Archive for Organizing Students

many clocks stacked on top of one another to show layering of time

Time Deepening: Lengthening Time with Layers

Posted by Carolyn on

May 24, 2023

Time Deepening vs Multi-tasking

Time deepening may be the solution to the ongoing question, “Does multi-tasking increase productivity?” It’s a question that comes up frequently in almost any conversation on time management. If you live with teenagers, it may come up frequently. Teenagers seem to have taken multi-tasking to new heights with ear buds, streaming, smart phone and homework all going at the same time.

I define multi-tasking as participating – at the same time – in two or more activities that each require our attention. My experience is that multi-tasking does not work well. Thus talking on the telephone and typing a report is multi-tasking. Similarly, making dinner while helping a school child with home work is multi-tasking; both require your attention in order to be completed. If your attention is distracted from your task, it is unlikely that you will complete it well. Your phone mate may perceive you are distracted or merely wait patiently for your attention to return to his/her question. The report may have errors.

What is Time Deepening

Time layering or time deepening is a strategy that does work. I define time deepening as organizing two or more tasks that do not require our attention to be accomplished simultaneously. In time deepening, only the top layer can take your attention while the other tasks are accomplished. Home managers have known this strategy for ages: wash the laundry and hang to dry – while drying, mix bread and leave to rise – while drying and rising cut beef/vegetables and set stew to simmer – while drying and simmering, knead bread and set to rise – while drying, simmering and rising, mend clothes. Project managers differentiate between those tasks that must be accomplished in sequence. These are time and order sensitive. Other tasks tasks can be accomplished at the same time and therefore can be layering tasks.

If you work from home you may already layer your time without realizing that you are using this strategy: put on laundry, take out dinner meat to thaw, set coffee to drip, turn sprinkler on lawn – pour coffee, set to work on report. One hour later you turn over laundry, turn over meat, move sprinkler to back lawn, refill coffee and back to report.

You get the picture. Try it. How many layers can you build into your time?

Organizing Students Organizing Time

Unplug for the Holiday Season

Posted by Carolyn on

November 17, 2010

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I recently had an opportunity to appear on Breakfast Television (checkout photo #16) speaking on unplugging kids after the summer. Many parents are increasingly aware of the amount of screen time their children have over the course of a day. Think about it: TV, computer (in school, at home), IPOD, cell phone. Add in there a movie or attempts to look up a reference at the library and a modern teenager could easily rack up over 6 hours of screen time without even trying (2 hours TV, 2 hours homework, 1 hour total IPOD, 1 hour total cell phone). Considering the kids are only awake for 16 – 18 hours and are in school for 6.5 hours, that’s a big chunk of their day.

Here are a couple of tips to get you started thinking about how to help your teenager control their screen time:

As unpopular as it seems, turn off the email alerts and FB or other social media while they are doing homework. Multitasking has been shown not to be effective and it will take them longer to get the homework done (more screen time). Instead, encourage your teen to take regular breaks when they can check in on the pack.
Insist that your teen take their cell phone out of their room at night and plug it in to charge elsewhere in the house. This strategy is also helpful to get them up in the morning since that phone will give a snapshot of the pack status for the day as soon as they check their texts/BBM or whatever.
If it isn’t already, consider moving your family computer to a public place. The worst place for a teen to use a computer is in their room. They will stay up until all hours. This is not a life skill worth learning.
Help your younger teens book physical activity during the week that requires a disconnect from a screen. Clearly this type of direction gets harder as the kids get older but once the pattern is set, and they have a habit of regular activity, they have learned a life skill that is worth hanging on to.

Home Organizing Organizing Students

Tags : Children, Teenagers, Unplug

Getting the Kids “To Do’s” into “Got Done”

Posted by Carolyn on

October 19, 2009

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If you have school age children you are very familiar with agendas, projects, dictation, reading lists and the myriad of tasks that come home for the children to accomplish. You probably even monitor that your children sit down and do homework each evening in order to get through the list. Maybe you go as far as to check that they have the due dates in their agendas.

Have you ever taught them how to write the To List so that it gets done?

