Google Calendar

I've been trying out Google Calendar for awhile now, and am really liking some of its features. It's fast, easy, and syncs with my iPhone. It sends me daily emails with my agenda for that day, and automatically sets alarms. It's easy to schedule repeating events or multiple days for work on the same assignment. I'm still working to figure out how to organize it by course, and I wish it had a wake-up alarm!

Strategy for those Monday surprises

Today was just the most recent in a string of Monday surprises this year, by which I mean assignments which were NOT due suddenly were. A bad moment under any circumstances, right?

But because I am now applying my new strategy, I was ready when my first period teacher announced that we'd had enough time to work on it, and today we were turning in the assignment. First period, and on a Monday! My partner and I had worked yesterday on the assignment, emailing drafts back and forth, so that we were ready and turned it in, and for a major grade too, which counts as 70% instead of the daily grade (30%) we all believed this was.

Our grade was the only 100, and the highest grade in the class - compared to the average 60.

But the real point here is my new strategy, which is this: do everything you can, complete all assignments possible, AS IF they are due tomorrow - or, especially, on Monday.

The strategy works because you finish everything without putting it off - you know what I'm talking about here - just because you have more time and therefore just because you can. It forces you to assume that you MUST knock it out.

The bonus is that you keep your time open for the new incoming assignments, because there will always be incoming.

There really ARE apps for all that!

First, a top five list - notable for a different flashcard application (I still like Quizlet a lot), another graphing calculator to try, and Evernote which I actually like and use. I'm planning to try the project app soon. Here's the link.

Next, here's a list from Lifehacker for the Mac Student

Continuing our Apple/Mac theme, here are 8 more.

And this' year's updates list from AppStorm here.

Know what doesn't work very well? Those big paper calendars that lie flat on your desk. Seems like it would be handy to write on, easy to see for reminders, etc. The reality? That's where I put stuff down or spread my work out on the desk, covering it up.

There's gotta be an app for that, right?

I want what I once had. Yes, I am now that old, that I can write something like that.

I used to have a Palm Pilot - this was grade school, 5th grade I think. Probably my mom's old one or something. But here's the thing:  I had this great program for homework and studying, and I didn't appreciate it then. I want one like it now.

Using a stylus, you pecked around on the screen's drop down boxes, selecting options in ever increasing detail. Homework? Which subject? Worksheet, read pages __-__, study for test, project, paper, or other? Due date? Need more than one day? Want reminders? and so on.

Then you could set up a whole other set of reminders under "Need to take home" and "Need to bring to school"

And it populated a calendar as well as a To Do list.

How awesome is that?

It was called "Shadow Warrior" or something and it could be customized.

I am on a mission to find one like it.

Finals!

This is it. My grades are good so far, just have to avoid blowing it at the end. You know the feeling.

What's great is that I've taken notes every single day in class, using my laptop which means I can organize and review pretty easily.

This is also where keeping on top of your reading pays off. Now I review information for the second or third time, not the first.

Time to order more pizza.

Research paper, for real

Combine "microeconomics" and "research paper" and what do you get? A weekend of work without a break, my friends. Ordered pizza. Twice.

Pollen, pollen everywhere

Well, not really, but at some times of the year it sure seems like it. Like now. Oak pollen is everywhere, and Mountain Cedar (Juniper) is still going strong. I found out last year that I'm allergic to both, so I'm pretty miserable these days even with medication.

 I haven't decided whether it helps me to know, but if you think it helps you, there are some great pollen forecast websites around, usually more specific if it's an allergist in your city. At least you can make sure you know why you feel so bad. Sometimes that's something.

links you can try are here, here and here.

Rubrics, really?

Yes really.

We used to have rubrics on the reverse side of the instructions for special projects or research papers. One side explained in several paragraphs what you were supposed to do. The other side was a form which showed specifically what you had to do to earn a specific number of points. It broke it all down. These were great while they lasted.

I started last year doing what I called check-backs on instructions, where I underlined or highlighted the specifics buried in the instructions for assignments. This year I've starting just making my own rubric, going one step further.

For example, in AP Psych we were assigned to do either a PSA, book or case study explaining one kind of condition. The explanation was several paragraphs, and since I was working with two other people on a team (and I'd carried one of them before on projects teams like this) I decided to convert the long description to a form that we could use to divide up the work, like translating it into what we had to do.

That last part didn't quite work out, but I did actually have them come over to my house and used the form to make sure we had done everything we needed to do. It kept us on track, and when we were done it turned out that ours was the best one.

Plans are great when they work. But first you need a plan.

The gift that keeps on giving

I have this weird connection with moms of kids in middle school and 9th grade, who really really like this blog. I think it's because I'm trying to get through high school doing the best I can, and they want to help their kids get through too.  I've been asked about putting all these blog posts into a collection as a book, and I've decided to try to do this sometime in the future. It shouldn't cost much, and I'm hoping to add some posts that fill in some gaps as soon as school is out. I'll post about it when I get it done.

It's just a little circle

This is a small, tiny thing. Just a circle that you draw on the top right corner of a piece of paper that your teacher hands out in class. It can be a circle about the size of a dime, or a nickel, that's all.

What the circle means, when it's empty, is that whatever is on that page will be due sometime, one day soon. It also means that you need to fill in that deadline or due date. So the empty circle sits there as a reminder that you need to write in the due date, and then you need to do the assignment, and after that you need to turn it in.

We get a blizzard of paper every day, all day. Pages and pages. My AP Psych teacher says we get so many in that class because our textbook is so out of date that she has to add all the rest of the information we need by passing out all these papers. She also tries to save paper by putting different stuff on the back side of a lot of the papers, so it's easy to miss that an assignment is on the back that has nothing to do with what's on the front.

