Sunday Round-Up

Well, I don't know about you all, but that first week back felt like about 100 years.  Especially Wednesday when I was at school for 11 hours.  That day was not a joke.

I mentioned in my January Currently that I'm really working hard to find balance in 2015.  It's really important to me to get better at working smarter, not harder, this year and, for me, part of working smarter is being organized.  I also mentioned in my January Currently that I finally finished reading the book The Together Teacher, which I HIGHLY recommend to anyone looking for tangible organization strategies.  The author goes through literally every single imaginable aspect of organization--calendar, checking emails, managing papers, managing projects, tracking to-dos and projects.  I mean, there was honestly a point where I thought to myself, "what else can we REALLY talk about organizing?!", but it really was a super helpful book.

I'm here today to share with you one of the most central tenets of The Together Teacher, which they call Weekly Round-Up.  (I call it Getting My Act Together So I Can Actually Spend Time with The Hubs and The Pup time.)  When I do my Weekly Round-Up, I make sure to have my planner, my phone, and my laptop.  It's likely you'll want similar things, but maybe you don't share my affinity for physical planners and you'll only need electronic items.  I generally sit on my couch to do this, but maybe you're a table or desk sitter?  In any case, it's likely to take you probably 20 or so minutes when you start.  That's what I'm currently averaging, but it's really worth it in the time I make up throughout the week.  So once I have all my materials here's what I do.

1. Cross check my calendar app on my phone with my physical planner and make sure that everything I have on one calendar is on the other.  (Sometimes when I'm on the go I add events/meetings/commitments via my calendar app and I forget to write it on my actual calendar.  Hence, the round up.)  I'll also take this time to take a quick glance through my email to make sure that I'm not missing any one time events that should be on my calendar.  
2. After my calendar app and my physical calendar match, I start typing into my week at a glance.  There are lots of different formats that this can take; I've included a picture of how mine looks below, but really whatever works for you.  Your week at a glance should show the time you're teaching and when you're not, as well as any meetings you have and commitments outside of school--even something as mundane as going to the gym should be on your week at a glance.  
   
3. Add in any upcoming events (from the next 7-10 days) that you'll need to keep at the top of your mind this week.  For me, I wanted to remember to plan my husband's birthday shenanigans and an alumnae board meeting I had this coming week.  My personal favorite feature of this week at a glance format is that the top few boxes are for your priorities of the week and there's a section for classroom, school, and personal priorities.  

The idea is that after you finish this round up you'll have a really clear picture of what time you have free this week, and what your obligations are.  And then you add this sheet to your clipboard/binder/organizer and you keep it with you everywhere you go.  In the book, they say you should even take it when you walk to the bathroom in case you run into someone who wants to talk to you.  Personally, that's a little much for me.  And if I'm going to the bathroom during the school day I'm generally running like a madwoman there and back.  Like I said, this takes a bit of time (20-30 minutes), but I have to say that so far it's been really helpful and I'm definitely into it.

What do you do to stay organized?

Have a great week!  Stay warm!
xoxo

First Five for Friday of 2015

Y'all.  Not only am I blogging two days in a row, but I am actually joining up with Five for Friday ON A FRIDAY!  This is a seminal moment in my life.  And potentially just really indicative of how exactly how much I don't want to vacuum or fold laundry.

                                                   
This week's Five for Friday will be mostly personal, since we haven't been in school since December 18th.  Hopefully, that's okay with you.  =)  You can check back next Friday for a more school connected Five for Friday.

{one}

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is laying wreaths at Arlington Cemetery.  There's always a Saturday in December where you can go lay wreaths on the graves of (almost) all of the soldiers at the cemetery, and then afterwards the hubs and I always go see the train display at the Botanic Gardens.  And every year we make some poor unsuspecting tourist take our picture in front of the tree at the Botanic Garden.  Most of the time it's a pretty nerdy picture, but I think this year it actually turned out pretty well.  Kudos to you, random stranger!  Thanks for making my favorite Christmas tradition a little awesomer.  

{two}

This is one of the best addressed envelopes I've ever seen.  It was our Christmas card from one of my friends from high school.  

{three}

While we were home for Christmas visiting family, we went out to lunch one day with this little love.  My sweet niece is basically the love of my life, and I love taking her out on her own.  Especially since she has a new little baby at home, so we went to Skyline for lunch and when she was eating her Oreos for dessert she said, "Look, Aunt Rachel!  I have a cookie mustache!"  That girl has personality for days.  Naturally, I had to photograph said event.  

{four}

Y'all.  Did you know that FRIENDS is on Netflix now?  It's basically one of my favorite shows ever; I own all 10 seasons on DVD and watch them compulsively whenever the hubs travels for work.  But today I was watching them on Netflix just because it's easier and when Mr. Spouse came home and asked what I was watching and I said FRIENDS he called me a dork for watching it on Netflix when I own all the seasons.  

{five}

Over break, I just finished reading The Together Teacher.  If you haven't read it, I recommned it.  It took me several months to read it; I probably could have read it faster if I have prioritized it more.  If you're not familiar with the book it's basically about ways to be an effective teacher without working your booty to death.  The goal of the book is balance, which is what I'm after this year.  But one of the habits the book recommends forming is creating a weekly worksheet that shows all the meetings, deadlines, and obligations you have each week and it even includes a spot to track upcoming commitments.  I made my first Weekly Worksheet today.  I'm pretty jazzed to use it.  I'll let you know if it's helpful/makes a difference.  This is my finished product for next week.  

I hope everyone enjoys their waning holiday breaks!  Happy New Year!

xoxo

Well, hello, 2015!

Where did 2014 go?!  I can't believe that it's January 1st already.  But there are a lot of truths in my life that I can't believe right now.  We can just add that to the list.

The new job really stuck it to the blog in the latter half of 2014, but I'm hoping that now that I have my feet more underneath me that I'll be back in business more consistently here.  To kick off 2015, I'm joining up with one of my favorite monthly linky parties--Farley's Currently.

The other thing that really stuck it to the blog in the end of 2014 was finding out that Mr. Spouse and I are not only pregnant, but that we're expecting twins.  That's right--two babies at one time.  To be clear, that's twice as many babies as we have now.  I keep telling myself that the upside of going from zero to two is that we'll never know how having two at once is different from having just one.  Right??  Or maybe I'm just deluding myself?  Who knows?  Well, I guess I will after these babies join us.

I hope that your New Year was grand, and that 2015 is off to a great start for everyone.  I plan to be around here much more often sharing ideas, tips, and ridiculous anecdotes.  (Have you ever talked to a kindergartener?!)  My goal is two times a week.  You might even call it a resolution.  ;)  Have a great New Year's Day, y'all!
xoxo