Set-up No. 2

Skills Guide Content

Goal: Layout the structure of a school year, and learning to plan ahead

Many teenagers aren’t able to plan much further than the next moment in front of them. This task may require your help and checking in on their progress, as it will take longer than other skills.

They will need your help to:

1. Find calendars for the school year
2. Remind them of holidays or trips
3. Build in family events

Each type of event needs to be entered into the planner. This will help them learn how to plan forward and backwards for big events or projects. This task is foundational to helping them understand time management and breaking down tasks into smaller chunks in future exercises.

Activity from Planner

Get to know your planner layouts:

Let’s fill your planner with the important info:

• School Year Calendar – mark your days off on the weekly sheets and the 4-month planner
• Home and Family – mark holidays and family vacations as well as other chores you need to do
• Class Schedule – add this to the quarter schedule at the back of this planner.
• Job Schedule and Responsibilities – add to the weekly sheets
• Extracurricular Activities – add practices, meetings, etc. to your weekly sheets
• Class Work – assignments, class topics and deadlines should be added to the weekly sheets

Extended Activity

Let’s start by entering all of the critical information you know about this school year. Start with the long-term items, and work into the more specific ones.

• Find your school calendar – you can usually find this online using a Google search with your school name or district and the word calendar. Now transfer all critical dates, like your first day, days off, early release days, and holiday breaks, into the weekly sheets in this planner. Consider marking them on the 4-month planner as well.
• Now think about things at home and write them into this planner: holidays, travel dates, birthdays, family gatherings, chores, etc. Use the weekly sheets for most items and the 4-month planner for big items. Also, add things that happen every week to the quarterly schedule.
• Next, find your class schedule (if you have it already) and enter it into the quarterly schedule. If you don’t have it yet, add a reminder to do it on a weekly sheet when you think you will get it.
• If you have a job, write your upcoming work shifts and paydays into the weekly sheets for the scheduled days. If you have a consistent schedule week-to-week, add this to the quarterly schedule.
• Add your extracurricular activities to the weekly sheets and your quarterly schedule: practices, games, performances, dues payments, or permission form deadlines.
• Now add your class work. You may have received a syllabus with essential assignments and due dates for each class; transfer those to the planner. If you don’t have it yet, add a reminder to the weekly sheet when you think you will.

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