Getting Things Done - Workflow Process

My inbox is a bit old fashioned, a white view binder and a yellow legal pad. I process what is in my inbox, my mind of things that need doing, and make myself a "hit list". I have tabs in my binder with important forms, schedules and calendar, and things given to me at team or faculty meetings. I am very fortunate to teach in a 2 teacher team setting and thus we support each other with all the various things that we need to do. Of course, the students are our first priority. We have been working together for 7 years and have a really good system. We delegate to each other what we need to be doing separately and together. We prioritize the things that need to be done first, later and last. We use our web portal calendar and daily bulletin that is emailed to us, to keep us on schedule and for any updates or changes. Our lesson plans are weekly and we discuss as time goes on, what we may need to carry over to the following week as needed.

During down time or on school breaks and weekends, we get things ready that need a lot of attention and take a lot of time. For instance, during the summer we make our future students' birthday gifts, end-of year theme painted t-shirts and create and collate the booklets that will become their memory books, or scrap books. Using the computer for weekly newsletters, I am able to cut and paste to save time, and also see what worked out well in years past or what did not as a heads up to try something new. I don't try to reinvent the wheel everyday, but I do like to improve and embellish on the activities that I love so much. As always the last step of DO is the project that must be my priority or needs to be tended to in the moment, such as teaching something valuable in a spontaneous teachable moment. I hang my "hit list" on the back-splash of my kitchen counter top in my classroom and go to it when my students are in a special class and I have prep-time. Any thing that can be done at home or on the weekend, I often take home. I have done well with the system that I have in place, but I am open to try something new that deals with technology, and I like the reminders that I am getting from my google calendar. I will try to utilize this feature in class this upcoming school year.