Long Term Planning

The ability to long term plan for things is a LIFE skill I feel is extremely important for students to learn. Students need to balance school, chores, play, and family... just like the adults in their lives do daily.  This is the main reason most of the homework I assign is due weekly or monthly. If paced well, it won't feel like a ton of work at all.  The pacing of the weekly assignments are not always so difficult.  It's usually the month long projects, like book reports, that really get kids procrastinating.  Look, I've done it too!  Been there, done that.  Students do learn from their consequences when they wait until the last minute, but then need guidance on how to plan long term assignments.  It's not a skill that comes easily or one that's easy to teach (since I am not reinforcing this with them at home).  As we teachers know, no matter how much you communicate with students' families, there are some who can't help certain home situations.

When any major assignment has been given, we take time out of our day to long term plan.  We basically work backwards looking at the end result, figuring out what to do each week, and then each day:

1. Break down the assignment into parts.  
• What exactly needs to be completed?  
• What has to be done first, second, etc.? There are some parts of long term assignments that can be done before others, but that is the choice students make, though I also give a suggestion for those who need to follow a guide.  
• Use the rubric to make decisions.  Whatever is worth more points means we make sure we give plenty of time to do those parts well.
2. How long do we have until the deadline? 
• How many weeks do we have until it is due?
• Note any dates there are no school, or major school events at night
• Write in dates of extracurricular activities, events with friends/family, etc.
• Decide what to complete each week based on all the parts of the assignment we broke down... keeping in mind whether students plan to work on weekends, no school days or not
3. Put it on the calendar. 
• It's so important students write this down in the monthly section of their planners so they can "see" how the work is divided out.  They now have mini deadlines within the time frame given to complete each part of the assignment.
• Furthermore, I have students input these mini deadlines into the weekly section of their planner so it is visible weekly/daily.
• Once all the mini deadlines are in the weekly section, students also divide out the work for the weekly work into daily tasks.  For example, if they plan to read a third of the book the first week, they can figure out exactly how many chapters/pages they should read each day and write that into their daily assignments.  (They also use post its in their book to mark up due dates if needed).  Similarly, if it's a written portion with multiple paragraphs, students dont' just write "written portion" over and over in the daily planner.  Instead, they write: "Write para. #1," on Monday, etc. to be specific.
4. Stay the course!  
• It's so important to stick to the plan to avoid procrastination.  
• I remind them daily/weekly as we write down HW in our planners about where they should be.  Students may not be on my suggested pacing plan, so they have to assess their own progress, which is usually similar to mine.
• Behind or ahead? Life happens.  I talk about how we may not always meet our mini deadlines.  However, we still need to ensure we meet the FINAL deadline, so that leads to adjusting our plans as we go.  Perhaps we need to work more on one day to make up the work or so we can have the weekend off if something comes up.

Below is a sample picture of what I post on the homework page of my classroom website.  Before I list the homework for the week, I usually have a "Weekly Tips" section that details my suggested pacing plan.

For those few students who consistently struggle with turning in long term projects/assignments (i.e. - don't do them at all until they are kept in after the assignment is due from their breaks day after day after day after day... you get it), I specifically work with them on all the steps above.  Once we divide out each week and day, I have check-in dates, usually weekly, where I see if they've met their mini goals so far.  If they don't get their mini goals complete, then they have to do so during their break times with me.  This is to ensure they are working on parts of it throughout the month, I'm holding them accountable for the plan we worked on together, and I don't have to keep them in for so long after it is due since the project is a large one.  This last reason is mostly for my sanity, but it benefits them, too!  Below is a detailed breakdown with check-in dates specifically tailored to the student's chosen book for the report.

Show them real life examples!
What I have found to be helpful is to show students how I long term plan as well.  This is a real life example.  I show them my teacher plan book where I know exactly what meetings are coming up, holidays, student birthdays, etc.  I talk about how before I can teach something, I make notes to myself to prep the work/lesson plans.  They can see that I write in event dates, doctors appointments, and/or weekend trips that have nothing to do with teaching because I talk about how if I want that time off of work, I need to plan around those events so I can relax.  If I am going to have a sub, sometimes I show them how I prepare the sub plans ahead of time so that their day is not interrupted just because I am gone.  These messages are constant throughout the year and I throw them in as mini lessons when I feel it is necessary.  Not only that, I talk about how organization can help manage stress and anxiety, and some of my parent newsletters/emails encourage them to share their planning with their children as well.

How funny would that be if my kid turns out to be the worst planner ever?!  I think I'd blame it on my husband.  ;)