Organize Your Life!

Calling all students! Most of us have A LOT going on, especially during the school year! Between the demanding academic workload, a part time job, extra curricular and your grandma’s birthday party, you barely have any time to spare. And if this sounds a lot like you, maybe you can also to relate to how hard it is sometimes to keep all these events and activities on your mind without forgetting a single thing, no matter how small! If you agree, and you’re looking for some easy and useful tips to stay organized in your life WITH the technology available to you, keep reading!

1. Use your reminders and calendar alerts

My calendar on my iPhone is my best friend! Colour code different affairs, for example: Work events can be purple, school is green and social events are blue. If you stay on top of updating your calendar as soon as you know a due date is coming or an event, keeping track of everything won't feel so overwhelming. Put these reminders in right away before you forget! It is unlikely that a teacher will ever reprimand you for putting a reminder in on your calendar for their upcoming test. Make sure to set reminders a few days before the event to gauge your memory, and then about an hour – 30 minutes before it’s actually happening!

2. Helpful apps specific for school

There are some great, well made apps that you can download for free straight from the app store to keep you on top of things! One that I think is particularly great is the Schoolhub application. This app keeps track of your assignments, tests, and exams and codes them by class and teacher. You can even link your calendar to this app so that everything is interconnected!

3. Follow your teachers on twitter and their websites

Many teachers are getting super involved in Internet based learning recently. You will notice that a lot of your teachers have websites and twitter accounts that will remind you of tests, give important information and some will even put up their notes and homework take up! You can print this all off, so even if you miss a day of school, you don’t feel like you’re behind on any work.

4. Remind 101

This tip goes hand in hand with the websites and twitter accounts. Remind 101 is a free and easy signup that many teachers use to send texts directly to your phone in order to remind you of anything important coming up in their class! It is a safe communication option between you and the teacher, as they cannot see your number and you cannot respond to them.

5. Organize your computer files

This varies from computer to computer, but the idea is that you should be making a file for at least each grade level, if not each class as well! Here, you can easily and quickly access any assignments, notes and papers you have done for a certain class. If possible, get a physical file folder as well to store any rubrics, tests and hardcopy assignments so that you don’t lose anything!

6. Use an agenda

This tip is similar to the calendar idea, as you can keep up with day-to-day events by either programming it into your phone, or writing it down. Some people need to physically write things down to remember them better, or just prefer seeing information written on paper. If that’s you, try both! You can write in an agenda and remind yourself of the same events in your electronic calendar! This way, you get the best of both worlds!

There are so many awesome tools that can aid in staying organized and less stressed. Take advantage of every opportunity available to you! We hope these tips helped. Good luck staying organized this school year!

Alexa Govette

Grade 12 Peer Helper