Being on time - with a screen!

 

Happy New Year.  It seems ages since I posted anything - actually because it has been ages!  I was really hoping I wouldn't be writing anything about coping with virtual schooling again, but here we are.  

Below are some ideas from a recent post from ADDitude magazine entitled Be On Time!  The tagline is: Getting back on schedule is doubly hard when "returning to school" means logging on to Zoom.

Here's a summary of some key points:

• Use weekly and monthly calendars to plan.  See my post The Executive Functions of Time Management
• "Calendars offer a multisensory learning opportunity: They are a visual record of activities that work kinesthetically as you write down and cross off activities, and it prompts auditory reinforcement as you talk about the day’s events."
• Use analogue clocks rather than digital clocks.  
• "Digital clocks present time as a static present-tense thing, greatly affecting kids’ ability to conceive of and gauge time. Analog clocks show that time moves — and let a child know where she stands in relation to the rest of the hour or the rest of the day. We need to reintroduce analog clocks so children can “see” time and learn to place events in context."
• Set a timer to assist with transitions (you have five minutes to finish your work) and work completion.  Use an alarm signal when the time is up.
• Create a daily to-do list and cross off those tasks that have been finished, even minor ones like completing a chore.  There's nothing like crossing something off a list to feel that you've made progress.
• Estimating the time to complete something is hard for many of us. (I thought this post would only take 30 minutes; fancy that - it's over an hour now!)  
• Practise estimating how much time any one assignment will take and then add that time frame to the calendar using different coloured pens for each subject area.
• "Make a game out of predicting, timing, and checking your student’s estimates of the time needed for various activities. How long does it take to walk from the kitchen to the mail box? To complete an assignment?"
• Setting priorities is a life skill.  .
• "First, figure out together how many homework assignments she has tonight, which are due tomorrow, and which of those is most challenging. Encourage her to start the most difficult homework first, when she’s fresh and energetic. Consistent use of the calendar/planner will help your child learn how to prioritize and manage assignments."

As I was starting to write this post, I remembered a book I'd read with my students called Wings to Fly by Celia Barker Lottridge.  It's set on the Canadian Prairies in the fall of 1918 as the 'Spanish flu' moves in.  The book is where I first learned of the phrase, "I opened the window and 'in flew Enza'."  Here's a snippet:

Miss Barnett gave each class special assignments to do at home while the school was closed.

"We don't how long the school will be closed," she said.  "I think it is very possible that it won't re-open before Christmas, so we may not see each other again until spring term.  That may seem far away, but I hope you will take some time each day to do the lessons I have set you.  That way we won't be so far behind when school takes up again."

"I hope you will read, too.  Reading is one of the best ways to pass time, have fun, and learn new things." 

How different things are 100+ years later.

Finally, my book club (there are 3 of us!) have read The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue.  The story is set in Dublin, Ireland in 1918 in a make-shift maternity ward at the height of the Spanish flu.  In terms of estimating time to finish the book, be prepared to pull an all-nighter. 

Until the next post, stay warm, stay safe, and hang in there!

Gerrie