Organize Me

Teacher’s Notebook
 Table of Contents
How to Use this book 2
Hour One Checklist 3
Introduction 4
Learning Styles/Abridged Intake 5
Organizing the Notebook 10
Taking Notes, Two Column, Others 11
Hour One Homework 13
Hour Two Checklist 14
The Importance of Control 15
Control in School 17
Control at Home 18
Methods of Self-Regulation, Calendars, Checklists, Time Maps 20
Hour Two Homework 22
Hour Three Checklist 23
Daily Planner 24
Success in School Overview 25
Active Listening 26
Active Reading 27
Methods of Studying: Smart cards 29
Hour Three Homework 30
Hour 4 Checklist 31
Terrible Teachers 32
Writing Papers and Completing Projects 34
Hour Four Homework 36
Hour Five Checklist 37
Homework Review 38
Approaching Procrastination: Getting things done 39
The Daily Routine: Structure 40
The Small Step 41
Hour Five Homework 42
Hour Six Objective List 43
Keeping on Top of Things: Maintaining Success 44
Knowing Your Resources 45
Introduction to Technology 46
Conclusion

1
 How to Use This Book

This is a complete guide to the Organize Me course.

What this book provides is an overview of each objective on each hour that a
student is meant to complete, and is designed to guide a person through the basics
of what that entails.

In order to best use this notebook, the instructor should be familiar with
organizational techniques mentioned in this binder. Examples are included, but
information is not comprehensive. In addition, the instructor should use the intake
form (abridged in this notebook), in order to cater the learning material to the
student’s difficulties and interests.

The organization of this notebook is designed as if the student were taking each of
the six hours on separate days. Homework review and sections are therefore placed
on each hour, and may not apply to each day. The goal of the course is to have
each checklist completed by the end of the course. While the order of the material
is a suggested order, it is by no means the only order in which to complete this
course.

As a final note, hour six includes a basic introduction to technology available to the
disorganized. The teacher should familiarize herself with the programs listed if she
wishes to give a demonstration of a program’s use. This binder does not give a
walkthrough of these items.

2
 Hour One Checklist

 Introduction
 Learning Style Worksheet
 Intake
 Organize Notebook
 Note taking
 Homework assignment

3
 Introduction
[To be written by Pat Wagner(?)]

4
 Learning Styles Worksheet

Name: ______________________

Personal Styles: What’s your receptive learning style?

Extrapolated from Feldmen (2002). Power Learning Strategies for Success in College and Life, 2/e, New
York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies.

1 = Not at all useful

2 = Not very useful
3 = Neutral
4 = Somewhat useful
5 = Very useful

1 2 3 4 5
1 Studying alone
2 Studying pictures and diagrams to understand complex ideas
3 Listening to class lectures
4 Performing a process myself rather than reading or hearing about
it
5 Learning a complex procedure by reading written directions
6 Watching and listening to film, computer, or video presentations
7 Listening to a book or lecture on tape
8 Doing lab work
9 Studying teachers hand-outs and lecture notes
10 Studying in a quiet room
11 Taking part in group discussions
12 Taking part in hands-on classroom demonstrations
13 Taking notes and studying them later
14 Creating flash cards and using them as a study and review tool
15 Memorizing and recalling how words are spelled by spelling them
“out loud” in my head
16 Writing key facts and important points down as a tool for
remembering them
17 Recalling how to spell a word by seeing it in my head
18 Underlining or highlighting important facts or passages in my
reading
19 Saying things out loud when I’m studying
20 Recalling how to spell a word by “writing” it invisibly in the air or
on a surface
21 Learning new information by reading about it in a textbook
22 Using a map to find an unknown place
23 Working in a study group
24 Finding a place I’ve been to once by just going there without
directions

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Scoring: The statements cycle through the four receptive learning styles in this order (1) visual/verbal,
(2) visual/nonverbal, (3) auditory/verbal, and (4) tactile/kinesthetic.

To find your primary learning style, disregard your 1, 2, and 3 ratings, add up your 4 and five ratings for
each learning style. Use the following chart to link the statements to the learning styles, and to write
down your summed ratings.

Learning Style

Learning Style Statements Total Sum of Rating Points

Visual/verbal 1, 5, 9, 13, 17, and 21
Visual/nonverbal 2, 6, 10, 14, 18, and 22
Auditory/verbal 3, 7, 11, 15, 19, and 23
Tactile/kinesthetic 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 24

What do each of these mean?

