Over the last few years, new research indicates that the art of multitasking is nearly impossible, and focusing on more than one assignment at once jeopardizes the value of each. But, when a student has around three major grade-determining assignments due on the same day, the challenging skill of multitasking no longer becomes optional.
As students begin progressing through high school, homework turns from simple fill-in-the-blank worksheets to thousand word essays. Though writing essays should not enable extreme stress, the addition of multiple major assignments does.
While it seems as though the probability is low, a student having a 2,000 word essay, lab report and test coinciding is quite common. Though it is difficult to avoid having some assignments due on the same day, the various departments could begin taking measures to ensure students do not have to prioritize one subject over another.
When students have to turn in multiple large assignments at the same time, students must decide what task to dedicate their time to. The options are extremely limited and include multitasking and decreasing the quality of each assignment and prioritizing one task over the other and quickly completing the remaining ones. There are very few possibilities of what to do in these situations, and all options increase the amount of stress a student endures.
In order to ensure that students are able to complete all assignments and do not have to focus on one more than the other, teachers should hold interdepartmental meetings in order to discuss major events. By meeting to talk about the larger assignments, teachers can ensure that everything is not due on the same day.
It is not necessary for representatives to meet every week, but discussing events once a month would be beneficial as teachers often have a rough plan of their schedule in advance.
Since it is still high school and dealing with multiple tests on the same day is reality, conflicts are still possible.
Through group meetings, teachers will help alleviate stress from students, ultimately allowing them to spend enough time on each class.