TECH #1 Time Management

The strategies that I chose for this week were the D’s Due & Do Organizer and the Target Planner for my Acting for Non-Majors course. These strategies proved to be very efficient and helpful in keeping track of time, and organizing my assignments so I know how much time I need to complete them and which days I need to work on them. I used my target planner specifically for planning out rehearsals for a scene I’ll be acting out in class. At the center of my Target Planner is the date I will be performing the scene with my scene partners, without using a script. The ring outside of that is the date of my final out of class rehearsal with my scene partners and the next ring outside of that is the date I’ll be rehearsing in class with scene partners and the date of which my scene analysis is due. The next two rings show me the date of the first out of class scene rehearsal and time I’ll have to work on my scene analysis.

The other strategy I used for my Acting class was the D’s Do & Due’s organizer. I don’t think this strategy was as effective as the Target Planner because, with the target planner I could focus on a specific assignment and break it down into chunks and dates that were manageable to accomplish. In the D’s Do & Due’s organizer, all my assignments were spread out on to various dates and weren’t very specific as to what I should do. The D’s organizer expected me to provide all the due dates I had and when I would accomplish all my assignments in the future, but the problem is it’s hard to plan that far ahead. If one of my other courses does not decide to post a syllabus and I pick a specific date to work on an assignment, how will I know there won’t be another assignment I’ll have to work on at that very same date? My D’s organizer was also very messy, there were lots of dates to do the assignments but they didn’t necessarily mean anything to me. I like the fact that the target planner only focus’s on one big assignment instead of a bunch of little assignments because it’s much more organized, clear, and makes the completion of that assignment less over whelming. If I had to choose between using either of these strategies in the future, I’d have to choose the target planner.

Since I’m a visual learner, I chose the Target Planner and the D’s Do & Due’s organizer because they clearly portrayed my assignments due dates visually. When I can visual see the span of time I have to complete an assignment, I make smarter decisions on how to approach it. I think I will need a lot of pictures and diagrams in my Acting for Non-majors course to succeed. These visual devices will be very helpful in understanding what a project needs and how to approach it. I think paying attention to the lectures will be essential to performing at my best in my acting course, since all the information is taught by word of mouth, and I have learned that if I listen rather than take notes, I actually remember more information when I need it on tests. The grading for my acting course is mostly based on performances, quizzes and Script analysis, so it is vital to keep track of specific due dates of performances, analysis’s, and upcoming quizzes. That is why I think the target planner, along side the D’s Do & Due’s organizer will be very helpful throughout the semester of Acting for Non-majors.