Time Management

Is it possible to balance family, studies, friends, extra curricular activities and personal downtime?

Students are very concerned about managing their time  We keep explaining to them that balance is the key and we  insist that students schedule time for all of the above.

But how?

We tried to answer this question in my Skills9 course.

As a hook, students discussed the big ideas in this short, amusing video on single-tasking.

They then went on to compare their typical school day schedule from the time the bell rings at 3:00pm until they go to bed.

I had just listened to Dave Stuart Jr’s interview with David Conley on how teachers should prepare students for college and a career. (By the way, Stuart’s series of short, focused interviews of the top teacher leaders is well worth listening to,  with lots of tips on how to teach well tomorrow).  Conley encourages the listener to read about The Four Keys to College and Career Readiness.  One of the 4 keys is the soft skill set which includes time management.  Since I usually ‘support’ the focus of each unit  with current research, Conley provided the perfect example.

We had an energetic class discussion about balancing completing assignments, keeping the tabs open, taking the dog for a walk, working out as well as the ever present mobile phone.

One of the solutions for keeping focused when completing assignments was to keep mobile phones far away from where they are studying.  However, the phones remained on; just in case.