For many of us, it’s week four or five of “online schooling,” and we don’t yet know if or when our students will return to their actual classrooms.  I’m sure some of you are doing well, while others of us are struggling!  If you’re in the struggling group, try these suggestions to help your student experience success. 

Schedule Time to Complete Assignments

Help your student identify when she will complete assignments, study for tests, and take tests each day. 

• Of course, it will be important to work around those times teachers will be providing either live or recorded instruction.

• Try to schedule this time when she has her best attention – morning works best for some while others do better starting later.

• Encourage her to schedule both a beginning and an ending time for completing assigned tasks, as well as, free time to do whatever she wants to do after her work is completed.

• As much as possible, she should try to schedule enough time to complete her assignments during the day, leaving her evenings open for other activities. 

If your student is struggling to identify the time she has to study and complete assignments, consider putting together a weekly block schedule.  Also, Understand that, sometimes, this schedule won’t work but don’t give up!  Just change it to fit your student’s needs.

Try a Weekly Preview

At my daughter’s school, her Academic Support Specialist does a great job of suggesting when to complete tasks so that all the assignments are completed by the end of the week. I know not everyone has this kind of support, so here’s how you can help your student.

Since most schools are posting a full week’s worth of assignments, it can especially beneficial to schedule time to preview the upcoming week either on Sunday afternoon or Monday morning.

• First, look at the past week and see if any tasks needed to be completed that did not get done. Record these and make a plan to get them completed as soon as possible this week.

• Next, look ahead to see what assignments, tests, quizzes, and projects are due this week and make a running list of these tasks and their due dates.

This process allows your student to be better prepared for the amount of work she has each week.

Prioritize!

Many students with executive functioning problems struggle to prioritize their tasks. They often tell me that they think that either “everything is important” or “nothing is important.”   

Help your student decide when she will complete her assigned tasks using one of the following methods.

• Use the due dates on her running list of assignments and tests to prioritize her tasks.

• Complete a simplified Priority To-Do List based on the types of tasks she has and when those tasks are due.

Set Reminders

As she is prioritizing her tasks, encourage your student to set reminders for completing assignments, attending online instruction, and any things else she needs to do on her phone or other electronic tools.  She should also add new reminders for activities as soon as she learns of them.

Use Timers

When she is studying, completing assignments, or doing other tasks to be completed promptly, it can be helpful to use an interval timer that beeps or buzzes every 10 to 15 minutes: this can serve as a cue for her to get back on task if she has become distracted. Interval timer applications can be easily customized for this use.

Structure Her Time for Success

Help your student try a structured routine to build and maintain her motivation.

• Spend 15 minutes doing everything she can complete quickly. As these items are completed, she should check them off her list and put them in either an actual or electronic “homework completed” folder. Getting these things done quickly produces brain chemicals that are important for motivation and focus.  This process gets her ready to focus on more difficult tasks she doesn’t want to do.

• Spend the next 30 minutes completing difficult work that she doesn’t want to do or work that requires her best attention.  Now that her brain is ready for these tasks, she should turn off all electronics and stay away from all distracters.  If she is “on-a-roll” completing these tasks, it’s okay to go over this 30-minute limit.

• Take a 15-minute break.  Get up and move. Do some sort of exercise and/or have a snack. She may use distracters as rewards but she should limit her time with these.

• Repeat these steps as many times as necessary to complete her tasks. 

These amounts of time are not “set in stone.” If they don’t work for your student, feel free to adjust them to fit her specific needs. The main point is to maintain this structure.  When any of us is tired, bored, overwhelmed, or we just don’t want to do our work, our brain needs this type of structure to get going.

This structured routine originally developed at Harvard Business School has helped struggling and overwhelmed adults get more work done: I’ve seen the same with struggling and overwhelmed students.

Stay Organized!

I would suggest submitting assignments as they are completed: that way nothing gets missed.  However, many students like to submit everything all at once at the end of the day.  If this is true for your student, it will be important for her to keep a paper folder and/or an electronic folder for completed assignments.

Once assignments have been submitted online each week, plan to move copies of those assignments to folders (real or electronic) designated for each subject so they can be easily retrieved later when it’s time to study for finals.

Evaluate Progress Weekly

Once every week, your student should take time to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of her plans and strategies. If what she’s trying isn’t working, she should “problem-solve” to identify and create new ones based on her strengths and abilities. She is encouraged to remember to always celebrate her successes to energize her effort and expectations.

Need Help Applying These Concepts?

Check out my series of articles for helping struggling students.  These are just a sample of the skills your student can learn in Student Success! 

Call 817.421.8780 or email us to set up an appointment. During this time, Dr. Davenport is providing online and in-person appointments to help students continue to improve their executive functioning skills.

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(C) 2020, MONTE W. DAVENPORT, PH.D.

Share the strategies that are working for your student!