Time Management and Refreshing Classes Tools for Educational Retention - Essay Example

? Time Management and Refreshing es Tools for Educational Retention Grade 25th November Time Management and Refreshing Classes Tools for Educational Retention Introduction (Unit 1) Time management is an important element of success in life. If people set priorities that fit their needs and lifestyle, they have a better chance of achieving their goals. To get the most from everything we do, we must be in control of time (Convey, 1994). Or else, decisions that affect how well we play the game, when we play the game and the position we play will be decided for us by others. On the side of a student, which is what this paper will emphasis on, time management, skills and discipline are very essential in life. The biggest problem they have is time management (Laikein, 1973). Failure to manage their time well has led to poor performance, indiscipline cases, and lack of respect for others. Some students have gone to a point of dropping from schools when they realize that it is too late to accomplish what they are supposed to do. What they normally forget is that school represents a period in their lives that will change their future. They should keep this perspective in their minds so that the daily decisions they make turn out to be wise (Mante & O'Brien, 2002). All students including high school, colleges, and university students should have one goal; to help themselves become aware of how they use their time as a resource in organizing, prioritizing, and succeeding in their studies in the context of activities of people living together with them (Boje, 1991). Analyzing the problem of time management will create avenues for teachers and lecturers to understand the reasons why their students do not do their assignments as expected and in the right time. It will also help the students to comprehend the importance of adhering to teacher’s rules, regulations, and advices. This problem will be solved when schools, colleges and universities amalgamate time management programs in their classes to help students handle time management problems. This can be done by fixing time management classes or doing orientation to new arrivals. Poor performance is a major problem that is brought by poor time management (Morgenstern, 2004). The largest percentages of students fail in classes or drop from schools due to poor performance after they are unable to manage their time properly. To curb these problems, there are many methods that can be adapted especially in universities. Mental tools that teach them to incorporate new tactics in their time management skills can be useful. The simple and practical techniques will benefit the students in their classes and their entire lives. They should put the most essential things first. After accomplishing them, they should reward themselves (Berge & Oliver, 2003). This will greatly boosts their morale and make them inspired to do better than that. Every student should find his or her right time to do things. They should figure out the most efficient time to do their best. If one is more comfortable in reading at the middle of the night, then he or she must know that the brain works well at that time. They should not wait for any other time to do it. They should also determine their priorities and set realistic goals that can be attained. We cannot do everything at the same time and these calls for us to set up the importance of each item. Application of Appreciative Inquiry principles can help solve these problems and bring a significance impact to lives of students. This is the learning of what brings existence to human beings operation when they are at their most excellent. It is a methodology of organization development based on the assumption that dialogue on strengths, achievements, wishes, importance, and dreams are transformational. It is used for strategic planning within organizations, boards in schools, and school districts (Barrett, 1998). It is also very useful in intensification of ties among administrators, staffs, and educators, as well as enhancing decision making (Dodd & Sundheim, 2005). In schools, Appreciative Inquiries will be helpful in ensuring students move a head in their learning and creating student focused learning programs that support their advancement. Students leaving high schools land in problems after entering colleges as they adapt to new changes (Watson & Temkin, 2000). In high school, they are normally confined within the school and they strictly follow school rules and regulations. But this is completely different in colleges and universities. No one is interested in knowing what they do and where they do it, provided they abide to the rules and regulations of the institution. The local university is looking for an evaluation of what causes increased numbers of drop out in which management of time is the first one. Students should use their time through critical thinking and observation to discover and maintain priorities that will help them hit educational goals. However, students alone cannot eliminate these problems; teachers and the school boards should join hands and come up with programs of following students to understand their problems before dropping out of school. They should also come up with programs that will help the students stop dropping out of school. They should give advices to students on how to use a planner. The teacher will use this planner to assess the