College Organization Time! & Positive Thinking Thursday

Let me be real with all of you. I have a serious problem when it comes to organizing. I absolutely love to organize. If teaching doesn't work out, which I already know it will, then maybe I'll be a personal organizer.

It's just like teaching, just adults, right?

And I get all the joys of organizing things!

Anyways... Back to school is my favorite time EVER, not only because of all the shiny new school supplies, but because of the MANY opportunities to organize, organize, organize! Being in college, not only do I get to organize my school supplies, but it means organizing a whole new room! Since I'm on orientation team this year, I have a few days before my roommates move in, and I can't wait to get my part of the room all homey and pretty looking. Maybe I'll share some pictures - it's just like sharing my classroom, right?

So basically the whole point of this post is me wanting to share how I organize for my classes with others. Not necessarily a teaching-related post, but I figured someone may stumble across this little baby blog of mine and find what I have to say useful.

Normally, I have two binders - one for my Monday/Wednesday/Friday classes and another for my Tuesday/Thursday classes. {This semester I was thrown a bit of a curve ball when I found out that my field experience block requires a whole binder of its own with 7 different dividers. OY!} I make some sort of cover for each binder. This year, I found a bunch of cute ones on this blog and used PicMonkey to add the text. In the past, I have made these covers/dividers on my own using Microsoft Word, but I really prefer using PicMonkey!

Typically, I try to color coordinate the dividers with the covers. I make the dividers the same way as I make the covers. Each class has it's own divider. For my Tuesday/Thursday classes, this means that I will have 4 different dividers. I no longer hole punch my papers. Instead, I just put them in page protectors. In my opinion, this leaves them looking nicer and you don't have to worry about the holes getting torn.
*I don't have a Monday/Wednesday/Friday binder any longer, since I found out that my field experience/lab requires its own binder and I only have one other class in addition to my field experience on those days.*

Behind each class, I had additional dividers for different types of papers I would get (notes, handouts, graded assignments, essays/tests, etc) and I would put everything directly in my binder and always have to carry around these binders.

This year, I'm trying out a bit of a new system. I'm getting rid of the additional dividers for each class and just putting them in order of when I receive them - this holds me accountable for writing the date on each and every little thing I do, which may make things easier in the long run. It will also cut down on the amount of time I spend searching for things...or so I hope!

Something else I'm trying is having a folder for each class in addition to my two three binders. I plan on carrying everything I need for my classes in the folders and putting anything that has already been used or graded in the dividers. This way I won't have to worry about papers falling out of my folders and being disorganized nor will I have to worry about lugging around binders all the time!

So, that's my system. It's pretty basic, and easy too!

Now, for some positive thoughts for Mrs. Laffin's Laughings Positive Thinking Thursday Linky Party!

I really had no plan of my direct sales business being a topic on this blog, and it's not going to be, but these positive thoughts have been posted by the company's Pinterest account and I LOVE  them. I hope you enjoy!