A visual/verbal learner will:

A visual/nonverbal learner will

An auditory/verbal learner will

A tactile/kinesthetic learner will

6
 Intake
Note: This intake is not the complete intake form originally created for this course.
The one in this notebook is designed to be completed quickly, especially by a
substitute teacher, in order to best ascertain problem areas, and effectively use this
course. Questions are in approximate order of relevance to each hour, though there
is much overlap. Space is also left for additional notes.

Why are you in the Organize Me program? (Indicates willingness to participate,

and self knowledge of problem areas)

What do you seek in gaining through the material of this course? [e.g., skills,
knowledge, etc.]

How successful do you feel in school? Could you be getting better grades?

Where are your difficulties (if any) in the classroom?

[Anxiety, how do you act when others (adults) try to help you,

Using a scale from one to five, one being not a problem, five being a big problem,
indicate which problem areas applicable to you:

 Paying attention in class . 1 2 3 4 5

 Handing in homework on time 1 2 3 4 5
 Handing in projects on time 1 2 3 4 5
 Completing projects in a timely fashion 1 2 3 4 5
 Taking and keeping good notes 1 2 3 4 5
 Starting tasks (such as homework) 1 2 3 4 5

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  Using daily planner or assign. pad 1 2 3 4 5
 Losing homework/leaving it at home 1 2 3 4 5
 Forgetting to complete assignments 1 2 3 4 5
 Keeping desk at school clean 1 2 3 4 5
 Keeping room at home clean 1 2 3 4 5
 Completing interesting tasks 1 2 3 4 5
 Completing tasks when subject is boring 1 2 3 4 5
 Starting tasks which are interesting 1 2 3 4 5
 Starting boring tasks 1 2 3 4 5
 Keeping notebook/backpack organized 1 2 3 4 5
 Studying effectively (does it work) 1 2 3 4 5
 Study habits (do you study to begin with) 1 2 3 4 5

What subjects are you interested at school?

What subjects do you find difficult or boring?

What are your hobbies? Do you participate in any sports or activities?

Where do you typically get your homework done? [Is there an effective work area
at home or elsewhere?] Are there distractions in this area?

When do you usually get your homework done? (Days of week and time of day)

When do you usually start projects, and finish them? (It may be a good idea to ask
for a walk through of a typical 3 page paper process from research to final draft).

8
What materials do you use for classes? [For instance: do you use separate binders
for each class, different spirals for math or science.] Are these neat and organized?

When you forget to do something, what is usually the cause? ( Follow ups: Do you
write things down, or keep mental notes?)

Do you encounter difficulties when writing papers or doing projects? If so, what do
you feel they are?

What kind of study methods do you use? Flashcards, reading textbook and notes,
etc.?

Do you use any tools to keep on task or organized? [Whiteboards, timers, etc.]

Do you have trouble with procrastination? What do you typically do while

procrastinating? (Example: sit there and do nothing, or play games or other tasks.)

Are there any problem areas you feel you have that were not mentioned?

Additional Notes:

9
 The Organize Me Notebook
The student here should now prepare their Organize Me notebook. This notebook
is based off of the Master Notebook system of Landmark College.

Materials:
One pencil case with pencils, pens, index cards.
One pocket folder
Three tabbed dividers
Loose-leaf or two-column note paper

Process
The goal of the master notebook is to keep everything you could have for a class in
one place, in a *simple* organizational style.

The reasoning behind this is that the simpler the method, the easier it is to stick to,
and continue to use.

There are therefore three sections to this notebook [which the student should label],
and should be in this order:

Notes and Handouts: for all in class materials

Homework and Projects: For all completed and returned assignments
Tests and Quizzes: For all returned assessments

The pocket folder should be used for any active assignments (that are to be handed
in or are not completed).

Any new material given by the teacher should be placed immediately in the
notebook. This prevents anything from not being where it should be, always.

By using this immediate system (a portable hole punch may be necessary) It is

much easier to maintain a neat notebook.

For binders with multiple classes, place a large manila divider between class
sections, and repeat the three tabs for each class.

10
 Note Taking, Two column Notes
Note taking should be an active process in school, and should be kept up with the
teacher. As of this point, the student should take notes on what he/she finds
important in the course.

