I. The Extent of the Problem

    The concept of time and managing time is increasingly becoming an important issue for students in school.  Time management problems are surfacing in all grade levels, all academic levels and without regard for gender, race or socio-economic levels.  The basic problem today is that, if parents cannot provide good time management examples for their children, chances are the children will not be successful in responsibly managing theirs either.  There are many factors that contribute to children mismanaging their time.  Study after study we can see that kids spend more time watching TV, playing video games, countless hours surfing the Internet, unlimited minutes of telephone conversation and not to mention gymnastics, soccer practice, after school jobs and just plain, “hanging-out”.  Many psychologists could argue that all of these activities in some way or another are and should be, a legitimate part of a child’s daily schedule.  The question is; how do we fit in the academic need for homework and study time?

     First we need to look at the facts.  One survey, produced by The Annenberg Public Policy Center, found that, “57 percent of children between eight and 16 years old had their own TV sets, 39 percent had video game equipment and 20 percent had a computer in their room. Of those lucky 20 percent of kids with their own PCs, more than half had access to the Internet” (Krebs, 2000, Newsbytes Network/Gale Group).  Although we cannot assume that all of those children who have access to TVs and PCs in their room will spend an unregulated amount of time watching and surfing, we do know that they will greatly affect how the kids manage their time and that TV watching and Internet surfing need to be incorporated into their daily routine.   According to the same survey, parents were more likely to monitor their children’s television viewing than to regularly supervise their use of the Internet or video games.

    When we look at the data from the 2000-01 school year for the state of Florida the graduation rate is 63.8% and the dropout rate is 3.8% we can see that not even three-fourths of our children end up graduating.  According to the Florida Department of Education statistics, the highest graduation rates were in Brevard and Calhoun Counties with 86.8% each.  The county with the lowest graduation rate was Gadsen and not surprisingly, the highest dropout rate of 6.7%.  Rentention in our high schools is certainly an issue that needs to be addressed.  If more students felt more successful, more students would stay in school.

     There are other factors that affect many kids and their time management challenges but sometimes they can have a positive impact.  One study using data from 1992 public high school seniors in the National Educational Longitudinal Study shows that participation in extra-curricular activities is positively associated with successful participation in school.  There is also data that links better attendance and higher performance in composite math and reading assessments with the participation in extra-curricular activities.  The study shows that students who participated in extracurricular activities had a better attendance and overall academic performance.  Students who spent their spare time in passive activities such as talking to friends on the phone, in chat rooms, watching TV or playing video games not only perform poorly in school but they do not have enough time to acquire information and life experiences.  Adolescents especially need time to develop world goals such as money, status, power, position and grades.

II. Behavioral Characteristics

     Some of the research suggests that many of the students not participating in extra-curricular activities are those with poor study habits, low attendance, and low motivation.  Although most of the characteristics of those students who have difficulty managing their time are feeling oriented, such as: anxiety, pressure, indecision, confusion helplessness etc.; there are some observable behaviors.  Many students can be identified as having poor time management skills by exhibiting the following behaviors :

•   procrastination and failure to complete assignments
•   tiredness, sleeping in class
•   coming to class unprepared, not bringing materials to class
•   distractedness, absentmindedness
•   lack of attention
•   disruptive and distracting other students

III. Counseling Strategies

     Our first counseling strategy was designed to help at-risk high school students improve their time management skills.  The objective is to help students restructure their passive entertainment time to allocate more time for academic success.  We will first select the students that have not been promoted to the next grade due to failure in several courses.  In Hillsborough County the students who are behind in credits are placed in homerooms numbers that end in 50s (i.e. 950s, 1050s, 1150s).  We also want to target those students that are in their grade level but are at risk because of low grade point average.  In addition we will ask teachers to identify any other students that they think might benefit from this training.  The duration of the program will be a nine (9) week grading period and will be available to all grade levels.  Priority will be given to 12th graders and those students in 1150 homerooms who are close to graduating.  The goal will be to assist them and ensure that they graduate on time.  During the second nine weeks we will target 11th graders and students in 1050 homerooms.  The third nine weeks we will work with the 10th graders or students in a 950 homerooms.  During the fourth nine weeks the 9th graders will participate in the program.

