How do we improve time management and urgency?  I don’t mean for the adults in the school, though I’m sure we could all benefit from that.  No, I mean the students’ senses of urgency and their time management skills.  Having to give kids that faux-MCAS two weeks ago re-emphasized that for me.  5 X 45 = 225 minutes or 3 hours and 45 minutes.  They did not work with any sense of urgency.

And yes, I know that this was a test to see what they know, so we can assess that and figure out what we need to teach them, so that they can take a test to prove that they know what it is the state thinks that they’re supposed to know.  However, I feel like they’re taking their time because they have no sense of time, not (only) because they don’t know or they’re thinking about the answers.

So, without actually setting their hair and/or chairs on fire, how do we make children feel that things need to be completed by a certain time, and that time isn’t going to change?