Try teaching your children to write their To Do’s with action verbs up front. For example:

“Project Outline” becomes
“Write rough copy of project outline”.

The task is clear and limited. You will both know what needs to be done and when it got accomplished.

Organizing Students

Tags : Children, homework, Lists, Students

First Term – Out

Posted by Carolyn on

February 5, 2009

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Has your high school student just finished first term? Is his/her home workspace cluttered with the remnants of first term study?

Do everyone a favour, especially your student, and help them purge out the first term to make room for second term. The longer you leave the remnant clutter hanging around, the less likely it is to be sorted and purged before chaos sets in. Help your student sort through the notes for relevant material to keep such as key assignments and throw out the rest.

Helping students purge on a timely basis helps them learn sorting and prioritizing skills for their “office” before material becomes clutter. In addition, you will be teaching them the value of a clear, uncluttered space. They will be able to focus on the task at hand (second term’s material).

You’ll both feel better.

Organizing Students

Tags : purging, school work, Students, Teenagers

The (Dis) Organized Teenager – Exam Time!

Posted by Carolyn on

January 13, 2009

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Here is comes folks. All us semestered families are heading for the last stretch of the semester and the big E word: Exams.

For some teenagers exams are just another opportunity to show off how much they know and how much fun they had studying. Not my teenager. She is having fun alright: at the swim meet, the ski hills and movie nights at a friend’s house. So how do we instill the discipline to study and review all that must know information in order to encourage the best opportunity for success in our teens?

Here are some tips for your teen to set themselves up for success:

Step 1 – Establish a list of all the material that will be covered in the exam. If you aren’t sure, check in with the teachers before the term is over. Once classes are out they are harder to find. Most curriculum is broken into units providing a natural way to organize and list the material. A term is likely about 10 – 13 units. Review the list and your notes. Do you have all the information you need to study? Do you need to pick up notes from a friend or teacher for classes you missed?

Step 2 – Break down the material into the time you have to review it. If you have 5 days to study for 4 exams and 4 hours a day, you may choose to use one hour a day per subject. For ten units that would be 2 units per day. Did I loose you on the math? Simplify: Break down the material into bite size chunks for which you have the time.

Step 3 – Remove all other distractions (cell phone, ipod), be rested, well fed and take frequent breaks. Most adults can concentrate for about 45 minutes. Expect your teen to get up and move at least every 45 minutes.

Step 4 – Review, repeat. Review, repeat. Familiarity will assist with recall.

Good luck!

Organizing Students

Tags : Students, Teenagers, Time Management

The (Dis) Organized Teenager – The Agenda

Posted by Carolyn on

November 19, 2008

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When I was a student, no one carried an agenda. When I entered the business world, everyone carried a day planner. Nowadays, many school boards create day planners or agendas for the students in their schools. Many day planner publishing companies provide planners targeted specifically for students.

Trying to get a student to use a day planner is a much harder task than just finding one to use. If, however, a student can learn to use the tool on a regular basis they will also learn it is a powerful tool to stay organized and give their brain a break from having to keep a lot of schedule and due date information. Here’s some tips to help get your student on top of their agenda:

Have the student enter into the day planner all the regular activities in their week such as hockey practice, soccer, dance or band practice.
Have them enter in all the irregular schedule items such as holidays, band concerts or vacations. Most of these items are booked many months in advance and are available from the program organizer.
Encourage them to write in all their friends’ and family members’ birthdays. Why? Often there will be parties booked around these dates and with the dates booked in the agenda a student can anticipate a gathering of friends or family around the birthday date. With the heads up on their agenda, they can also budget their funds if they wish to go out to celebrate a friend’s birthday.
Encourage them to keep the agenda with them in their back pack or hand bag at all times. Then it will be available for reference when the opportunity to babysit comes up or when a party invitation arrives.

Organizing Students

Tags : day planners, planners, Students, Teenagers, Time Management

The (Dis) Organized Teenager – 2 Planning & Anticipation

Posted by Carolyn on

September 23, 2008

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Just like the rest of us teenagers need to be able to anticipate the next step in theirs lives if they are expected to be prepared.

