Ask Me Questions

How I Stay Organized

Staying organized is so important in school. You don't want to be that kid that doesn't know where any of their shit is. That kid is annoying when you have to wait on them Besides, you don't want to get on the teacher's bad side.

    So this is me talking from my high school senior standpoint. I may make a whole other part for this when I get to college and get a feel for it. [Side note: Ask me questions about high school if you want, and about college if you want. Questions about being in college though will have to wait until after August 26, 2017 since that's the day I move into my dorm.] But I've had a very strict organization method throughout high school. I had a teacher who tried to make me go with their organization for a class (algebra 2) and I ended up having an argument with her about it. Not everyone organizes the same, so you have to organize the best way for you. But, this teacher didn't get it, and it was bad enough that it got brought up to the principal. The principal told her to let me organize how I want because I obviously was doing just fine academically without her interfering with my methods.

    But, all that is besides the point. I'm here to tell you guys how I organize.

    First, I get a notebook for every subject I take notes in. I have one for my science class, 1 for each of my math classes (since I'm taking 2 during my senior year here), 1 for each of math classes homework, and one for my social studies class. I don't ever use for my English class, but I've always had an iPad provided by my school for schoolwork. Personally, I think it's helpful to have a notebook for notes, and one for homework problems in math.

    Since my high school does us iPads for the school year, I have PDF files on Notability (this app does cost money but my school paid for it for all the students). All of English notes are on there. There's not many notes in English so it's most study guides for class books, and guidelines for essays.

    Then, I have a folder for any handouts. Most of my handouts are in English or ASL. In English I have my reading reference sheets in my folder, and in ASL we occasionally get the guidelines handed to us in paper form.

    To keep track of all of my assignments I have my planner that I keep my daily to-do list written down in, and I have another notebook. I do a bullet journal type of style for school assignments. If you don't know what a bullet journal is I suggest googling it because I'll probably explain it wrong. But, I write out the dates for the school week. I usually fit 3 days on a page. So I have Monday-wednesday on the first page, then Thursday and Friday on the second. The notebook I have now has 33 lines a page, so I have 11 lines for each day. I draw a line there to create a box of sorts and write the date up in the top left corner of the box. Then, I write down my assignments in the box for the day it's due. Anything that needs to done for Monday I have written in Monday's box. Also, I have a different color for each subject. I'll give you the example of my senior classes to explain this. I use: green for anatomy & physiology, purple for AP English literature, blue for AP US government, pink for calculus, light blue for art and band (since I don't have much due in either of these classes I just combined the color for them), red for ASL, and orange for advanced math. Using different colors for each subject keeps me from having to write down what class the assignment is for. Then, as I do the assignments, I just put an x by them. If I draw a line through it that means the assignment due date got moved.

    Now the simplest thing for how I organize is how I stack my books and put them in my bookbag. I go from the biggest to the smallest like a normal person. Also, I'll mention my locker here. I don't have much in my locker since I carry most of my stuff with me throughout the day because I don't have time to go to my locker all the time. On my top shelf (that's above my head) I don't keep anything because I can't see up there anyway. Then, I have room for my bookbag and coat. I also keep extra pens and pencils on this shelf. Then the third shelf of my locker I keep my math textbooks and extra notebooks. On the bottom of my locker, I keep extra papers and graded tests/quizzes/assignments, all the books for year that I'll need in English, and some graph paper.

    Pencil case wise, I just carry 2 of most things. I keep extra lead in my pencil case, 2 pencils, 2 blue, 2 black, and 1 red pen. Then, my other colorful pens I only 1 of each. I also keep my calculator and some earbuds in my pencil case.

    And that's it. That's how I organize my school stuff.