Are you looking for ways to teach students to complete classroom tasks? If so, keep reading.
1. Teach the student time management skills. Get the student to make a daily plan and follow it. Urge the student to avoid becoming distracted by activities, impulses, and moods.
2. Talk regularly with the student to help them follow instructions for the tasks.
3. Tell the student, when they do not finish a task correctly, what they are doing wrong, what they are supposed to be doing, and why.
4. Get the student to ask for help when they need it.
5. Get the student to schedule their own time for tasks (e.g., 20 minutes for each of 3 tasks, 15 minutes for each of 4 tasks, etc.) to pace themselves.
6. Urge the student to manage their everyday lives as if they were self-employed. This should increase their motivation to finish tasks successfully.
7. Support the student in performing their classwork. As the student shows success, slowly decrease the assistance, and require the student to independently assume more responsibility.
8. Talk regularly with the student to continue involvement with class tasks (e.g., ask the student questions, ask the student’s opinion, stand near the student, seat the student near the teacher’s desk, etc.).
9. Give simple, concrete, clearly stated instructions in written or oral form.
10. Show the task in the most attractive and exciting manner possible.
11. Get the student to finish tasks in a private space (e.g., table, “office,” quiet study area, etc.) to lessen the anxiety of public failure.
12. Repeat instructions to increase the likelihood of the student’s comprehension.
13. Manage tasks by dividing them into small segments. Establish deadlines and reward the student after finishing each segment of the task.
14. Do not require the student to learn more information than they are capable of learning at any time.
15. Make sure that the student is paying attention to the teacher when instructions are given (e.g., making eye contact, hands free of writing learning materials, looking at task, etc.).
16. Inform the student when it is time to do classwork.
17. Take into account the student’s capacity and ability level and experience before assigning tasks to him/her.
18. Give the student high-quality content to finish the task (e.g., pencil with eraser, paper, dictionary, handwriting sample, etc.). Make sure that the student has only the appropriate content on their desk.
19. Finish the first few steps of a task with the student to serve as a model and start the student on the task.
20. Assess the clarity and quality of directions, explanations, and instructions given to the student.
21. Consider using an education app to help the student sharpen their organizational skills. Click here to view a list of apps that we recommend.