The format of each page is as follows for two column notes:

Name Date
Subject of Notes

Topic One Detail One

Detail Two

Topic Two Detail One (of topic two)

The benefits of two column notes include their simplicity, their ease of use, and
that they work for most subjects (even math). By being simple, two column notes
make it easier to keep up with a teacher when he is speaking or writing on the
board

Details shouldn’t be complete sentences, but ‘shorthand’ details. For instance

John Jacob 9/12/02

American history

America Populated by Asia

Land bridge

Land bridge Corner of Alaska

11
Other note taking styles:
Paragraph form: Too long to write out, students often fall behind in class.

Outlines: an effective style, but can become difficult to follow detail after sub-
detail when studying

Web maps/mind maps: Useful for visual learners, however, for long notes, these
become very large and complex. (See mind map on Wikipedia, the image is an
excellent example of how these can become confusing.

Using Two column notes may be difficult in math classes. A useful thing to do in
math classes is to box all important facts, and keep them in the center of the page.
Two column notes is a suggestion and what we’ll practice here. Find what works
best for you.

Exercise:
Read the following passage, and have the student take two column notes on it.

Leif Erikson was a Norse Explorer famous for visiting North America. He was
born in 970, and died in 1020. His father, Erik Thorvaldsson, better known as Erik
the Red, was an outlaw, the son of an outlaw, and also an explorer. Lief was born
in Greenland, and explored lands west of Greenland.

Bjarni Herjólfsson, the son of a friend of Eric the Red, was an explorer who, on his
way to visit his father in Greenland, was blown off course by a storm, and had seen
lands west of Greenland.

Lief purchased Bjarni’s boat, and proceeded to explore Canada, and established a
colony in the land he called Vinland (wine-land). On his return trip, he picked up a
castaway and his crew, and was rewarded with their rich cargo, earning Lief the
nickname ‘Lief the Lucky’. Eric’s father disagreed with this nickname, because
along with the castaways, Lief brought a Catholic priest to Greenland.

12
 Homework Assignment
The student should practice two column notes, and the art of listening and writing
down what he hears.

1)The student should watch a TV program he or she enjoys and take two column
notes on the episode, including plot development, facts, and characters.

2) If the student has a reading assignment for a class (other than English) they
should take two column notes instead of their normal note taking while reading for
this subject. (For instance, history, read pages 53-64, take notes on the pages this
time.)

If the student does not have a current reading assignment, they should find a
magazine article, or other subject they are interested in, and do two column notes
(approximately 2 pages, they are very quick) on the reading they choose.

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 Hour Two Checklist
 Review Homework
 Review two column notes
 Importance of Control
 Control in the School
 Control at Home
 Your Workspace
 Self Regulation

14
 The Importance of Control

When working at home or in school, it is difficult to say to oneself ‘stop

procrastinating’ and simply to stop procrastinating. There are external and internal
factors that cannot be controlled by yourself. Internally, some examples are
influences of procrastination, and your likes and dislikes. Externally, for instance,
in the classroom, things you cannot necessarily change are who else is in a class
with you, or who your teacher is.

In other words, you cannot control whether or not you have a bad teacher, or if you
are naturally easily distracted. What you can do is control yourself and your
environment enough to change how much these factors affect you. Basically: *the
more you control, the more you are in control*.

Success in home and school will come from exercising as much control as possible
over your environment and stimuli. The notebook is an example of an external
factor, your organization outside of your mind and body, that you control. It helps
organize you.

We will explore three ‘areas’ where you will take control:

 Control at school. (reacting to teachers, desk)

 Control at home (study areas)
 Self regulation (Self control through external factors)

15
 Control in School
Sitting in a classroom, how well you can pay attention, or how prepared you are for
class comes from your external factors, most often.
Have the student try the exercise “Control in School” with you.

If the student is confused, offer alternative approaches to the question. For

instance, for paying attention, you can ask “why would you not be paying
attention” and ask how they would fix that. E.g.,: “I’m tired.” “So being well rested
works.”

Answers will vary, but the following approaches are important to touch upon:

Paying attention:

 Where you sit in the classroom

 Taking notes, asking questions, anything with *active participation*
 Having your materials for class
 Being well rested
 A neat desk
 Wearing a watch (if their distraction is the clock on the wall)

Understanding a teacher better:

 Asking questions << this is the important one

 Doing the readings, homework, etc.
 Going to office hours, or going to him after class

Being more prepared:

 Keeping a neat notebook

 Doing your homework
 Reading the textbook beforehand
 Making sure you have all of your materials

16
Name ________________

Control in School
Sitting in a classroom, how well you function varies from class to class. You can
turn each class into a more positive experience by exercising control over yourself
and environment.

