As a mom, trained educator, and a fulltime employee with two teenagers, I’ve watched them struggle, offered help, and listened a lot about the challenges in adapting to distance learning. This week one of my teenagers felt overwhelmed and struggled to just start her work for school, let alone finish and turn it in to her teachers. Together, we developed this simple work plan in Google Sheets. The days of the week are listed across the top with her school subjects and household obligations listed in the first column.
She breaks down her “mountain” of work into smaller achievable tasks each day. She also records additional tasks she finishes. It helps keep her organized and more focused. For younger students, a teacher or parent could help the student fill out the tasks they need to accomplish each day and then use smiley faces or stickers to mark off their accomplishments. My children first used work plans in their elementary Montessori classrooms. We’ve found a modified concept of this work plan a helpful tool to return to during this crisis while using distance learning. We hope it might prove valuable to you and your students.
Feel free to download this Excel copy of our work plan and modify (including the colors!) as needed to suit your needs and/or the spreadsheet application you use.
