These past two weeks the students focused on two immensely significant academic skills that are not only necessary for school but also in life: time management and analytical thinking. We began with a focus on time management. It was important for the students to contemplate on how they currently spend their time. The students were provided a blank circle and partitioned their time with percentages. After, we shared our time circles and allowed our peers to provide feedback on how we spend our time.
We reviewed some important tips and strategies that can be used to effectively manage our time. We discussed using applications such as Google Calendar and strategies such as prioritization. A key tip is to create specific goals when thinking about how we can manage our time. Without an end goal, it can be difficult to efficiently use our time. To demonstrate this concept, the students first collaborated to complete digital puzzles without a picture. Then, they completed a new puzzle, this time being given the picture. We found that most teams completed the puzzles much quicker with the picture, demonstrating how we can be much more efficient with our time when we know what the exact end goal is.
To practice with digital applications, the students were given the opportunity to use Google Calendar and input their own schedule for an entire week. This was a great practice for them to understand how to effectively use technology to help manage time.
With their love for competition, we ended our lesson on time management by engaging in a collaborative relay competition. Students were placed into two groups and picked random tasks to work on. Each team was offered ten minutes to complete all of the tasks; however, only one task can be done one at a time. Although chaotic, it was such an engaging and thrilling activity to practice time management and collaboration. The important takeaway from this lesson is to ensure that even when there is a time constraint, the students will still put their utmost 100% effort into their undertakings.
We tied the concepts time management with analytical thinking as it is important to understand that being analytical thinkers is to also contemplate on how our time is being used and helping us to make wise decisions. The students started with some thought-provoking logic puzzles involving math and tangrams. These were highly challenging for the students, but they proved to get their brain thinking and many of them successfully solved the puzzles.
We discussed what attributes makes an analytical thinker and the characteristics that can hinder one. To practice applying these attributes, the younger students were tasked to collaboratively solve a mystery puzzle where they would use provided clues to figure out which individuals own which type of dog. The older students worked in teams to solve a four-challenge escape room. These tasks were highly engaging and the students loved working together to use their analytical and time management skills.
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