Getting It All Done

Start school on the right track by carving out time to do what's most important.

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Eleven-year-old Scott Jolibois has a busy schedule. (Photo:Terry Halsey/Black Star)

By F. Romall Smalls

Scott Jolibois (johl-lah-bwha), 11, of The Woodlands, Texas, had to build and paint a Styrofoam sculpture for a history project. It was due in two days, and he had not yet begun it. In addition, he had five pages of homework to complete that night. And if that was not enough, he had two hours of football practice. Scott felt overwhelmed.

“When I have to do lots of homework and I have practice on the same day, sometimes I get stressed-out,” Scott says. “I have to do five things at one time.”

Scott’s situation is common. According to recent studies, kids today have much less free time than kids did 20 years ago. They have more homework and are more involved in scheduled activities, such as sports, music classes, and dance.

Tight schedules, more homework, and numerous extracurricular activities make it more important than ever that kids learn to manage their time, experts say.

“Fifth- and sixth-graders’ lives are often very busy,” says Michele Goodstein, a teacher and author who has written a lot about time-management skills for kids. “Having good time-management skills helps kids stay on track.”

Plan, Plan, Plan

Scott eventually got everything done, but it meant staying up too late and feeling very tired when he arrived at school. Scott says he now knows that he should have started his history project days earlier to give himself enough time to do everything he needed and still get enough rest.

“If I don’t go to bed earlier and get a good night’s sleep, I might be tired and not able to focus well when I go to school,” Scott says.

Goodstein says keeping track of time is essential. She suggests getting a calendar book to write down all the dates and times when homework is due and activities scheduled. Another easy way to manage time, says Goodstein, is to keep a “to-do” list of everything you need to do each day and the time that a task is due or that an activity begins. Check the list every day to make sure that you give yourself enough time to finish each task.

Learn to Prioritize

Making to-do lists is a strong first step toward better time management. The next step is prioritizing, or deciding which things on the lists are most important. Sometimes, this will require making tough choices.

“If students don’t understand what things are more important, they can’t manage their time,” Goodstein says. “Sometimes you have to postpone the fun things to make sure you get what you need to do done.”

Shakeira (sha-keer-ah) Canty, 11, of Albany, New York, learned this first-hand. She used to be overwhelmed by a jam-packed schedule of activities that were poorly prioritized. Shakeira was on the soccer, baseball, and basketball teams. She also took archery and played saxophone in her school band. All of these activities were in addition to her getting homework done and doing things with her family and friends.

Shakeira’s mom told her she had to cut out some of her activities. Shakeira needed to prioritize. After determining which of her activities were most important, Shakeira cut out some of the others.

Shakeira still has a busy schedule. She has band practice and archery during the week, and plays flag football on weekends. Now, however, she has learned to prioritize. And each night, she makes a checklist of her activities and makes sure to get everything prepared in advance. When she completes a task, she checks it off her list. Before using the list, Shakeira says she was often late and had a hard time keeping track of all the things she had to complete or bring to school.

“I have learned that I have to be prepared for what I have to do,” Shakeira says.

 

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Reprinted from September 4, 2006 issue of Scholastic News, Edition 5/6.

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