Joel Zehring

I’m really enjoying the Sansa Clip 1 GB MP3 players I purchased for my classroom last year. I think my students are enjoying them, as well. My students have used them to record interviews, practice their fluency in reading, and listen to audiobooks, among other projects. I’ve used the recording feature to record Spelling tests and voice notes for later review.

Hit the link to listen to an audio sample of the Clip’s recording abilities.

Sansa Clip 1 GB Review

Updated: I completely forgot about a previous GTD/Weekly review post.  Spring break is approaching fast.

The power of the Getting Things Done lies in the trusted system philosophy: if I completely trust my system, I’ll use it all the time and my stress level will go way down. In order to keep your system seaworthy and free of leaks (and therefore, trustworthy), it’s important to review all your lists and projects on a weekly basis. Now, I’m secure enough to let you know that I don’t review my system enough. So rather than tell you how to do this, I’m going to defer to some other people who are perhaps more qualified than me to describe the ever-elusive weekly review.

Audiobook Review: David Allen’s “GTD > Weekly Review” – Lifehack.org summarizes a new resource from the top guru himself.

David Allen Company | Free Articles | Weekly Review – David Allen’s consulting company has plenty of free resources and articles, including this free download (pdf file). You have to sign in like you’re buying something, but they won’t ask for a credit card.

Mental dialogues, yak-shaving & the triumph of the ‘mini-review … - Merlin Mann slices and dices the weekly review to a bite-sized event that might be more schedule-friendly.

A trusted system stays trustworthy for about two minutes in the real world of near-constant input and frequent distractions. A weekly review of your lists can go a long way toward clearing your mind, reassessing your commitments, and ultimately getting teaching done.

• Take a look at your calendar. Whether you use a physical plan book, or an online service, your calendar is sacred ground. If your calendar tells you to go to the library at 1:35 on Wednesday, go there without a second thought. Create a separate calendar or list for optional events during coming up in the next week.
• Scan your active projects. Make sure that each project is moving forward. Are your lists of actions up-to-date? Are there any actions you should move to your calendar? Are you waiting on someone that you need to follow-up with? Can you do anything in two minutes or less?
• Think in contexts. As you find actions that you’d like to take in the upcoming week, place them on lists that are context-specific. Lists like “calls”, “errands”, “copier”, and “computer” can give you a quick reference when you have a some open time to knock out a few actions without jumping from the phone to the computer to the office copier and back to the phone. Some other helpful teacher contexts might be “beginning of day”, “end of day”, or “class meeting”, for those announcements, papers, and instructions you need to give to students.
• Cut away. Don’t be afraid to cut tasks that just don’t seem to be getting done week after week. They’re probably not that important, and that’s why they’re not getting done. If you absolutely can’t bring yourself to trash a to do, then create list called “someday”. This list is available anytime your feeling particularly visionary, or when you reach that golden moment when everything is done (read: never).