     Our approach will consist of using the small group interventions of six students.  We will hold two weekly meetings for twelve learning sessions of 30 minutes each.  One of the meetings will take place during Club day when possible, so students miss the least amount class time.  The program will consist of twelve counseling sessions.  During each session we will use a variety of strategies including the facilitative process, learning activities, coaching informing, and the problem-solving model.  The sessions will be structured in a manner that will provide variety as well as keep the students focused on the issue.  Each of the meetings will address a specific topic.
 
 

Time Management Curriculum

Session 1	Getting acquainted How do we feel when we are not successful? Exploring feelings of success
Session 2	Student’s current allocation of time Activities that waste time
Session 3	Procrastination and behaviors that hinder success Allocating time for homework in increments
Session 4	Establishing a Time Management Plan and a Buddy System
Session 5	Dealing with test stress and deadline pressure Dealing with anxiety and lack of concentration
Session 6	Developing self-discipline Establishing goals and priorities Monitoring your progress

  IV. Conclusions and Recommendations

     When assisting our youngsters in understanding how to use time effectively, it is important to keep the plan as simple as possible.  If students have to deal with a complex model they will soon feel overwhelmed trying to manage their Time Management Plan.  It is also important to help them get into a routine that releases time and energy.  We recommend starting every session getting feedback from the student’s of how new techniques implemented are working so we can address the problems or issues immediately.  Preparing questionnaires and visual aides can help internalize important concepts and addresses visual learners.

    The topic of time in our society is an interesting one.  Time management continues to be a pressing issue for most productive individuals in our society regardless of gender, age, race or socio-economic factors.  As human beings we have the luxury of understanding time and the ability to use it however we please.  Just like the opposable thumbs, the ability to allocate time for many different activities and for many different objectives is one of the factors that separate us from other species.  We have the ability to understand time as past, present and future.  We can look at our past, our childhood; relate our past to our present and make projections for our future.  We need to help our students develop a positive sense of self, which includes their past, so that they can establish goals for the future and have a clear idea of what they need to do in the present in order to reach those goals.   Once the students have established their goals they can learn to allocate their time according to their needs.  Some students need to have time to develop personal relationships and personal development in terms of spirituality and relaxation.  However, almost all students need to learn how to properly manage their time in order to be more productive in school.  With just a few organizational tools and practical goals, many students can be quite efficient and effective learners.
 

V. References:

Bruno, James E. (1996). Time Perceptions and Time Allocation Preferences Among Adolescent Boys and Girls,                 Adolescence;  Spring v. 31, 109-118

Strickland, Oriel J.& Galimba, Mark (2001). The Effects of Personal Goal Setting on Resource Allocation Strategy and Task Performance. The Journal of Psychology, v135, 4, 357 (11)

Gard, Carolyn (1997). Time to Get Organized. Current Health, v. 24, 30-32

Larson, Reed W, Richards, Maryse H., Sims, Belinda, & Dworkin, Jodi (2001). How Urban African American Young Adolescents Spend Their Time: Time Budgets for Locations, Activities, and Companionship.  American Journal of Community Psychology, v.29, 4, 565

Ezarick, Melissa M. (2001) Be a Real Survivor, (study skills and stress management for high school students), Career World, 97-103

Svenson, Ann (2002) Cracking the Books Without Cracking the Whip. School Counselor Magazine,                                      http://www.schoolcounselor.org/

Larson, Reed, Gillman, Sally & Dworkin, Jodi (2001) Facilitating Adolescents' Constructive Use of Time in One-Parent Families, Applied Developmental Science, v.5, 3, 143-157

The Annenberg Public Policy Center of Pennsylvania, http://www.appcpenn.org

http://www.disciplinehelp.com/behavior/main.cfm?cur_behavior=6

National Institute on the Education of At-Risk Students http://www.ed.gov/offices/OERI/At-Risk

How to Be a Student http://www.ee.calpoly.edu/~jbreiten/htbas.html

Time Management Guide http://www.members.aol.com/rslts/tmmap.html

Big Dog's Leadership Page - Time Management http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadtime.html