How to Teach Time-Management Skills

Time-management skills include goal-setting, prioritizing, planning and scheduling. Once these skills are mastered, individuals will find that they are more efficient and organized, resulting in an easier and happier life. By learning time-management skills, students can improve their productivity, leaving them more time to enjoy extracurricular activities or hobbies. It is best to teach time-management skills as early as possible, so students can begin implementing them every day.

Create a list of goals you wish to complete over a determined amount of time by creating a to-do list. A to-do list can include tasks for a day, week or month and can include tasks such as school assignments, projects, personal goals and household chores.

Teach students to prioritize their list of goals by creating a chart with categories labeled "important," "urgent" and "both," according to the Walden University website. Students should place tasks or assignments that will take a significant amount of time to complete, such as doing a research paper, under "important." Tasks placed under the category "urgent" are those that should be completed in the next couple of days and done before other tasks. Those tasks placed under "both" are long-term assignments that are almost complete and due in the next two days.

Plan to accomplish large tasks by breaking them down into smaller parts. Large tasks such as research papers can look daunting to students, so teach them to break down the assignment into parts such as a research plan and an outline, suggests the Walden University website. Then instruct the students to break the actual paper down into a first draft and second draft before completing the final draft.

Create a schedule after you have prioritized your tasks. Use a large calendar and write in all tasks under the days you want to have them completed. Mark off days on the calendar as they pass to keep track of how many days you have left before a due date. Keep the calendar in a place where you will see it every day.

Teach students to eliminate distractions by keeping track of all interruptions. Write down the name of the person along with the date and time of the interruption. After a week of recording distractions go back to your chart and determine which interruptions were valid and which were invalid, states the Mind Tools website. To eliminate interruptions that are invalid, try methods such as turning off your cell phone and letting your voice mail take messages. Teach students that they must learn to say "no" in a courteous manner to people when they are busy trying to complete a task. Another easy way to avoid interruptions is to tell people the times when you are available and unavailable.