Part of what helps me stay organized is how I
manage the information I receive. Over the years as a teacher, I have refined
the way I process new information and how I store it. This semester in
particular, it seems that I am on information overload with my internship,
school, and life. Here are some easy ways that I keep track of all of the
important information files I need to have at my fingertips.
These strategies may take some time on the front
end to set up, but they will pay off in the long run when you are able to find
and access the information you need, right when you need it.
1. Be as “paper-free” as possible. Back
in the old days everything was communicated through paper. Today, that is not
the case. As a teacher, they give us a large three story black filing cabinet
to store all of our “lesson plans” and other important documents. As a new
teacher, I received so much information from helpful colleagues that it
initially made sense to store a hard copy of documents because most times that’s
all I had. However, through the years I have eliminated hard copies of most everything
and moved to keeping a digital copy on a flash drive. This saves me space and time. It saves me time
because it’s so much faster to locate the file I want. It also saves time
because if I need to adjust the form/file/handout in any way, I don’t have to
retype the whole thing. I just open it on my computer and make adjustments.
Two ways to go “paper-free”: use a scanner to scan
hard documents, then file in a logical location on your computer. Use a smart
phone Ap to scan and email yourself the file. I use JotNotPro for the iPhone.
It allows me to take a picture of the document, crop, edit, adjust, then email
it to myself as a PDF, JPEG, or Word document. It’s easy and the Ap only costs
$0.99.
2. Keep
your electronic files organized in a way that makes sense to you. The
more organized they are, the easier it will be to find information. For
example, we receive numerous emails from our administration throughout the
month on different initiatives. If an email or attachment is regarding a
specific topic or committee, I file it in a folder for that topic. However, if
it just general information, I have folder titled “Admin” in which I file it
under. That way, later in the year if I am looking for an email or attachment
about general information and I know it was sent from one of my administrators,
I just look in my “Admin” file.
Another important rule of thumb for using folders
is: if I have more than ten documents in a folder, I create sub folders and
re-file the documents. This keeps my information super organized and eliminates
time spent searching for files.
3. Back
up your files…and then back up your back up file! At school we are
given a personal drive that we can use to store all of our files. However, I also
use a personal jump drive to back up my files at school. In addition, I back up
my jump drive onto an external hard drive every few months. This keeps my files extra secure in case I lose
the jump drive or a computer crashes.
4. Clear
out your inbox daily. I have written about clearing out your email
inbox before, but I can’t stress it enough. If you do not take time at the end
of the day to read through emails, address items that need immediate action, and
mark as “unread” the ones that need addressing later, you could miss important
information. In addition, those emails start to pile up and can leave you
feeling overwhelmed by the end of the week if they are unread.
I also have an “inbox” tray on my desk that I use
for keeping items that need to be addressed, like copies to make, discipline
slips to file, papers to turn into the office. I make it a point to clear this
tray out each day. Doing this prevents documents from piling up and never
getting filed. It also helps me make sure that I turn everything in on time.
