I find that prioritising and time management can be very hard for some of the children in my class (especially since some lack a sense of time and anything longer than 5 minutes may as well be hours). For these kids I help to list ‘must dos’ in priority order. However, they will usually only get through one task (and only in the last 5 minutes of the session) and never have any time to get to choose ‘can dos’. They recognise that they are missing out on getting to choose, but can’t plan ahead enough to complete their work. The only way I’ve found to work is to have them working close to me so they think I’m keeping tabs on them.
What are some strategies you have with helping children manage their time and work independently?
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Hey Sheena, I talked to my kids about FIP (First Important Priorities) and the idea of listing everything we need to do and ordering it from the most important. I also write the weekly plan on the board with a list of priorities and other options. I have started doing a template for the kids to fill in their plans (some were struggling with writing out the whole plan each week) and I have the FIP's on this too. I have a check list that the class need to tick off as they are completing things and I am regularly updating it. In doing so I can see who haven't completed work that they should have, and then I get those children to re-think their priorities and timetable. This is working well for us, however I would like the students to be able to get to the stage where they are making the decision about what is most important to complete, themselves. Many of them are already doing this.
ReplyDeleteWith my year 2 kids last year I would write the options on the board in a grid, and the children would write their name under the one they were currently doing, then they would tick next to their name when they were done and write their name under their next task. This was good on a day to day level as they were all quite motivated to complete their priorities, and it helped me to see at a glance what they were all up to (was very easy to glance over, see that Bob was supposedly writing his story and yet he was by the sink - made the follow up conversation very quick!!!). Didn't really help on the long term tracking front, so this year I have a checklist on the board, and children highlight when they are completely finished any given 'project'.
ReplyDelete:)
That used to frustrate me too Sheena. I now don't have Can dos because of this. In the senior school I find it easier and more manageable to have Priorities. The children always have weekly priorities and then options that follow these if needed. The options are still must dos and then become next week's focus. Tracking sheets help with monitoring the kids too. A weekly reflection is great for goal setting so that these kids can get some success.
ReplyDeleteI keep tasks rolling on so that the option of 'Sitting Up Straight' and saying "I've Finished," never really occurs. We have developed a culture of "What am I going to learn next?" rather than I've finished.