In what contexts does the student need to display this skill, now and in the future?
It is evident that coping with changing demands is a vital skill to a positive self-concept and to effective self-management of anxiety around time. Look at this skill as the ‘skill of a lifetime,’ as a ‘career skill’ or achievement. As an instructor, you are setting the stage for the student’s life goals so make sure and address the foundation skills in self-management around time in a systematic manner.
What are the steps that comprise this skill?
Handling priorities and deadlines requires recognizing factors that suggest urgency or immediate need, recognizing amount of time available, and recognizing amount of time needed (estimation and planning) to assure success. The use of a schedule, of a calendar, and of the clock for time concepts all play a part in prioritizing and meeting deadlines. The problem-solving process we use often requires attention to multiple tasks and ‘framing’ or organizing them for problem-solving. Implementing the problem-solving process requires shifting attention in an ongoing decision-making process. The student refers to a clock and makes adjustments to assure that he completes the task and does not get behind. The conceptual thinking and the ability to keep several concepts within working memory are both challenges that affect implementing the process. Estimation is a valuable skill in time management yet estimation is a concept that often proves overwhelming to the mind.
Steps 3 through 7 represent the problem-solving process. Thus, the first two steps represent other skills that may need to be addressed separately or prior to learning the other steps of the process.
A key in handling priorities and deadlines is often handling the anxiety associated with adjusting a plan. Responding to Questions and Interruptions or Self-Identifying Anxiety may be a necessary target for some. When the supervisor says, “I need you to stop that task and help with _____,” the first step may be self-calming and processing the verbal information in the interruption.
Tolerating Changes should also be considered in choosing your target of instruction. If these issues have been properly addressed, then the target of Handling Priorities and Deadlines will focus on further strategies for shifting focus, for using a problem-solving process to determine immediate goals and for using more complex strategies of defining steps of tasks, of estimating time, and of planning for task completion.
Note that the step of Asking for Help is also a part of the overall skill. At what point does the student seek assistance in addressing the management of time?Seeking assistance may be necessary at any step so building the flexibility to ask for help as needed is essential.
What sub-skill should you target first for the student to initiate? Given what the student can do presently, how will you present the task so that the student can perform steps within his capacity while learning a new step?
Newly introduced priorities produce anxiety in all of us. As well, deadlines produce anxiety unless we have a plan that we are confident will address the deadline. When faced with an overwhelming task, it is human nature to avoid the task or look for ways to get out of it. As a result, we learn to manage anxiety (Responding to Questions & Interruptions, Tolerating Change and Self-Identifying Anxiety) and to seek assistance (Asking for Help) as two strategies that help us cope with priorities and deadlines. The third strategy we use involves planning. That planning process is the core of this topic. Yet it is somewhat dependent on managing anxiety and asking for help. As a result, you may wish to target one of those other topics related to managing anxiety and asking for help before building a planning process for priorities and deadlines.
As noted above, determine if the student can handle an interruption from a supervisor while he is working. Consider whether you should address this first through Responding to Questions and Interruptions. There may be anxiety issues when interrupted that require your initial focus. Look at Tolerating Change or Self-Identifying Anxiety to see if these are your best first steps. The student may already clearly ask for help appropriately when faced with time management issues. Or the issue may be that he does not recognize the problem in the first place. If he recognizes the need or urgency, then you can address the other steps of ‘looking at’ the tasks, estimating time for each, assigning values to each, determining time available, and making an informed decision or a plan, as well as the pervasive issue of seeking assistance.
Prioritizing, handling deadlines and planning for an effective course of action are very complex skills. For many students, you may want to implement visual supports that either make the task simpler or ‘structure out’ parts of the process that are too difficult for the student. However, providing the student with a way of understanding and handling priorities and deadlines is always an important topic to consider.
Within the problem-solving process, once you have an organizational frame for the student (to-do list, weekly planner, etc.), it is most frequently the case that recognizing the priority and writing it down (step 3) is the focus. See the following section on Modeling and Practice to make a plan for consistent use of the organizational frame.