This School Year…How to Get to the Finish Line

Well, hello there!

“Spring has sprung, the grass is riz…”

As I type this, the grass has definitely risen, and signs of spring are all around. It’s a beautiful afternoon, with sunshine and birdsong. Makes one daydream about summer.

*record screech*

Summer!? That’s still weeks away!
True, but for many students, this time of year – especially when the days are warm like they have been – heightens the effects of the overwhelm they are feeling. Whether school is semestered or not, May has youth nearing their tipping points. 

For our neurodivergent learners, the April - May season is when they are running low on their mental, emotional, and physical resources. Thoughts of summer tend to exacerbate their stress instead of mitigating it, because it’s so close, but still with obstacles in the way. This can lead to shutting down, since it feels like there is too much to do and not enough time to get it all finished.

Looming deadlines can help and hinder. 
On one hand, having due dates and targets set helps to chunk the big projects into manageable sections. On the other, a vast number of dates, especially ones that seem trivial (like a homework due date), can appear insurmountable.

Right now, most high school students are heading into summative assessments, which account for a total of 30% of their final grades. At the same time, they still have unit assessments to complete. Middle school and elementary school students, while they won’t have exams or big, year-end projects, also feel the crunch as teachers strive to ensure all subject and learning expectations have been met for the year.

We can help neurodivergent – and neurotypical – learners get to the end of the school year.
These three strategies can be used for all grades and learning profiles, modified to fit each individual. They can be used now, when classes are in the wind-down process, and also in preparation for final exams and summatives. The skills in each strategy are transferable across subjects and also over the years. 

Chunk it up
Our brains have evolved to categorise and put parameters on, well, everything. Chunking up tasks takes advantage of this neurological trait.

Although deadlines can be problematic, chunking work into bite-sized pieces is a demonstrated and research-backed method of time- and stress-management. This plan can be as broad as a monthly outlook, and can narrow down all the way to a daily Plan of Attack (PoA). 

I like to keep the monthly PoAs general in nature, listing target dates and item titles only. Weekly PoAs have more detail, highlighting the main item to achieve for a particular task, and on which dates it will be addressed. Daily PoAs are the most detailed, sometimes down to the hour, and list specifics of what parts of which task are going to be addressed when. 

The degree to which work is chunked up depends on the individual learner, and where their line of overwhelm is. It might be that the daily PoA is too detailed and leads to difficulty with starting the task; if this is the case, set a list for the day without the times and the details. Knowing the aim is a strong first step. 

Click on the opening image to link to a PoA template. Please use it and adapt it accordingly.

Make a “Yes, when…” list.
This is like making a budget, but with a positive, growth-mindset twist.

If your learner has activities that they would rather be doing instead of school work (who doesn’t, let’s be honest), a Yes, When… list is another way to chunk up the work into sections that are manageable. For example:

“I want to go out.” Yes, when my English paper's rough draft introduction and first body paragraph are written.

“I want to play a video game.” Yes, when I have completed every other letter of my math homework.

This sets up a positive association, because the brain knows the reward is coming in a tangible and relatable amount of time. It can be embellished by setting time boundaries, but starting with the general Yes, when… list is an excellent initial step.

Practice until proficient (PUP).
The PUP approach enables learner autonomy and also fosters a sense of ownership of effort. Having learners think deeply about the work in front of them, and how comfortable they feel with it is a form of active learning. 

Providing a learner with the power to determine when they feel they have met expectations often leads to a greater investment on their part. The breaks they intersperse as a result of using the PUP approach are then used for their brains to subconsciously process the information they have actively engaged with. The end result: greater learning, more sincere investment in that learning, and a sense of ownership for the work accomplished.

This is a lot to consider.
If the thought of using all three strategies is too much, have your learner select the one that they feel best about. It might be that they’re curious about it. It might be that it seems the easiest one. It might be a random selection. 

All of that’s okay. What we’re aiming to do is provide them with the opportunity to reduce the level of stress and burn-out they’re feeling. They can transfer the skills they build with one strategy to other academic scenarios as their confidence grows.

In fact, I consider these to be life skills, not just learning skills.

Yours in learning,

~L