Task: Come up with two things you (yourself) can change in a classroom to pay
attention more readily:

1) _____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

2) _____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

Write one way you can change your experience with a teacher:

1) _____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

Write three ways you can be more prepared for class: (Organization counts!)

1) _____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

2) _____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

3) _____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

17
 Control at Home
This is the same exercise as before, but more important to the student’s ability to
function. Most homework, studying, and preparation goes on at home.

Control at home includes the use of time maps, calendars, other reminder tools,
staying well fed (something that is important to note here is that with low blood
sugar, you cannot effectively interact with the world).

One way of approaching disorganization and procrastination is the use of routines.

This type of external control is extremely important, and will be covered in Hour 5,
alongside food, exercise, and sleep. All of these factors are types of control you
can have at home.

Most important of all, however is the workspace. Work with the student on the
following exercise on workspace. Help him analyze the negative elements of his
workspace, and fix it.

A workspace should be free of distractions. A computer may be present, but should

be used only for work. It should be a place you use ONLY for work. Introducing
the aspect of play to a workspace makes it no longer exclusively for work. If a
place is only for work, it is easier to work in it.

The workspace should not be in an active part of the house where others can
distract you. It should have a surface to work on (some people do work well on the
floor!) and should be near all the supplies you need.

Primarily, improving a workspace involves common sense.

18
Name ________________

My Work Space
Where you work is important to how effectively you work. In this exercise, you
describe your current work space, list some of the distractions, and make
suggestions on how to make it better.

Describe your current workspace:

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

What are some of the things that distract you in this space?

1) _____________________________________________________________
2) _____________________________________________________________
3) _____________________________________________________________
4) _____________________________________________________________

What is your ideal workspace?

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

What can you do to your current workspace in order to make it more like your
ideal workspace?

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

19
 Methods of Self-Regulation, Calendars, Checklists,
Time Maps
Self regulation is the control of a person by his or her own actions. Self regulation
isn’t always the answer when it comes to procrastination and disorganization;
external tools tend to be much more effective in helping a person be self aware.

Metacognition: thinking about thinking.

When you procrastinate, you don’t think, usually, “I’m procrastinating, putting this
off is a good idea.”.

Tools help you self regulate, help you monitor your own thinking and own process.
A reminder helps you not forget. There are tools to help you stay on task. Our goal
here in this program is, again, to help you find what works for you.

Three effective methods of self regulation are Calendars, Checklists, and time
maps. As you describe each, have the student sketch an example for their own use.

Calendars: For long term projects usually, help you keep track of deadlines by
writing tasks into each day.
Post-It Calendars allow you to make lists for each day, and to use the calendar as a
checklist.

Checklists: a simple to do list you can update and cross off or erase. Very effective
on whiteboards. Even checklists with homework don’t need to be limited to
academic tasks.

The advantage to checklists is that they leave a sense of fulfillment as each task is
completed, and do not add as much stress as time maps. You can also arrange tasks
in the order you wish to complete them, if it helps you to accomplish your tasks.

Sample:

 Finish Organize Me Homework

 Walk the dog
 Clip toenails
 Finish history work

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Time maps:

Time maps are like checklists, with the addition of an approximate time slot of
when you are going to do a task. These should be erasable. By updating your time
map as tasks take less, or more time, you gain awareness
Sample:

3:00 Field Hockey

3:30 Field Hockey
4:00 Math homework
4:30 History homework
5:00 History homework
5:30 Break- dinner
6:00 Dinner

Other time map formats do exist. Do what works for you!

3:00-4:00 Field Hockey

4:00-4:30 Math Homework
4:30-5 History homework
-5:30 Break (starting time is missing, ending time is concrete)
5:30 20 minute break, help with dinner
6-7 Dinner
7:15 English homework

Note in the above with different times, there’s an open slot from 7-715. Leaving
open spots in a time map can allow for tasks taking more or less time.

Keep a time map updated! Add in breaks when you need it, change orders of tasks,
move things around if something is taking too long. Time maps are malleable
tools, and help you keep track of yourself. They are not necessarily something you
have to follow exactly, like a schedule.

Also, like checklists, they do not need to be just academic tasks.

We will get into the technological aspect of self regulation in hour six.