work that was done by the students in a given period (Preskill & Catsambas, 2006). This research will help the students set their educational goals and priorities. The goals they set should be attainable. It will help them plan for their everyday activities. They will be able to meet their duties and responsibilities not only in class but in the outside world. This will be achieved by scheduling for their fixed commitments. It will also make them taskmasters in that they will be able to give themselves time budgets and to plan their activities accordingly. The research will also be useful to students in managing time for their personal lives. They can never ignore other things that are not educational in their lives. Friends and families are part of life. In general, the research will be useful to students in improving their grades and reducing school drop outs. Already done Interview protocol (Unit 3) In order to get full information from the students, different interviews will be conducted. The information obtained will be used to bring a good and long lasting solution for time management. It will also help curb the problem of school dropping, common to high school and college students. Although there are few disadvantages and problems of collecting data through interview, the information obtained from the students will be considered important in evaluating the effectiveness of the Appreciative Inquiry program. The survey is conducted under different segments to get the information needed from the students. Below are the segments that will be used to conduct the interview. Individual survey This survey is important in getting personal information from the students, as well as their future ambitions. It will also help in knowing how the students are set to ensuring that the objectives they have in life are achieved. Below is a sample of a survey that was done to get information from a student in a local university. 1. I am a a. Male student b. Female student 2. The objective for coming back to school is to further my studies and become qualified personnel in my carrier. a. strongly agree b. agree c. neutral d. disagree e. strongly disagree 3. before coming here, I did a diploma a. agree b. disagree 4. before coming here, I did a certificate a. agree b. disagree 5. I have worked somewhere for a number of years a. Agree b. Disagree 6. I am very much interested in qualifying and becoming competent personnel in my carrier. a. Strongly agree b. Agree c. Neutral d. Disagree e. Strongly disagree 7. I am determined to doing further studies to grow in my carrier a. Strongly agree b. Agree c. Neutral d. Disagree e. Strongly disagree This information is very useful in Appreciative Inquiry evaluation. One to one interview This is a face to face interview. In this segment, a student and an admission specialist are involved in a discussion. The admission specialist will be gathering information from the student about personal interests and the goals set by the student. Below is a sample of an interview done by Brian Kelly, a specialist in the admission: Brian: My name is Brian Kelly and I am carrying out a research on time management, would you mind telling me your name? Student: No, I would not mind. My name is Jane Bushe. Brian: I must appreciate that it is a privilege to be in such a beautiful and recognized university. What course do you intend to take? Student: Thanks for the encouragement. I intend to do a Bachelor of Science in Education. Brian: I understand that, in such a large institution of higher learning, there are so many courses based on personal careers. I studied statistics because I was so interested in demography. I wanted to be a statistician. Would you please tell me why you have decided to do Education? What actually pushed you to teaching carrier? Student: From my childhood, I dreamt of becoming a teacher. I liked every time a teacher stood before us in class and I envied her. My grandmother was a primary school teacher and she used to give me interesting stories about pupils and how she found teaching a very interesting job. She told me how she found it interesting to mark compositions of little children. This made me like teaching carrier very much. I really inspire to be a good teacher to help students achieve what they want to become in the future. This is always the desire of my heart. Brian: With this course, where do you want to find yourself in a few years? What do you want to accomplish as a teacher? Student: I am always a determined person who believes in “say and act” principle. I want to be a fully qualified lecturer who can lead students towards fulfilling their dreams in life. Brian: Would you please tell me what you like doing, both in class and in your social life? What do you believe you are good in? Student: I am good in sciences in class and I have always recorded good grades. My hobbies are playing football, and writing articles. This is what makes me happy and satisfied. This interview was done to get information from the new students. The other similar interview will be conducted after the program. Computerized assessment This is the third segment of the program. It will involve the use of computers and students in assessing the level of their memories. Here, they will be tested on how much they can remember from high school work. There is a number of games where the students participating will be selecting the best answers from a set of choices. They will also be given questions