5 Strategies for Student Time Management

Teachers on Call shares 5 helpful tips for your child to improve their time management skills.

Projects at the last minute, exam cramming the night before, forgetting your homework and not to mention higher stress. We all know these symptoms of weak time management.

Time management plays a key role in a student’s success in school and in life.

Fortunately, we have put together 5 helpful tips for you and your child to improve their time management skills through prioritizing, staying organized, avoiding procrastination, staying firm and practicing time estimation.

Prioritize: Keeping a list of goals that are prioritized and the tasks required to accomplish them is critical to success. It also allows your child to see the importance of each item and remind both of you on their broader goals. Otherwise, they could get overburdened with conflicting priorities and lack of clarity on deadlines.  

Be Organized: Using an agenda on a constant basis and keeping your child’s workspace organized are keys to success. That way they are able to keep track of all their various items, be aware of any key deadlines and remove any distractions. As your child get’s new homework, assignments, deadlines or tests, encourage them to constant update them in their agenda. A family calendar can also be helpful to write down family and social activities.  

Avoid Procrastination: Once a due date is established, work with your child to make a work back plan to establish a start date. When setting the start date, start early to avoid the rush and stress towards the deadline. In addition, leave a buffer at the end to finish early. If your child has trouble working through large items and staying focused, break the project or item into smaller bits to make the tasks more manageable.

Stay Firm: While it is tempting to participate in every activity and constantly see friends, it is important to carve out a portion of time in your child’s calendar for school work. This will help your child stay focused and not feel overburdened with too many activities.

Practice Time Estimation: Understanding how long it takes students to complete various Math, Science, English and French assignments and studying is a key to success. Make a game of how long it takes for your child to complete various simple tasks to build up their estimates of time. Sometimes an analog clock can give students a better sense of how time passes.