I attended the ASCD national conference last week and went to some great sessions.  I’d like to share some of the stuff I learned.

Get Organized: Time Management for School Leaders by Dr. Frank Buck

I came away from this session with 2 major ideas:

#1: Use a tickler file.  Have 31 files labled 1-31 and 12 files labeled with the months.  When something comes across your desk, put it in the appropriate file and forget about it.  Example:  registration form for upcoming conference you might go to in three months.  Registration deadline is December 11?  Put in December 5 file. (Or something like that).  When you get to work each day, pull out that file and everything you might need for the day will be there.  Also works with teachers: place tests, forms to be turned in, etc in files.  Another part of the tickler file is 3 boxes on your desk: Out, In, Pending. If anyone brings you something, he/she places it in the In box.  If you have something that needs to physically go somewhere, it goes in Out.  Stuff you need for the day?  Pending.  GENIUS!

#2: Documentation journal.  Have one notebook to record all meetings, phone conversations, etc.  Keep chronological.  Jot notes based on what happens.  Every month, add to a word document a list of things that you think could be important later and identify by date.  If something comes up later (like a parent who’s mad over something in a meeting 2 months ago) you can go to the word file and search key words to find the right date.  Then you can go to your journal to find the exact details.  Keep all  journals.

And did you know that in Outlook you can drag emails directly to the calendar icon and it will create a new appointment?  Same for tasks.