and answers to match, as well as to re-write words well. They will be required to do reading activities using computers and do math tests. These games will be interesting and therefore, the students participating in the game will not be bored. The computers to be used for this assessment will have installed software to support this program. Grammar, reading and computerized mathematics software will be used by teachers to prepare the games for the students. These activities will be very useful in testing the levels of computer usage and simplifying mathematics problems, as well as how fluent students are. They will also help in testing the level of Internet usage for researches and references. Below are examples of computer games to be used. Mathematics Geometries Solving Problem Graph Estimating and Probability Place Value/Decimals Practice Tests Reflection Symmetries MathLibs Median, Mean, and Mode (lesson and activity) Sticks or Switches? (probability games) Place Value Quiz Test Prep (Grade 5) Transformation/ Reflection Pattern Blocks Create Pie Graphs Fish Tanks (probability Games) Place Value Practice   Tangram Towers of Hanoi (problem solving activity) Create Bar Graphs Estimating to the Nearest Thousands Place Value Games   Flashcard Pentominy Create Line Graphs   Reading Decimals Rags to Riches Game   Symmetry Games Patterns and Geometric Shapes Data Pick       reflection Symmetry Rocket Maths Graph Papers           What is the Point?         Grammar and reading Languages Vocabularies Grammars Spellings Comprehensions Main Ideas "Nym'       Family Assessments There, Their &They're Quiz Fake Out! Wacky Web Tales Spellaroo Elephant   Word Confusion (a homophone game)   Clubhouse Game   Past and Present Verbs Spell Check Dolphin   Same or different (activity with synonyms and antonyms)   Idioms Zone   Adjective &Adverb Online Spelling Lesson     Super Synonyms Match Ups   Opinion (Quiz)           Awesomes antonym Match Ups               Homonym s Game             Homonym s Madness                   The above games are used to test reading and mathematics. They are simple and interesting and this will make students like the games. It will therefore be easy to get the information from them. Instrumentation (Unit 4) This section of the project involves a combination of the interview protocol and survey. The survey comprises both questions that are appreciative and the ones that not appreciative. They must be in line with the evaluation hypothesis. In this case, the questions that were used in unit 3 plus the interview protocol will be used to compile unit 4 of our project. The interview protocol will follow the outline of the 4-D method of evaluation (Griffin, 1998). a. Discovery. Here the participant, in this case, students will give the best concerning the object of inquiry (Johnson, 2011). The object of inquiry in this research is a selection of courses by the learners. They will be required to give the reasons why they are taking their courses in the university. He or she will be required to give valid reasons as to why they became interested in their careers. This interview will involve the students and the admission specialist. b. Dream. In this part of the interview protocol, the students will be required to give their future ambitions in the courses they are taking in the university. They will give a clear analysis of what they would like to achieve in their careers in the near future. This information will be very crucial to the teachers to ensure that the students do their work as expected and in the right time. It gives a symbol of their life. c. Design. With this dreams in mind, the students are asked to give suggestions on how their aspirations can be fulfilled in life. They give proposals for good organizational state. These proposals will be very useful to the teachers when following students to make sure they meet their targets (Mohr, 2003). The students can be asked to form small groups and discuss on ways to be used to meet their goals (Brown, 2005). This will create a good source of ideas which will be incredibly important when implemented. d. Destiny. The scholars will be asked to state the objectives which they need to meet at the end of their courses. Survey As mentioned earlier, the survey questions used in unit 3 will be used in this section of the project. The following are the survey questions used for the interview. 1. The reason why I am taking this course is because a. I am forced to do it b. I like doing it c. I love doing it 2. My future goals in this carrier is a. Drop out of school now b. Stop doing this course after one year c. Do further studies after this course. 3. My dream can be fulfilled through a. Poor time management b. Moderate time management c. Good time management 4. The main objective as to why I want to complete my course is a. To fail in life b. To become successful in life Unit 5 Results This research was conducted to curb the problem of poor time management in schools as a tool for educational retention. From a survey carried out in the local university, students are determined to achieve and fulfill their dreams. They all in unison agreed that every minute in their daily lives need to be used appropriately. Spare minutes must be used wisely. Every student wanted to be successful in life, and they all agreed that this can be achieved through good time management. They also agreed that they were doing their course out of what they would like to achieve in life