How do I teach students to be more proactive?
Students鈥� perception of time and their time management are related. I answered questions about this topic for as a :
We define proactivity as taking initiative. Why is proactivity so important?
It鈥檚 often harder to get started than to keep going on a task. And the closer you get to achieving a goal, the easier it gets. So you could argue that the hardest part of reaching a goal is getting started. shows that there are times when it鈥檚 easier to get started鈥攆or example, when you feel like it鈥檚 the beginning of a new era. 鈥淭oday is the first day of the rest of your life鈥濃�攖hat clich茅 is actually helpful. If you feel like today is the start of a new time period, you are more motivated to start working toward goals.
How can teachers help kids get started on projects?
Saying 鈥渏ust do it鈥� isn鈥檛 very useful when you feel overwhelmed. It helps to break things down into smaller steps and tell yourself consciously, 鈥淎ll I鈥檓 doing today is getting started on the first step and I鈥檓 not going to worry about the rest. Today is a good day for getting started.鈥� Once you鈥檝e done the first small thing, the next small thing is easier to do. The next day, you can say to yourself, 鈥淭oday is a good day to get started on step two.鈥� Before you know it, you鈥檝e completed the whole task.
Sometimes you see a project due in a week and think a kid should be working on it, but the kid thinks there鈥檚 no rush. What鈥檚 a good way to talk about deadlines?
The two different viewpoints鈥攆eeling a sense of urgency when a task is due in a week or feeling like there鈥檚 still a lot of time left鈥攁re both totally valid. There鈥檚 only a problem if people clash in those views, when one person feels like, 鈥淲hy are they not working on this? They should be doing things because they only have a week,鈥� and the other person thinks, 鈥淚t鈥檚 not due for a whole week. What鈥檚 the rush?鈥� I think the best way to bridge the gap is to talk about the difference in perception and set deadlines you both agree on. You have to be very explicit about what the kid plans to do and when they plan to do it to avoid miscommunication.
How can teachers help kids manage their time for long-term projects?
It鈥檚 possible to shift people鈥檚 perception of time鈥攈ow close or far into the future something feels. If you show the deadline in a very large time frame like the school year and the assignment is due in a month, it feels a lot closer than if the timeline only spans two months, so the deadline is right in the middle. With little visual tricks, you can shift people into feeling motivated to get working.
You can also break down the project into smaller steps and set intermediate deadlines. You can ask kids, 鈥淲hat will you do per week?鈥� and establish weekly deadlines so they don鈥檛 leave everything to the end.
What鈥檚 one easy thing we can do to help kids be more proactive?
Help them practice thinking into the future. My own kids don鈥檛 often do that spontaneously, so I have to encourage it. I鈥檒l ask them, 鈥淲hat do you want to happen a year from now? What do you want to do between now and then?鈥� So they practice planning out tasks and steps to reach goals. I鈥檒l also talk to them about fun things, like a trip we will take this summer and what we have to do beforehand. Do we need to buy luggage? What will we pack? I think this kind of explicit planning is a skill that can transfer over to other areas, like academics.
What do you think people get wrong about proactivity?
People believe that some kids are proactive and others aren鈥檛. But they might just see the proactive impulses of one kid more than another. Maybe the other kid is being proactive in ways that aren鈥檛 as obvious. Or maybe they just haven鈥檛 had the circumstances that push them to show those qualities.
Everybody can be proactive. Everybody has the potential to be a champion for their ideas and get started on things and be inspiring to others. Proactivity is a quality we all have鈥攊t鈥檚 just about giving space to it and showing it to the world.
