To those of us of a certain age, telling time is second nature to us like driving or counting out correct change. It is something we just automatically do. So it may come as a shock that many students (I am referring to middle and high school students) today can’t tell time using an analog clock. They don’t know what half-past, quarter til or quarter after means. If it is 10:35 now, they don’t know what hand the minute hand will be on in 15 minutes. This fact seems a little crazy given that every classroom in American has an analog clock.
It may come more of a shock that it is, in part, the fault of the adults in their lives. In elementary schools, the classroom teacher does time management for students. In middle schools, it is a bell or the teacher for the class they are in. It is also parents, coaches, anyone else who is telling children when I go from one activity to the next or telling them get done what they need to do. When left up to students to find out the time, they pull out their smart phone. 4:17 it might display. A glimpse of time, a right now.
Telling time is so important for good time management skills. Without understanding or using an analog clock, students don’t understand the passage of time. Therefore, they don’t understand how long their tasks take from homework to chores to checking social media. How do you plan your day without understanding how long doing what you need to get done takes? You can’t. More specifically for students how do you plan out a long term assignment? Oh that’s why your kid was up all night working on an assignment he knew about a month ago. He had no idea it would take ten hours. Oops!
My sugguestions:
- Replace every clock you can in your house with an analog clock.
- Use timers-I like time timers. Check out their website here. They are great visual aids and fairly quiet.
- Have your kid (you can do this too) for two weeks keep a log with each task, how long he/she think it will take, and how long it really took. You will be shocked.