by Cody Hodge

Created on: May 02, 2009

I remember trying to stay organized in school, and man was it tough! My desk was just a mountain of papers, and I remember my teachers would literally just dump them out. Either that, or the desk would just get full, and the papers would come careening out of them like a kid on a waterslide. It was a funny sight, and after seeing that happen, my teachers would force me to get organized, and make me spend a half an hour cleaning my desk. The funny part was though that my desk would just be messy again after a few weeks, and the process would repeat itself.

So what did I do to at least try to stay organized? I used a lot of folders, and some binders to keep myself organized, and to keep a system going. The use of a Trapper Keeper was also employed, as that was an effective tool to keep all my papers at least trapped in one space, so they didn't go everywhere upon walking into a room. I think I went through about 15 folders a month, just because they would always get ripped, or lost.

I also had to organize my backpack on a fairly regular basis. My backpack was almost as bad as my desk used to be, and I had a huge backpack, but had nothing in it it seemed. Finding a pencil, or a piece of paper seemed to be a chore, and I would usually wind up asking another student to bail me out with a pen or a piece of paper. I would routinely find worksheets from September in my backpack when I would clean it out in June for the summer vacation.

To keep my backpack organized I would clean it out at least once a day. I would get rid of all the papers that I didn't need, and put them into a folder that I would use for things that I didn't need right away, but could use later on for studying purposes. I would also make sure that I had a place to keep all the pens and paper that I would need for class. That way I would not have to ask other people to bail me out, and it was especially handy for when I grew up, and the teachers didn't have extra pencils handy all the time.

Being organized in school is a very important skill to learn. If you can learn to get organized for school, you will learn how to keep things in order for your outside life as well. I learned that I am a very messy person in general, and hate keeping things together. Just give me the stuff I need right now, and I'll worry about the other stuff later. I realized though that you never know when you might need something from the past, so it is always good to keep it handy.

If you can keep yourself organized, you will avoid a lot of stress at school. You will always know where your stuff is, and won't spend an hour searching for your homework. You will always have your pens handy, and other materials that you may need for class, and won't have to ask others to bail you out. It also will help you learn how to stay organized in other areas outside of school as well, which is a good skill to have handy.

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