Many students find it difficult just to start a task. It seems to be a particular problem for those students who don’t like making mistakes or feel they don’t have the requisite knowledge or just feel overwhelmed.
Below are some suggestions to try:
- Create a checklist that students can work through. If the order is important, then make sure the tasks are listed in the correct order. Encourage students to tick off each task as it is completed as this provides a sense of accomplishment and helps keep students on track.
- Encourage students to work through all the questions they can do easily and independently before asking for help. This is a good exam strategy and often when you return to the remaining questions the answer is easier to determine. It also means students are not sitting doing nothing because they are stuck on the first couple of questions.
- Start with a ‘low-stakes’ warm up or with the easiest activity or an activity students like doing. Some examples might include – explain the task to your partner in 10 seconds, circle three key words in the description of the task, brainstorm suggestions as a group and then have students copy one or two of the suggestions they like.
- Set a timer for two minutes and tell students they only need to work for two minutes. At the end of the two minutes, they can take a micro-break or continue. This gets over the hurdle of just starting and two minutes doesn’t feel daunting.
- Routines are your friend. From a homework perspective try to start at the same time every day and do the homework in the same location. From a teaching perspective, start every subject with the same few steps – writing might always begin with eyes closed and some guided imagination, spelling might start with revising graphemes or morphemes as a group, reading comprehension might start with looking at the title, illustrations and subheadings and telling your partner in 10 seconds what you predict the text will be about or it might be doing a 5 minute vocabulary activity.
- Do the first question or task or write the first sentence together. This creates an entry point and means the first step is already completed.
- If there are set steps to doing an activity, make sure they are clearly listed and perhaps supported with a visual representation and/or an example. This helps remove any ambiguity around the task.
- Offer verbal cues such as:
– The first step is to …
– The key words is …. which means I have to ….
– I can see some students have started by ….
– If I have a problem starting, it sometimes helps if I …. - Provide a safe environment for, and encourage students to, ask for help. It is important that students learn to identify their own barriers, so teach them how to identify their area of need by asking questions such as:
– Which part of the task would you like help with?
– Is the problem getting started or knowing the steps to take?
– Is there a particular word or part of the question you need help with?
– Is there a ‘tool’ (e.g., computer, book, technology such as speech to text or text to speech, etc.) or a strategy (mind-map, quick drawing, brainstorming, etc.) that I could help you with that will get you started? - Celebrate success in terms of getting started and finishing a task.
See the post on Atomic Habits for more ideas.