21
 Hour Two Homework
1) Start to work on your ideal work space. Change your area to make it better for
studying and work.
2) Two column notes on a television show (again!)
3) Create, and use at least one of each of a time map, checklist, and calendar to
help you accomplish tasks, or keep track of information. Bring these to the next
meeting.

22
 Hour Three Checklist
 Homework Review
 Daily Planner
 Success in School
 Active Listening
 Active Reading
 Methods of Studying
 Hour Three Homework

23
 Daily Planner
The daily planner is an important part of organization. You have done time maps,
checklists, and a calendar, and all can be used in a good daily planner.

A good daily planner is different for each person. It should have enough space,
should be portable, and should have a calendar built in. They can be electronic, but
should help you keep track of what tasks you have left to do. I

The student probably uses an assignment pad. These usually have far too little
room to write long assignments. In addition teachers often place the homework
online. This is actually both helpful and hurtful to people with organizational
issues: you become reliant on the online service.

To that end: always write down your assignments, even if you only get them online
after class. Physically writing down assignments reinforces them in the brain.

24
 Success in School Overview

The overall goal of this course is to help a student succeed in his or her life to a
greater extent. In the area of school, staying on top of your work is the best way to
approach classes. There are a few areas that we will focus on:

Being prepared for class; reading the textbook beforehand makes it easier to follow
a teacher, and can allow you to learn fun facts that make a subject more interesting.

Listening in class: taking effective notes during class, and reviewing said notes is
key to doing well in any class.

Studying: staying on top of studying, and not leaving studying for the night before
a test makes studying much less of a pain. It also makes studying less of a huge
project come the exam, and therefore is less stressful.

Hour three and four are dedicated to making these areas easier to handle.

25
 Active Listening
When you were taking notes on a T.V. show, you were practicing the art of
listening, and taking notes at the same time. Sometimes you can fall behind. In a
classroom, unlike the T.V. you can ask the teacher to repeat herself, or even ask a
question about the subject to fill out the empty spots. Taking these notes while a
teacher is lecturing, copying what is on the board, and asking questions are all part
of a task called “active listening”.

Exercise: Read the following textbook excerpt to the student, and have her take
notes on it. Encourage asking questions, or repetition, so the notes are complete.

Source: McDougall Littell’s World History: Patterns of Interaction

When listening to a teacher, anything she says is important, be sure to write down.
Diagrams and examples are great to focus on, and make sure anything underlined
or emphasized is something you pay note to: if they find it important, it’s probably
going to be on a test!

26
 Active Reading
Before each class, you are often asked to read sections in the textbook. Reading
and taking notes on your reading is called active reading.

Because notes are clarified in the class, teachers do not expect you to memorize all
of the material, and, unless otherwise told, only expect you to get a general idea of
the material.

In MOST textbooks, you do NOT need to read every word. The following formula
works to get an overview through the important bits:

1) The first paragraph of each section

2) The last paragraph of each section
3) The first sentence of each paragraph
4) The last sentence of each paragraph
5) Bold, italicized or underlined words
6) Diagrams
7) Anything in boxes- often the most interesting tidbits are in the side boxes!

For math and science, also read and take notes on any theorems, look at the
examples, and any laws introduced.

Have the student actively read the next reading, also from McDougall Littell’s
World History.

27
Actively Read the following:

28
Methods of Studying: Smart cards

29
 Homework Hour 3:
1) Do smart cards for a school reading you have (at least 5)
2) Actively read a reading you have for school (or one supplied)
3) Do active listening for a t.v. show (again!)

30
 Hour Four Checklist
 Homework Review
 Terrible Teachers
Making things interesting
 Writing papers
 Hour Four Homework

31
Terrible Teachers Activity

32
 Writing Papers
As part of your school curriculum, you have probably had to do outlines for
papers, and edit papers. When you write a paper, generally, it can be difficult to
find the right words to use while writing it, or to write it in a timely manner. The
following is a sample schedule to approach a week long paper, day by day: This is
a sample guideline, you don’t need to follow it fully! The detailed outline is a good
tool to use, however, and should be kept.

Day 1: Right after receiving the overall topic of a paper, decide what area of said
topic to write about. E.g., if it is Nazi Germany, and you have to write about one
aspect of it, decide right then that you are going to write about the rise of Fascism,
or about Germany’s weaponry. This prevents later pains during research in
deciding what to write about.