The problem is that some of all these papers are just for you to read, and some of them are for you to actually do something with. What makes it even worse is that some of the papers LOOK like they are assignments, but the teacher says they aren't, and some other papers look like things to just read but the teacher assigns something you're supposed to do with what you read.

So your best friend is that circle. And it works best if you can try to make a habit of asking right when you get the paper:  is this read only, or  when is it due?

Better to be the one who asks all those questions than get a zero.

"Disappeared" posts

Over the past few months I've been experiencing lots of problems with my posts staying up on this blog, and I've been playing around with Wordpress and some other options. But for now I've decided to keep trying here, and when I find a little more time I may add Twitter as a backup for those of you who have asked for this. Now just hve 2 b brief!

Trouble in project team land

Is it me, or does everyone have problems with projects where you have to work in teams?

I used to think it was the project, or the people on the team with me, or even the way the instructions were set up. Now I think it's just the way these things go.

Once or twice the work's been divided pretty much equally, or we've all worked together to get it done. But for most of them I've carried the team, either because I cared more about the grade or just because I started early enough to be able to pull it off when everyone else waited until the last minute.

I've written skits (with costumes, set and recording!), made posters, created illustrated books, constructed science models, printed up brochures, and completed countless PowerPoint presentations. And my name was the first of two, three or more who got equal credit.

I know that I could and should have done it differently, and I'm getting better. But maybe I'm a little more creative, or maybe willing to work a little harder, or just like to do projects more.

My grades are great for these things, but so are my teammates's grades. But I notice that when the teacher asks to keep the project to show as an example for future classes, the question is asked of me. Too bad there's not a bonus grade for that.

Bigger books, better tools

Do yourself a favor and buy a book stand for these massive textbooks we've got these days. Amazon has a bunch of choices under $30. Mine is plexiglas with adjustable angles and flexible arms for holding different sizes of books. Lets you turn the loose pages or not. Really makes a big difference for the next time you've got a long study session, especially if you're outlining or doing something besides just reading the text.

Here's one to consider.

Happy new year!

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One per week

I've been thinking about this blog, and what I'm trying to do here besides just try to get my thoughts down in words. I wish I had found a blog that told me something every week to try. Maybe I would have done better sooner.

I think that trying one new thing a week is just about right, not too much. Even if you just think about it, see if maybe it might be something you want to try, even that amount of thought might be helpful.

It's hard not to be grown up yet, but have to figure it out before you are. It's a lot of pressure.

What's kind of crazy to me is that I look at friends who make things look effortless that I have to really work hard to do, but I also have other friends who think that things come easy to me that they have problems with.

I'm glad that some of these posts seem to be helpful, which means I'm going to keep writing until I run out of things to say.

Breakfast. Seriously.

You might be the exception to the rule. By now I know I'm not. I feel so much better, and DO so much better, when I eat breakfast. And not just any breakfast - a good one. Coffee has almost replaced hot chocolate, plus some fruit like cantaloupe, and for sure some protein:  an omelet, oatmeal with walnuts and raisins, granola and milk, or the breakfast tacos we like here in Texas. Sometimes it's annoying when your mother's right, but that doesn't mean you should skip it.

Baskets and file folders

Not to get carried away with this stuff, but there IS a place in your life for organization.

It's almost the end of the first semester, and stuff is really piling up in my world. Here's what's saving me from drowning in paper.

First,  a plastic basket about the size of notebook paper or a little bigger, for tossing all the completed work that can stay home - usually because it's been graded and returned, or it was for reference and you're done with that topic, etc.

What's great about this is if you do it right - which means staying on top of it most days - then it's sort of like an archeological dig:  the deeper you go, the older the material. Don't throw stuff away, but don't keep carrying it around with you. Put it in the basket and it will be there if you need it.

You want more organization? File folders. Just make one per course, and then after you close out a chapter (or whenever you feel like you want a little more o-r-d-e-r in your life) just sort whatever's in the basket into the folders. Put the folders in a file drawer of that otherwise empty desk. Then admire your empty basket.

See, doesn't that feel good? You are not drowning in a blizzard of paper afterall.

Be safe with a safe

Go to Target and look at what are called document safes. They come in different sizes, but the point is to have one you can lock.

So, obviously, someone could pick these safes up and walk out with them, but that's not the point. What you want is a place for the important stuff, so you can keep it in a special place and know where it is:  passport, blank checks, receipts, etc. Stuff you don't want laying around for just anyone to see. Maybe those notes from your first girlfriend in 5th grade. Whatever.

From Cleared to Cleared

This may be obvious to you already, but apparently I keep forgetting it and when I remember to do it my life is just so much easier.

Before you spread out all the papers and books from your backpack or notebook, make sure the desk is clear.

That way when you're done (or think you are) with everything you need to do, as you gather it all back up and organize it for the next day, it's harder to forget something.

You know, from cleared (surface) to cleared.

First, pile it all up

This is getting harder and harder to do, now that I have a multi-section backpack AND a 3-ring binder AND all these pockets AND a car.

Before I get started on my homework, the first thing I have to do is chase down all the various pieces of paper from that day:  folded, crumpled, misfiled, loose at the bottom of the backpack.

Pile it all up in one place, and sort it all out:  to do tonight, to do another time (tip: put the due date at the upper right corner), stay at home, file with the class section of the notebook for use at school, etc.

If I don't, once or twice a week I miss a deadline, or panic and rush to finish an assignment I forgot because I didn't find the paper until I was doing the laundry, or looking for something else, etc. Not a good feeling.

The alternative, of course, is to carefully organize these papers as I proceed through the day. Not going to happen.