Getting Things Done

Not only is this GTD "stuff" good, but I can't believe I had never heard about it before.  I am someone who  likes to keep organized and for the most part I do a good job of it.  However, when it comes to the papers and planning in my classroom... whoa!
1. At first I decided I would use my computer where I could create folders and lists.  I soon realized that if I don't have my computer with me, then I won't be able to access my in box.  Next, I looked through my blackberry to see if it would be useful, but still was not doing the trick.  It was when I got the paper and pencil going that I could see my organization a little clearer.  I made an "in box" for student work (that needs correcting), another "inbox" for the work I need to do with this class, and finally one for emails that need follow up (if I can't answer them right away- which I always try to do.)

2. It was not as easy as I thought to go through this process the first time.  I am on auto-pilot with so many tasks that I realized I probably make way more stress and work for myself than needed.  I had to be very consciences about all things that I had to do.  At first this made me more stressed out because I was using a system that I am not used to, but when I realized I never had a system to begin with I started to give it a chance.

3. I do think that this process will help me eventually.  Right now it is still kind of stressful since I'm learning a new way of doing something, but I can see that down the road I will feel much better about using it and it will become a natural way of organizing and completing tasks.

4. I would like to continue to use this process for a couple of reasons.  One, I realized that I do not have a good way to manage all of my tasks, so this way is better than no way.  Also, I like to try new things and this is something that could become extremely useful when used correctly.  I would like to give myself some more time to play around with the GTD process.

Websites vs. Blogs

Simply said, a website is a place that holds information in a more permanent fashion.  You may reference a website day after day and the information will probably be the same.  A blog is ever changing based on the conversations had by the blog owner and it's readers.  The owner and readers are able to converse back and forth about a given topic.  On a typical website there is not usually an option to correspond in such a fashion.