Night 1: Wikipedia the topic. Do not do research from Wikipedia, but you can look
at the article to see the topics, which can point you in the right direction of what to
write about, and can give you a general idea of what to research. You know have
an idea of what to look for while researching.

Day 2: Go to the library or research the articles online. In the case of books, look
for the specific topics you are researching in the index. A generic book on a topic
may not address the specific issue you are looking for. Read through the books,
and take notes on notable quotes or ideas you want to use.

Day 3: Outline/Detailed Outline. Create an outline for your paper. As you write the
outline, you will most likely have ideas for specific sentences you want to use, and
will want to tie in quotes in specific parts of the paper. Do not wait! Instead of a
simple outline, go the distance and write out these entire sentences and quotes
(remember to note where you got them from!) into the outline. This will make the
rough draft easier.

33
Day 4: Rough draft. Using your detailed outline, you have a very good idea of
what you are going to write, so simply write it! Don’t try to make it perfect, but do
the best you can.

Day 5: After waiting some time, edit your draft. Do not edit it immediately, or you
won’t catch as many errors. Proofread, edit, and revise your paper. Now it is your
final draft.

If you get stuck during a paper, go do another assignment. Sometimes, it’s good to
take a break until a flash of insight hits you.

When writing rough drafts, it is often a good idea to write how you speak. You
have time to change it into a formal paper after you get your ideas out. Struggling
to find the right words when writing a paper hinders the writing process, and lends
itself to procrastination, or getting stuck.

34
 Hour Four Homework
Think back to a teacher you had that you did not work well with, and/or a subject
you hated. Apply ‘making things interesting’ and ‘Terrible Teachers’ in order to
decide how you would best approach this class if you were to take it again. You
may need to do research to find what is interesting about a particular subject.

Using the method of writing papers, pre-prewriting, pre-writing, detailed outline

for this project, as if you were going to write a paper on it. (Hence the research!)
You do NOT need to write the paper.

35
Hour Five Checklist- add
more!
 Homework Review
 Approaching Procrastination:
Getting things done
 The Daily Routine: Structure
 The Small Step

 Hour Five Homework (optional)

36
 Homework Review
Unlike the earlier homeworks, which were self explanatory to look over, hour five
should look over and analyze the earlier homeworks all at once.

1) Test the effectiveness of smart cards by using unit 3’s homework and quizzing
them on a few of the smart cards (which they have not studied!) This should
show that, while they need extra studying, the very act of making them is a big
step to knowing information.
2) Time maps, calendars, and checklists: the use of these is important in hour five,
and should be looked back on. What works for the student best?
3) The idea of workspace should be revisited. Have they worked at all on where
they work?

37
 Approaching Procrastination: Getting things done
We have approached several methods in the course of organizing oneself,
exercising control, and how to accomplish tasks more effectively. However, the
impediment to implementing all of this often is an issue called activation.

When there is an issue in activation, the brain does not go from point A to point B,
even if you want it to. It is the same problem as when you forget a word that is on
the tip of your tongue, and by thinking about related items, (such as where you
heard the word, what it means), you then recall it.

Procrastination derives from the inability to start a task. The previous strategies,
time maps and checklists, help you to start thinking more about a task, but there are
other factors that can aid in helping you focus and work, and aid in getting started.

Food: Blood sugar levels must be kept up in order for your body to function at an
optimal level. Regular meals are wonderful, but they are not enough to keep you
functioning at full steam. Even junk food is better than no food.

Sleep: Having a regular sleep schedule is more effective than staying up late and
sleeping late in order to ‘make up time’ in order to focus. Staying up late before
classes the next day also can cause you to pay less attention in the class (let alone
activate on your work). In addition, staying up late means you work less effectively
both at night, and when you are working the next day in class.

Exercise: Exercise has a positive effect on learning. [John Ratey is most famous
for this research]. When you come home after school, and find yourself not willing
to work, sometimes fifteen minutes of good exercise can put you in a good mood,
and help focus your brain. In addition, exercise improves memory, so you’ll study
more effectively.

Physical motivation: Reward yourself for accomplishing difficult or long tasks.

Combining this with food (a chocolate for every five math problems done) can
double as keeping your blood sugar up. Larger tasks, such as final projects,
finishing final exams with straight A’s, should yield larger rewards. Rewarding
yourself with computer games or other ‘distractions’ in between assignments isn’t
a good idea, though!

