Importance of Making Your Schedule

Students have never been busier in the history of education. With rising academic standards, increased homework, and the proliferation of community activities geared toward young people, students are stretched in every direction. Weeks can go by where the student has not had a moment to breath or to reflect of improve certain skills. Most students today are participants in so many activities that they can really only accomplish “showing-up” for the activity. They never have time to develop the knowledge and skills needed to excel in one or two areas. By creating a schedule each student can see where he or she is spending their time, learn how to organize and prioritize his or her activities, and create “down” time that so many students need but do not get.

Making Your Schedule

By using the attached timesheets in the back of this manual, you can begin to organize your weeks. I know that each week may present different activities in different orders and require different amounts of time. The purpose of this booklet is to help you begin to look at your schedule and re-organize certain aspects of your day to help you maximize time. After a few weeks you will begin to see days that may not occur every week but represent the same scheduling demands each time they present themselves. This way you will know that on the day that I have a soccer game, I will have to practice from 7:00 to 7:30.

I suggest using colored pencils (when available) for filling in your time sheet. This allows you to look at your schedule and evaluate your time usage without having to read words.

Step 1:

Begin by placing your name and the dates above the weekdays.

Step 2:

Using your colored pencils, fill in the boxes with a specific color for each category.

Step 3:

Fill in the set parts of your day. Use words to label within the boxes. (The set parts of your day are events that remain the most consistent from week to week; school, travel time, sleep, sports, etc.

Step 4:

Color in the set parts of your day according to your Category Key colors.

Step 5:

Starting on a Monday, carry your schedule around with you and fill in the time boxes according to the activity that you are doing. Write the category of exactly what you are doing. Do not cheat! This honesty will help you better understand your schedule. Fill in your boxes with the appropriate colors when time allows.

Prioritizing Your Schedule

Once you have completed a week of filling in your time sheet, it is now time to look at your schedule. In order to evaluate your schedule you must create a Prioritization list. This list takes all of the categories from the category key and ranks them in order of importance. Some students may find talking online with friends is more important than doing homework or practicing. Although this is a good socializing activity, doing well in school should be your number one priority. The other categories may not be that easy to rank.

Step 1:

Take the provided Prioritization Charts and fill in the categories from most important to least important. Do not look at your schedule. Fill this chart in from what you think you should do. Notice that several categories have been combined to shorten the list.

Step 2:

Take your schedule and fill in another Prioritization Chart according to how you spent your time using the Time Use Breakdown Sheets. The activity that took up the most time will be #1, the activity that took up the second most amount of time will be #2, etc. Continue until all categories have been used.

Step 3:

Compare the two Prioritization Charts. Did any categories line up? Did one category jump up or down the list?

Step 4:

Create a schedule that lines up with your original Prioritization Chart. Try to think about activities that may happen during the week (sport games, practices, family dinners) and plan for them.

Living with Your Schedule

It may take several months to get a working schedule that balances work and fun, but constant revision and evaluation is needed. As the seasons change, so do our activities and time commitments. Remember that events and situations will arise where you will need to shift items around in your schedule. As important as it is to have a firm grasp of your schedule, it is more important to know how to work with your schedule and be flexible when emergencies do arise. Keep your priorities in mind and make healthy decisions when it comes to your free time.