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Brian Kim: Teach kids time management

Submitted by Merlin on March 14, 2007 - 8:17am.

Top 5 Things That Should Be Taught In Every School

I enjoyed reading this list and was especially into number five:

#5: Time Management

Speaking of other skills that can be utilized in any job and career is time management. The majority of students never really learn to value their time and mange it while in school. Procrastination is all too rampant (studying right before class, doing homework and essays the day it’s due, partying the night before the exam). This lack of time management often carries over into adulthood, which becomes a major liability.

Learn to make a to do list. Learn to prioritize. Learn to break things down into 30 minute blocks of time. Learn about actionable items. David Allen’s GTD system is your best friend here along with Dan Kennedy’s No B.S Time Management. Again if you’re unfamiliar with these people, Google is your best friend, but I’m sure the majority of readers will know what I’m talking about.

What would you add to the list of skills you think should be taught in school?

[ via: Anarchaia (3/14/07) ]

in

I'm a former elementary teacher...

Submitted by Ned (not verified) on March 14, 2007 - 1:22pm.

I’m a former elementary teacher (grades 3 - 5). After spending years of trying to get kids to hand in homework on time, I developed a system to get kids to manage their own time and assignments. Every weekend kids brought home a calendar that they and their parents were to fill in all the stuff and the TIME they needed for events scheduled outside of school: sports, music lessons, video games, whatever they had or wanted to do. They then “plugged in” homework assignments, scheduling their time for the week.

While I wouldn’t advocate GTD for elementary kids, there has to be time management skills fostered early. The system worked beautifully because it informed me as a teacher how long my assignments should take, what my students were up against in terms of their own childhood, and forced parents to set realistic expectations of what their kids should do both in and out of school. I should mention that our school drew from both trailer parks and ritzy housing.

2 would be financial skills - understand how much it takes to really own a house, to really own a car, to really be able to payoff creditcard debt, to really be able to go to school and retire. Investopedia has some terrific content to get started, even for fifth graders.

3 shop - but with a home and car ownership focus

4 home ec - just how do you cook food?

5 science, science, and more science and not so much “3R” stuff.