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 The Daily Routine: Structure
Metacognition is the strongest tool against procrastination. Realizing you are
procrastinating, and asking yourself why, can help you take control of a situation
where you would otherwise get nothing done.

Even stronger than this, perhaps, is the act of having a routine. If you come home
each day, exercise for fifteen minutes, review your class notes for thirty minutes
and make smart cards, then start your homework, you will be likely to do that each
day.

For instance: people rarely consciously decide to brush their teeth. It is ingrained
as a ritual and habit into their daily life, so that you rarely forget. The same can
apply to work and study habits, so long as you keep them up.

Doing your homework at a regular time (for instance, right after school or an
activity), will make it so you automatically start to be in the homework ‘mood’ at
that time.

Negative habits, such as staying up late, can also come from routines. So try to
adopt positive habits.

Having a routine, or structure, makes it significantly easier to start tasks. Aside

from time, we have spoken about specific places (your work area) being associated
with work. Other habits (e.g., putting on a specific playlist of music, only wearing
your glasses while you work, or making a checklist just as you start to work) can
all be used to keep your structure.

Best of all, routines become self-maintaining. After you begin a routine, you keep
that routine. This will be touched upon in hour six as a maintenance method for
strategies.

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 The Small Step
Sometimes, people just do not want to work. Unfortunately, there is no ‘solve all’
solution for motivation, or ‘just getting started’ on tasks. Motivational speakers
make gratuitous amounts of money to selling partial solutions to large
corporations.

When it comes down to it, if you need to get something done and don’t feel like it,
the only solution is to ‘just do it’. Sometimes, ‘just doing it’ is the exact problem
that we cannot solve. In this instance, there is a simple mental process that allows
us to better handle the situation, and get started.

When feeling overwhelmed, separating large amounts of tasks into many smaller
tasks can seem easier to handle. Solving steps a through z is easier than tackling
the whole alphabet. This process is often referred to as ‘chunking’.

Another way to tackle the small step is possibly the only continuous solution the
author of this program has found: “just five minutes”.

We often, when procrastinating, say ‘just five more minutes”. This happens to
everyone. Just five more minutes in bed. Just five more minutes of T.V. Just until I
beat this level in a video game.

The idea with ‘The Small Step’ is to *reverse* this. “Just five minutes of work,
then I’ll stop”.

If you can get yourself to work for five minutes, what often happens is you do
*not* end up only working for five minutes, instead, getting everything you want
done. If you apply the ‘just five more minutes’ to tasks you don’t want to handle,
not only will they get accomplished, they will seem to take less time, and be less
painful.

So: if you are unable to start work, just start it for five minutes, then go watch T.V.
Chances are you’ll finish the paper you don’t want to do before you go have fun.

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 Hour Five Homework (optional)
If the student is running on a six day program, or has broken somehow, the
following homework can be asked to be accomplished for hour five:

1) Try to start a new healthy routine of exercise or work habits. Limit it to fifteen
minutes a day, and make it as enjoyable as possible. Do Wii Fit, or perhaps start
reading each night on a new series you enjoy.
2) Write down a few ways (at least five) that you could motivate yourself
effectively, without negative stimuli (such as video games, tv at a certain hour,
etc.). Try using them to accomplish something you’ve been putting off!

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 Hour Six Objectives
 Homework Review
 Keeping on Top of Things:
Maintaining Success
 Knowing Your Resources
 Introduction to Technology
 Conclusion

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 Keeping on Top of Things: Maintaining Success
Through this course we have gone through many strategies to start work, to study
well, to write, to do well in classes, even when you dislike them, and even keep
your notebook neat. The final key to success is in maintaining these strategies.

The first step is to not wait to organize or try things. Putting ‘organizing your
notebook’ off a few times results in a bigger project you are less likely to handle.
REMEMBER: THE EASIER THE SYSTEM IS TO USE, THE MORE LIKELY
YOU ARE TO KEEP USING IT.

The second step is to know what to do when things fall apart. ‘Bumps’ in life
occur; your computer can crash losing a large paper, you can forget an assignment
and have to make it up, or another unexpected hiccup could occur in your life.

You cannot avoid hiccups. Instead, know what to do when they happen: Reset.
What many people do is press forward in spite of failure. They keep stacking onto
the pile of ‘makeup assignments’ by not ‘chunking’: turning a lot of projects into
small steps other than ‘a lot of work’. College students often start pulling all night
work session after all night work session, until their subconscious takes over their
mind and starts writing their paper for them.

