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Resources For Educators

Welcome to Making Caring Common’s Resources for Educators, Teachers, Counselors, School Administrators, and School Leaders!

We offer strategies, resources lists, audits, surveys, discussion guides, and more, which we hope you will use in your school. You can review the list of resources below or click to sort by the following topics: Bias, Bullying, Caring and Empathy, Gender, Leadership, Moral and Ethical Development, Romantic Relationships, School Culture and Climate, Sexual Harassment and Misogyny, Social-Emotional Learning (SEL), and Talking Across the Aisle.

Time Management Lesson Plan

As children get older, they encounter increasingly complex academic, social, athletic, and familial demands on their time which can be difficult to navigate. Help your students learn how to prioritize and balance their commitments with this time management lesson plan.

Note: You will be prompted to make a copy of the time management exercise when you click the link below.

Lesson Plan

Learning Objectives

  • Discover and visualize how your time is spent each week

  • Identify priorities for how you want to spend your available time

  • Name strategies to increase time management to focus on priorities

Introduce the strategy

Begin by telling students that they will spend some time thinking about how they spend their time and discovering ways to use their time with intention by doing things that matter to them. 

Part 1: Visualizing Time

Provide students with the Time Management Spreadsheet. Ask students to fill out the sheet, dividing their time between the 4 categories listed (school, sleep, extra curricular, unstructured time). If one-to-one computers are not available, print the document and provide students with crayons or colored pencils to complete the activity by hand. 

Once students have finished filling in their calendars, divide them into small groups to discuss and reflect on what they noticed or realized during this activity. Use the following discussion prompts:

  • What surprised you about how your time was divided?

  • Where do you spend most of your time?

  • What change would you like to make on how your time is divided?

  • Where do you not have control over your schedule?

  • Where do you have control in your schedule and can make a change?

Part 2: Prioritizing 

Begin part two by mentioning to students that they have a lot of time in their daily life that is not in their control, such as time spent in school, sleep, chores, or jobs. The purpose of this exercise is to identify the space where they do have control and make good choices during those times. 

Ask students to refer back to their calendar and identify the total number of hours each week that were designated as “unstructured time.” Use the Unstructured Time Chart or have students build their own. Ask them to consider what they are already doing during these times on one side, and identify what their priorities are, and what they actually want to be doing! 

Teacher Tip: You might notice that a lot of students spend time on social media. Share with students that not all social media is bad but, but that it’s important to recognize what it is replacing. Are they on social media when they could be with friends, outdoors, doing something creative?

Give students time to reflect independently on what they hope to prioritize during this unstructured time, asking them to consider what makes them feel good, what they enjoy? There may be some overlap between the columns, but help them notice what things they wish they were getting to but are not currently prioritizing. 

Finish by having each student identify 2-3 things they would like to prioritize more with their unstructured time. Encourage students to pick things that will feel good to them, like self-care, exercise, or being creative.

Teacher Tip: Share with students that unstructured time is important! These are the moments in our days where we get to unwind, follow our interests or take care of ourselves and others. Let students know that this time should be valued.

If students are stuck coming up with ideas, share some of the following:

  • Call a friend

  • Journal

  • Read a book

  • Learn a new skill

  • Listen to music 

  • Listen to a podcast

  • Do community service

  • Take a walk

  • Ride a bike

  • Stretch your body

Part 3: Naming Strategies

Now that students have identified priorities, brainstorm as a class some strategies they can use to ensure that they are using their unstructured time for the items they listed as priorities. Ask volunteers to share some ideas and create a list on the board. Then, add any of the following options that might not have been mentioned. 

Strategies:

  • Use a timer when you go on social media

  • Make a schedule

  • Have an accountability buddy (someone who checks in on you and vice-versa)

  • Leave post-it reminders on your desk

  • Write down your goals

Closing

End the lesson by asking students to choose one strategy from the list they made together that they will use in the following week. Then, have students refer back to their Time Management Spreadsheet to visualize and plan moments in their week where they can focus on the priority items that they chose. Finally, remind students that planning their schedules is not only in service of being more productive but to build balance and awareness. 

This lesson was adapted from a previous lesson developed by Challenge Success. Find more lessons and strategies to support time management at the link provided: https://challengesuccess.org/resources/time-management/

Last reviewed May 2023.

 

Overview
For: Educators
Ages: High School
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Total time: 1-1.5 hours over 2-3 sessions.

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