No Child (Practicing GTD) Left Behind

Imagine a school that allowed every student to grow, learn and prosper.  That was the initial desire behind the No Child Left Behind act of 2002 and while NCLB is controversial, it has proven successful in at least one area- keeping schools accountable.

Now imagine a school in which Getting Things Done was implemented.

Course units might include:

• Time management
• The weekly review
• Setting up a tickler file
• How to close open loops
• Capturing ideas, then integrating them into your system
• Mastering the projects list
• Life goals from 10,000-40,000 feet

Is this vision that far from reality?  My colleagues in education would laugh at the sight of such courses and yet I wonder how Algebra I prepares one for life any better than a course in life goals or time management.

The secret of course lies in integration.  It's not that we need a school for GTD.  Rather, we need people who can integrate GTD into what they're already doing.  Teachers and parents who see the value of putting ideas onto paper and out of the mind.  Administrators who actually maintain a healthy set of lists and projects.  Students who can actually remember a deadline because they wrote it down.

I recently had a friend ask how I got so much done in a week.  Surprised, I had to scratch my head and wonder if GTD had something to do with it after years of practice.  Would your colleagues wonder about your secret to productivity?  As in any classroom, the moment when someone asks is of course the moment in which you know you've set an example.  Now that's GTD!

Comments

[Dorie S.]

I originally found this post at:
http://hdbizblog.com/blog/2008/04/30/gtd-cafe-a-school-for-getting-things-done/#comment-6353

I like your thoughts here and would love to see a more "practical" focus in schools, especially if it teaches kids to organize their various tasks without incessant parental nagging. Parents already cope with the various demands on their time, at least until the kids (or their siblings) can drive themselves.

Since you're talking about solutions to help with school and family organization, we use an online calendar and task manager called Famundo. We put everything in there, so everyone knows what's going on at all times. It sure makes our lives easier! And it proves how much we really DO "get done" in a day (or a week, or a month)...

http://www.famundo.com

Equally important, Famundo also has a version for schools (or other groups like scouts, clubs, church, sports teams, etc.), so we can view the relevant calendar activities in our family's Famundo site, rather than entering them ourselves. It works great! Schools could go a long way toward helping kids (and their families) to "get things done" by using Famundo!

Dorie

[Mike St. Pierre]

Dorie,
Thanks for the tip. I'll be sure to look into Famundo.

Regards, MSP