The author has been there. He has written a paper on motivation while half asleep,
and ended up, mid sentence, typing out his daydream. “Motivation can sometimes
cause Jabba the Hutt in PJ’s which in turn allows people to start tasks.”

By taking a step back when feeling overwhelmed, and taking things on piece by
piece, you turn large problems into small ones, which can be accomplished,
resulting in a cycle of success, rather than perpetuating failure.

If you find yourself not sticking to routines, not studying, or putting things off,
STOP. Take a step back, and start from square one, reforming your positive habits
consciously.

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 Knowing Your Resources
For the majority of this course, we have spoken about external items, or
procedures, with which to aid in issues. There are also living beings who can, and
want, to help you.

Parents often can feel overwhelming, but can help you study for a test, or can help
you remember things. Above all, they are the ones who most want you to succeed.
Sometimes they can feel overwhelming, when helping you organize directly,
digging through your things to clean a notebook, or room. However, they wish to
help, and are a strong emotional resource. (restricting parents to a guideline)

Teachers: if you are having trouble in a class, or don’t understand something, or

even just want advice on a paper, there is no better person to ask than the teacher
of the class you’re having trouble in. Teachers are there to help you, and most
often wish to help students. If you ask for advice, they will help! In addition, it
certainly helps to have a positive relationship with your teachers.

Counselor: A school counselor, or your class dean can often provide advice, or
point you to the right person to ask for help. They can offer advice for dealing with
stress, or can help you find services at school (such as a quiet room) that you can
use to be more effective. The key with these people is that you have to go and take
the step to ask.

Special Education Office: even if you do not have ADHD or some learning
disability, there are very few people who know more about strategies or help
offered in an educational facility. If you ask someone in this office for some advice
regarding procrastination, or disorganization, they are probably willing to help you.

Outside of the special education office there are other people, such as
organizational coaches, cognitive behavioral therapists, pediatric neurologists, who
you can hire in order to help you. The bonus about the aforementioned people is
that they’re all free, and fairly easy to reach.

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 Introduction to Technology
There are many electronic or mundane devices that can be used to aid in
organization. The following is a list of suggested programs and devices that can
help you stay on task, or be more organized.

Post it’s: a great way to remind yourself of something, particularly for in the
morning, so you can see it.

Post it calendars: calendars with squares the size of Post It’s made by the company,
which can be used as a dual checklist/calendar. Color coded post its add to the
bonus, so you can use different colors for different types, or different important
classes.

Computerized Post-Its: The Post-It website has a program you can use in order to
keep Post-its on your desktop window. There also are third party programs (a
particularly excellent one is the notepad for windows sidebar) that you can use to
remember things, write them down, or keep track of them.

Laptops: a great tool in the classroom, so long as you keep a binder still for hand
outs and assignments. Printing out notes is also a must. Laptops, (provided you
don’t get distracted by them) offer neat notes for those with terrible handwriting, as
well as access to all the organizational electronic programs you could want.

Cell phone: cell phones often come with voice recording, note keeping, AND
calendar software. All three can be used (to your liking) as electronic copies or
electronic reminders. Many of the calendar programs also have the bonus of
ringing at particular times to remind you of appointments or tasks.

Google Services: online document saving and sharing (even presentations), and a
very good calendar program, alongside other programs that allow you to keep a
directory, or create a free Google site on which to jot down notes, make Google
services a great tool to use. Plus, you can access them from anywhere.

Dragon Naturally Speaking & Kurtzweil: programs like these two can do text to
speech and speech to text in order to write papers simply by talking, or read papers
out to you if you’re having difficulty with reading.

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Microsoft programs:
One note: Possibly the greatest notetaking program out there, One Note is similar
to having as many binders as you want, right on the screen. With templates of
planners, to do lists, different notetaking styles, and downloadable templates
(including the Cornell Note-Taking method, which two column notes is based off
of) this program can walk you through whatever you wish it to do. Plus, you never
have to actively save anything: everything is automatically saved; you never need
to name a file actively.

One note also works with Tablet Pc’s, making it great for those who want to take
their math notes on the computer. Windows 7 has an equation generator (write
what you want for complex math symbols) that allows fast and easy math and
science notes to be neat and organized.

Desktop programs: in addition to the post-it sidebar, applications that are timers,
calendar/agenda programs, even daily planners, exist (particularly for Windows or
Google Desktop sidebars).

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