Students benefit significantly when they manage their time wisely as it teaches them responsibility and can enhance their academic performance. But often students need guidance to make the most of their time. The great news is that there are several ways you can help your students get more structure in their day.
Here are some effective time management techniques students can use to stay productive and get what they need to be done in a timely manner.
Make Time to Clean
When your students schedule cleaning time, they can help keep their desks mess-free and organized. This makes it easy to focus during class time or after class ends when they’re focusing on completing homework.
You can teach your students to schedule time for cleaning by emphasizing why it’s important to make time to clean their desks. Help them establish a schedule, such as putting aside time on a weekly basis to clean their desk areas.
Block Time for Studying
It’s important to teach students to also set time aside for studying so they can reinforce what they’ve learned during class. Advise your students to block at least two to three hours of study time per class during the week.
You should also encourage students to turn off their cell phones and put away their electronics so they don’t get distracted during their study time. They should also turn off desktop notifications to avoid interruptions if they must use their computers to study.
Plan for Important Dates with a Calendar
Deadlines are important for keeping track of when assignments are due. You can teach your students to track their assignments by using a calendar. You can even help them get started with a tangible printed calendar. By writing down due dates for assignments, they’ll be able to track and remember important deadlines as they learn about them. One way to keep students on track is by embedding your academic calendar into student planners. This will keep them aware of important test dates and campus events.
Help Them Become Self-Aware of Social Media Consumption
At the core of managing your time wisely is being self-aware of things that consume a considerable amount of your time, and social media often takes away from valuable study and learning time. Students often consume social media at high levels.
A Pew Research Center study found that 45 percent of U.S. teens are consistently online. A Common Sense Media study also found that social networking and video-chatting accounted for 26 percent of the 6.5 hours of media American teens consume every day on average.
That’s a significant amount of time that can take away from their education. You can help students limit their time on social media by first becoming aware of their use. Have them evaluate how much time they’re spending on social networks.
Encourage them to set some of that time away to focus on school work. For example, you can teach them to use a timer for social media time and one for school work time so they can be more productive.
Teach Priorities
Often the most productive students know how to prioritize their tasks. So, it’s crucial to teach students the value of prioritization. You can help them learn this by providing them with a syllabus that clearly identifies the weight of each assignment.
Discuss why focusing on one assignment over another assignment or test is important based on its weight for the final grade. Once they learn this, they can understand where to focus their time and effort when blocking study time.
Final Thoughts
Being able to manage time is essential for advancing not only in school but in life. Students learn to be more productive and efficient when they learn time management techniques. Thus, it’s critical to support students by helping them learn valuable time management skills. By using these techniques, you can help your students learn the skills they need to succeed in the classroom and beyond.