Rebecca Chapman

Students complain ad infinitum that they "don't have enough time" to complete assignments. Try this simple exercise to persuade them otherwise.

If instructors had a quarter for every time a student contemplating an assignment complained about "not having enough time," we'd all be taking much better vacations.

The following exercise can help to disabuse entire classes of this notion in a simple, straightforward fashion that will take less than five minutes.

This exercise requires one prop, however: a watch or wall clock with a sweep hand.

You've located a sweep hand on your wrist or on the wall. The next step is to wait for the right moment: as soon as the complaint window opens up after you explain the assignment.
The first complaint of the semester about time has been entered into the record. Congratulations! You've just been handed the opportunity for a literal teaching moment.

Now it's time to strike while the iron is hot. With any luck, the complainant will be a student-athlete who is in the midst of the athletic equivalent of jet lag following the first leg of their two-a-day practices. These students stand to profit most from the time management exercise.

Announce that you're going to solve their time crunch once and for all and ask them to grant you complete silence until further notice.
You now have their attention and at least some measure of interest. Stand completely still for one minute--60 seconds, no more, and no less.

About 15 seconds in, the students will become restless. Part of that is a normal response to lack of activity; part of it is related to the new neural pathways that have been blazed into their brains as a result of their constant stimulation from texting, reading/interpreting texts and the language now known as 'Textese', and incessantly playing video games. By the 30 second mark, most will have figured out what you're up to, especially if you've been looking at your watch throughout the exercise.

By the end of 60 seconds, many students are ready to endure lectures about Henry James rather than sit completely quiet for another second.

Phase Two is upon

2010