. Completing Assignments • Prioritize your assignments and complete the most important assignments first. • Check off your assignments when you complete them • Have an assignment folder for all completed work that you always have with you

7. Notetaking • Take detailed notes in all classes • Place new vocabulary words at the back of the notebook = creating a glossary at end. • Write down the points that the teacher is stressing and mark them in some way • Develop your own note-taking style and use it for all of your classes

8. Techniques to make notes helpful • Use sticky notes to jot down thinking • Each night, reread and highlight key terms and concepts • Use a type of outline during note-taking or rewrite the information into an outline or graphic organizer to help reinforce concepts • Use different colors of ink to highlight ideas

9. Benefits for being organized • saving time spent on looking for misplaced items; thus being more efficient in the work place. • Lower stress and frustration levels. • Having strong organization skills help keep you in control at the work place. • Once you have mastered the skill of being organized, you will find yourself feeling a sense of balance and composure. • All you need to do is stick to the discipline. • Keep in mind that organization is a personal thing. What is organized for one person may not seem very organized to another. • It is important to develop organizational strategies that suit you and your child personally.