Long-Term Projects

Long-Term Projects

By Beatrice

       

Long-term projects are always something that almost every kid dreads. I know that for a fact because I am one of those kids who absolutely hate these kinds of projects. Some kids might think, I have so much time to do this project, and then they just put it off, and then suddenly they find out that it is almost over and they haven’t done anything! Then there are those kids who say that they are just going to jump right into the project, but they never do. They might just end up putting off the project too. At some point in every long-term project, everyone will be a procrastinator. The point of this blog post is to tell you why kids procrastinate, the different ways that they do procrastinate, and a way to make long-term projects easier for students, all from the perspective of a kid.

            To start off I would like to say that I am the kind of kid who likes to say they are going to start the project right away and then they don’t do anything. During long-term projects most kids procrastinate because they obviously don’t want to do it, but also because they probably think that they have plenty of time. The thing is the time passes very quickly during these projects, and before they know it the project will be almost over and everything is still in front of them. And of course there is the type of kid who says they have a lot of time, but of course then they end up not doing anything either. Something I have found so far during this project is that I am often distracted by the Internet, and to make this stop happening I would leave my computer in a different room and only get it when I really needed it. Another thing that sometimes slows kids projects down is that they might have a lot of other homework or afterschool activities so they actually can’t work on their projects. So that’s when the problem of finding time comes in.

            One way to make kids have an easier time staying on track and having a lot of time during a long-term project is to plan it out in an agenda. They should make due dates for themselves so they can be sure to get things done on time. I guess you could say it’s kind of like being your own teacher. When I first I started writing everything I wanted to get done in my agenda, I wasn’t able to do it all because I gave myself to much work. From then on I had to limit myself. I also learned that I forgot to include the after school activities and other things I did on weekends in my agenda, so that also ended up slowing down my work as well because I wasn't able t do those things when I had planned to. When a student plans out what their own homework is, they should make sure to check what other activities they have going on so those other events don’t interfere with the project.