The Together Teacher Winner

I was thinking this past week about how I could make my life easier. After selling off most of our belongings in preparation for our relocation out of state, I realized NOW is the time to plan, organize, and recreate our lives to make things simpler in the future.

One of the things that I realized I was lacking on the most was a schedule for my blog posts. Right now it just depends upon my mood what I share with all of you but there really is no rhyme or reason to it. In an effort to make things easier I created a schedule for me.

I love my Melonheadz calendar! So simple to plop things into and plan. So... anyways. This is what I plan/hope to accomplish each week.

Monday, Tuesday, and Friday's I left open for whatever I want to do. I am learning so many new things that I want to share with you but I haven't ever scheduled them in. Now I am. =)

Wednesday I scheduled for my freebie day. I am hoping to share more with you or share some of my favorite freebies from other teacher-authors. I also want to start doing a monthly linky party. I LOVE linky parties.

If you have a free item you want me to feature... send me an email.

Thursday is my blog stalking day. I have to schedule time to blog stalk and this is the perfect day for me. My classes always start a new week on Thursday so it is the day of the least amount of homework and thus the most free time each week.

I have been getting a lot of requests for guest posts so I will post these on Thursday as well. I love reading what others have to say and sharing some of my favorite bloggy authors with all of you.

If you would like to be a guest blogger for me... send me an email.

On Saturday, I am planning on sharing new products with you. I have been working hard with Melonheadz Illustrating and we have soooo many ideas and things we want to share with all of you. I am hoping for a product every other week. I have listed as weekly but that is being extremely optimistic. 

If you have a product request... send me an email. 

Sunday is my day for reviews. I get a lot of request for these or perhaps it is a new book or supply or something awesome that I just want to share with all of you. Sunday is my day for this. 

If you would like me to review your product, app, or book... send me an email. 

I feel so much better having a schedule. And I love that I have blog stalking time available as I have missed that in the chaos lately. Plus... my blog is getting a make-over soon and I am planning on trying to make things even easier for you to find. It just seems like making it easier to know what I will be posting will help as well. 

 

So moving on... the winner of my new favorite book is:

Congrats! I will be emailing you shortly for your information.

The Together Teacher

The first quarter of the year has been wrapped up. By now, you have noticed what is and is not working in the classroom for you. The question is how to make changes that will assist you throughout the remaining portion of the year.

I have read A TON of books on classroom organization. As a new teacher (and one who some claim is OCD. I am still in denial.) I need all the tips and tools I can get. When I was asked to review another book on organization, I was hesitant. What could it actually teach me?

I saw the review on Good Morning America and it dealt with a lot of tips on how parents can get their kids organized for school. Soooo... I thought I would review it based upon how it can help me as a parent.

 

The Together Teacher is so much more that what I was expecting! Maia has spent a lot of time doing her research and it shows throughout the book. I was surprised by how many different organizational theories and "gurus" she quoted. She pulls the best of each of their theories into one, simple, easy to use program.

One of my favorite parts is the Comprehensive Calendar. I have always color coordinated my schedule but I have to admit... I have A LOT of calendars. I have one for grad school, one for hubby, one for the kids, the puppy has her own, another for teaching, and another for personal things. Nothing every stays together!

The comprehensive calendar puts everything together and teaches you how to maximize your energy levels AND your time. I love the idea of blocking time for specific tasks. I have been known to lose entire days as I spend all of that time working on a particular project.

The picture above shows my schedule. I added in what the colors mean to kinda help you see what is going on. The purple is me time.... things I do on my own like blogging, design work, creating products, grad school homework, and bubble baths! =)

The blue colors are family time. Different shades of blue represent different things we are doing. Green is my alone time with hubby and orange is my student teaching time. The boys are pink if they have something specific that needs to be done for them.

Anyways.... the colors tell me what I should be scheduling to do during that time. I just put in all of my meetings, etc... on top of the colored section and it all fits in. This was just a quick sample of my schedule so it is missing things like house cleaning and exercise which is also on my to-do list.

This is just one way of many to create a comprehensive calendar. I love how Maia gives step-by-step directions for a paper method, an electronic method, or a hybrid method.

The rest of the book is also wonderful. It gives tips on how to keep track of notes (notability is still my favorite and Maia would approve I am sure!), creating routines, managing email (where does it all come from??!), and how to set up your classroom to contain the chaos.

It also has great ideas for parents and homeschoolers. LOVE the chapter on "the backpack explosion." If only Maia had a way to keep my boys from using their backpacks as collectors for bugs and crumbs. Oh... and a way to guarantee their room does not smell like a locker room but I will digress on those.

The reflection questions throughout the book helps keep the reader focused and engaged. With these questions it is like having Maia there.... talking you through it. Asking you to look around a little harder and guiding you to the method that works best for you.

The book includes a CD with more examples and templates.

The Together Teacher would be great to helping resolve those issues that have been plaguing you throughout the last quarter and now is your chance to win your own copy!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

The Scheduling Dilemma

As I have been blog stalking and keeping notes of what teachers want and need, I have seen a lot of talk about Erin Condren's Teacher Planner or Life Planner. These are so cute! I love the COLOR. I love that you can personalize it but they are expensive ($50!).

Meet my pal... Pocket Informant HD. It is an app on my iPad, it is also my BFF. I love this guy. It is the most expensive app I have ($14.99) but worth every penny!

First off... do you see the colors. Yep... you can color code things. So hubby has a color, son #1 has a different color, son #2 has a different color, son #3 a different color, grad classes a different color.... you get the idea. I can add cute little icons to make them more fun. FUN is awesome. There are tons of pictures. I can view it as a monthly calendar, a weekly one or a daily one. I can see years in advance or years in the past. 

It has a to-do list and if I want it to, it will show up on my calendar. It has an alarm to yell at me if I forget something or I can turn it off and ignore him. 

It has all my contacts sinked into it. Yes..... everyone is here. I can easily add a doctor's appt and his address and phone number pops right up in my scheduled appointment. It has pictures, so I can see who I am looking at. It takes the photos off of my Facebook and adds them there. I can set my ICE in my contacts easily and I use the notes section under each family member to list there allergies, dates of serious injuries, or medical conditions. This way if a doc asks, I can tell them. I also use the notes section on my appointments to fill in what happened when I was there. So if a doc asks what a different doc says and when, wala... I flip and there it is. Contact history is also stored in my contacts. SUPER easy to find! Oh and the birthdays from my contacts now appear in my calendar. =)

And there is a random note section as well. Just type in reminders for whatever and wa la. Its all there. Simple and easy.

It is also set up to do project planning and goal achieving. I just don't use those functions. I can view everyone's calendar at once or just a certain one. It syncs with my Google calendar (which I no longer use thanks to this baby!). It can also sync with Outlook and Toodledo.When hubby keeps asking when something is, I add him as a participant to the event and walla... it emails him.

I LOVE this! It keeps me sane. I was a paper gal for many, many years. I searched and searched for something I could love but never found one. I am sure if I found Erin Condren all those years ago I would be happy but paper has been replaced!

What do you do to keep track of all of your appointments?