Avoid changing plans too quickly without giving your teenager time to shift gears. Help them use their agenda, day planner to other organizer to keep track of their upcoming activities, obligations and events. If you have to change/make new family plans, try and give them warning and give them the courtesy of asking what impact these changes/plans will have on their existing schedule.

This approach will assist your teen in learning to anticipate, plan and be prepare for whatever is coming down the pipe.

Organizing Students

Tags : Students, Teenagers, Time Management

Organizing Tips for Dyslexia

Posted by Carolyn on

July 30, 2008

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As a professional organizer, I am often asked about organizing strategies for managing dyslexia and other learning disabilities. This recently written knol provides a collection of organizing strategies for individuals managing with dyslexia. The knol, or bit of knowledge, is designed to be an authoritative article on a subject. Sandra Crux has written a comprehensive set of such strategies which will be helpful to any of you managing this attribute in yourself or your children. I hope you find it helpful.

http://knol.google.com/k/sandra-crux/dyslexia-4-using-organizational/8d8s0hdum67q/5#

Organizing Challenges Organizing Students

Tags : Dyslexia

Locker Lists

Posted by Carolyn on

November 20, 2007

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Teenagers are perhaps some of the most preoccupied members of our society. While their minds are tackling social spider webs and academic balancing acts, their cell phones, books, papers, saxophone mouthpieces and gym wear often get left behind. With luck, they end up aging in the locker. Less fortunate are those teens who leave articles on buses, chairs, in the library or who knows where and end up spending their part-time job savings to replace them.

Try a Locker List. Develop a list of items that routinely go to and from school. Organize your list by day of the week. Build it to fit on the inside of the locker door. Have it laminated and have your teenager post it on the inside of his/her locker. I recommend getting your teen to build the list and decorate it before you laminate it. It has to be catchy enough to attract their eye so they will look at the list before shutting the locker door. Here’s a sample to get you started:

Monday
To School: lunch, gym clothes, runng shoes, cell phone
Home: weekly math test for signature, instrument/mouthpiece/ music binder, cell phone,
lunch bag

Tuesday
To School: weekly math test for signature, instrument/mouthpiece/music binder
Home: cell phone gym clothes lunch bag

Wednesday
To School: rugby mouth guard, lunch, cell phone
Home: lunch bag

Organizing Students

Tags : Children, Lists, Teenagers

Back to School Tips

Posted by Carolyn on

October 25, 2007

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Back to schoool time has come and gone but organization for the students, be they primary, elementary or high school, is an ongoing challenge. As the Wellrich Organizers website is undergoing a redesign, and the tips pages are being archived, I though I would republish some of the favourite tips from this fall.

Keep the Family Calendar Public
To help keep the family organized with schedules, a posted, public calendar is helpful. There are several wall/refrigerator calendars available from special Family Organizing ones to white boards. Whichever style suits your families needs, make sure it is posted where everyone can see it. Schedules are best not kept as a secret. Try using an alligator clip on a hook to keep all time sensitive information i.e. Birthday party invitations, curriculum night close at hand. If necessary, use binder dividers to separate the information by family member.

Label, Label, Label
Children are most likely to lose items that they don’t recognize as their own – like all those new back to school clothes, binders and lunch bags. Label everything possible that doesn’t normally stay attached to your child. Label lunch bags on the outside so that they can see their name clearly. Try to have the children wear their new clothes several times before school so that the items are very familiar to them. If you don’t have access to iron on labels, a pen or laundry marker on the tag will serve the purpose.

Home Organizing Organizing Students

Tags : calendars, Children, School, Students

Conquer Procrastination Cheat Sheet

Struggling with procrastination gremlins? Grab your free copy of Conquering Procrastination Cheat Sheet: 4 Procrastination Gremlins and the Tricks to Beat Them.

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Archive for Organizing Students

Time Deepening vs Multi-tasking

What is Time Deepening

Banish those Gremlins!

Conquer Procrastination Cheat Sheet