Organize for the New Semester
By Laurie Adachi, Licensed Educational Psychologist
We are well into 2012 and for those of you who are students or have students in your home, a new semester has begun. If this refers to you, take a moment and ask yourself, “Did I prepare for this semester like I did in the fall?”. When you embark on a new semester it’s important to be prepared, organized and to maximize your time in order to get the grades you want. If you haven’t prepared yourself yet, take the time to do that now.
Prepare your school materials. Make sure you have enough pens, pencils, highlighters, and printer ink to get you through until June. Read over your class syllabus and purchase any new materials that are required. Clean out your binder and label the tabs to match your current classes.
Organize your work space or desk, back pack, and car (if you drive). File papers from last semester that you still may need and throw away the rest. Clean up the desktop on your computer in the same way. Find all your text books and organize them next to your work space. This will help you to be more efficient when you are doing your school work.
Evaluate what worked for you last semester and where you ran into difficulty. Make adjustments as needed. If you continue to do things the same way as last semester, you will be likely to get the same results. Are those the results you want?
Schedule your time to meet your current school, work, and extra curricula demands. The demands on your time change from class to class and one activity to another; it doesn’t take long to fall behind because of a lack of foresight. Find the planner you bought last summer or go buy a new one. Log in your appointments, activities and work schedule. Schedule in time for homework and long term projects. This will help you to complete them in a timely manner and to avoid the dreaded procrastination.
Set a goal for the grade(s) you want to achieve. Determine the steps you will need to take in order to attain your goal and put them into action. Seek advice if you need help and work on it daily. Before you know it, this semester, too, will be in the past.