but not because they were forced. The use of Appreciative Inquiry proves very effective in the research. From the results of the research done, it was noted that the biggest problem that the students have is lack of good time management. This results to poor performance and dropping out of school. Universities and colleges have no special program to solve these problems. They neither have any orientation programs for the new students. The lecturers and teachers still complain that the students do not provide their work for marking in due time. In addition, the teachers are yet to know the reasons why the students drop out of school. The major problem with the students is lack of understanding of how to set priorities. They do things without schedules. This has resulted to omission of important duties in their school life. Recommendations Through evaluation of the problem of poor time management and coming up with time management classes, poor performance will be reduced in schools. Students will also stop dropping out of schools and this will boost their grades in classes. Universities, colleges and schools should come up with programs that will ensure every student undergo an orientation after admission. They should also be followed to their classes by addition a supplementary course on time management. By understanding the reasons behind students dropping out, the teachers should come up with programs that will retain them in class. The use of Appreciative Inquiry principle will help reduce this problem. By managing their time properly, the students will be able to augment their skills and hence become competent graduates (Dodd & Sundheim, 2005). Use of personal time tables will also be exceptionally effective to students because it will help them accomplish what they are expected to do. It will help in retaining them in the classes until the completion of their courses. Time management will ensure that nothing is left out in their routine lives (Rubinsteim et al., 2004). Family issues will not be left out with an excuse of lack of enough time. Friends, too, will not be ignored with the same excuse of lack of time. Time for everything will never be available; time is created. When the students are taught the principles of organizational skills, they will remain in class until the end of their courses. The teachers and the lectures should make their students aware of the priorities that need to be set first. This will help them do all their duties as required. They will also be able to set goals and fulfill them in life. Since time is much impacted by many factors and also inflicted by people and things, students should be trained on how to reduce the time they spend in doing unnecessary things. This does not mean that somebody should multi-tusk. Recent studies in psychology have proved that multi-tusking saves no time. When a person switches from one task to another, he or she loses time (Rubinsteim et al., 2004). Multi-tasking results to lack of concentration and maintaining focus. In conclusion, students should learn how to manage time properly. They need to understand that time is a valuable resource in their life. References Barrett, F. (1998). Creativity and improvisation on jazz and organization: implications for organizational learning. Organization Science, 9, 605- 623. Berge, J., & Oliver, C. (2003). Working with appreciation in managerial practice. Academy of management Review, 28(1), 124-142. Boje, D. (1991). Consulting & change in the story telling organization. Journal of organizational change Management, 4 (3), 7-17. Brown, D. (2005).The generative potential of cynical conversations. Generative Organization: advances in Appreciative Inquiry, 4, 56-72. Convey, S. (1994). First Think First: To Live, to Love, to Learn, to Leave a Legacy. New York: Simon & Schuster Pub. Dodd, P., & Sundheim, D. (2005). The 25 best Time Management Tools and Techniques: How to get more done without moving your self crazy. Apopka, Florida Performance Press, Inc. Griffin, F. (1998). Creativity and improvisation in jazz and organizations: implications for organizational learning. Organization science, 9, 605-623. Johnson, P. (2011) Transcending the polarity of light and shadow in appreciative inquiry: An appreciative exploration of practice. In Zandee, D. Cooperrider, D. & Avital, M. (eds) Generative Organization: Advances in Appreciative Inquiry, Vol.4. Bingley: Emerald Publishing. Laikein, A. (1973). How to get control of your time and life. New York: New Library. Mante, B., & O'Brien, G. (2002). Efficiency measurement of Australian public sector organizations: The case of state secondary schools in Victoria. Journal of Educational Administration, 40 (2), 274-274-296. Mohr, B. (2003). Beyond discovery and dreams: Unleashing change through the design of an AI intervention. AI Practitioner, 6, 1?3. Morgenstern, J. (2004). Time Management from the Inside Out. Henry Holt and Company. New York. Preskill, H., & Catsambas, T. (2006). Reframing evaluation through appreciative inquiry. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Rubinsteim, J., Meyer, D., & Evans, J. (2004). Executive control of cognitive process in task switching. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance, 27(4), 763-797. Watson, C., & Temkin, S. (2000). Just-in-time teaching: Balancing the competing demands of corporate America and academe in the delivery of management education. Journal of Management Education, 24(6), 763-763-778. Read More