As the school year begins, you might want to teach the lesson below to your students.
Everyone wastes time. At-risk students because they are less focused, tend to waste more than most students.
The following lesson may help them to see what causes them to waste time and what they can do to prevent it.
1. Put the following quotation on the board.
“Time is not the problem. It’s how we use it that counts.”
Peter Drucker
2. Ask students the following questions:
What is Peter Drucker trying to tell us? Do you agree that we need to use time better?
3. Read the following paragraph to the students:
Time management is really management of your behavior. You are the ultimate decision-maker about the way you spend your time. There are things that you can do to “work smarter, not harder.” Using the same amount of time to accomplish more should be one of your top priority tasks. The extent to which you can control your time is the extent to which you can control your life.
4. As a group, answer the following questions:
-Do you agree that controlling your time would make you more productive? -What prevents you from doing homework regularly? -Why is it difficult to study for a test? -Can you identify the time wasters in your life (ex. TV, computer, radio, distractions, etc.)-What can you do to eliminate or at least cut down on these time wasters?
5. It is ESSENTIAL to have an open-minded discussion about this topic guiding it in the appropriate direction as needed.
Excerpted Best Practices to Help At-Risk Learners – Franklin Schargel Published by Eye on Education, Inc.