Managing Tasks

We have all left an overwhelming assessment task until the last minute. We know we shouldn't, but it happens. To prevent this, we can use a simple approach to managing tasks.

Introduction

When first received an assessment task seems impossible. An insightful essay? an original short story? an engaging presentation? Each of these tasks appears insurmountable given the deadline.

However, the reason such tasks appear so impossible is because we are imagining the final product, which seems so far away from where we are now. And yet, as the proverb goes: "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

This guide offers a step-by-step approach to assessment tasks that we can use to manage our workload. Each of these steps is discussed in detail, and a one-page checklist can be downloaded and printed from the end of the guide.

Let's get started.

Step 1 - Confirm the Task

Imagine someone is asked by their partner to paint the house. Obligingly, they set up an easel, put some paint on their palette, and spend the day composing a lovely painting of their home. When their partner returns the work is proudly revealed, only for the partner to cry "No! I wanted you to paint the actual house—inside and out!"

Sadly, this person did not confirm their instructions properly, something we have all done before.

Given this, the first thing we should do with any assessment is confirm the task.

This means carefully reading all of the instructions on a task sheet to make sure we understand them properly. In addition. I always recommend printing the task sheet, reading the instructions out loud, and making annotations with a highlighter and brightly coloured pen.

When making annotations, begin with key administrative details such as the number of drafts permitted (if any), the word or time limit, and the due date. Then, put this information into your diary or calendar immediately so you don’t forget it later.

Then, it's time to start focusing on the task itself.

The most important question we can ask ourselves here is "What does the task require me to do?" Or, more bluntly: "What do I have to do?"

If, after reading the assessment task, you can't confidently answer this question in one sentence you should ask your teacher to make sure you get it.

Next, note the essential components of the task; that is, things that must be included in the final product. These could relate to the number of body paragraphs needed for an essay, the number of slides allowed in a presentation, or the required theme or genre of a short story.

Finally, make note of anything about which you are unsure. I recommend using a different coloured pen for this so that once you've finished, you can confirm your understanding with your teacher.

Step 2 - Brainstorm

Once we have a solid understanding of a task it is time to start brainstorming.

In 1941, US advertising executive Alex Osborn noticed that people were too nervous to give new ideas in business meetings. To get around this, he came up with a process called"think up" to encourage spontaneity, creativity, and fun when coming up with new ideas. This process became known as brainstorming, and it continues to be used to encourage the free flow of ideas.

When brainstorming, we should follow the first of Osborn's rules: No criticism of ideas. This means we should note down everything that comes into our mind—no matter how seemingly unrelated. This ensures that we don't miss any potentially good ideas.

It is always a good idea to brainstorm ideas on a blank sheet of paper using lines, arrows and highlighting to illustrate and link important ideas. This is known as a mind map, a term first coined by British psychology author Tony Buzan in 1970 (although the first mind map was created by Greek philosopher Porphyry around 300CE).

Mind maps are wonderful because they allow us to "shape" our ideas. As we map out our thoughts we start to see patterns forming around strong ideas that we may be able to use.

While there are effective mind mapping tools available online, I always prefer working with a pen and a blank sheet of paper (as I did when creating this section of the website).

It is no problem to restart the brainstorming process multiple times: the more we map out our thoughts, the more we gravitate toward an idea that will work best for us.

Step 3 - Choose a Core Idea

Once we have gotten all of our ideas down on paper it is time to select a core idea for our response.

Our core idea will depend on the type of task we are completing. For example, if we are preparing an essay we need to consider the position we will argue in favour of.

Once we have chosen our core idea, everything we do from now on will relate to this concept. That said, if we find out later that our approach is not working for whatever reason, we should not be afraid to come back to this step and start again in a fresh direction.

Step 4 - Plan a Response

Once we have confirmed our core idea it is time to plan our response in detail.

Again, our planning will depend on the type of task we are completing. For example, if we are preparing an essay we need to plan the points we will make to support our position.

Once again, I recommend doing this planning on paper so that we can quickly move between ideas and start again as needed.

This step is where a lot of the work in a task is done so we should take our time and plan carefully. The most important question we can ask ourselves while planning is "How does this contribute to my core idea?"

If it doesn't contribute, it should not be included.

Step 5 - Select Evidence

Once we have planned our response it is time to find evidence to support our claims.

The evidence we need to gather depends on the type of task we are completing. If we are interpreting one or more texts we need to include textual examples that highlight the elements and techniques used by creators to engage their audiences. If we are completing a research task we must also conduct research and keep track of our findings.

If we are completing a creative task it may seem as though we do not need to include evidence in our response. However, most creative tasks in English are inspired by the texts we study. Therefore, we should think about how we can incorporate elements or techniques from these texts in our own work in interesting and intriguing ways.

Step 6 - Write

Now that we have done the work, it is time to enjoy the process of communicating our ideas through writing.

If we have taken the time to complete the previous steps carefully (which of course, we have) much of this writing takes care of itself. We already know, for example, the position we will adopt if we are writing an essay, the points we will make to support this position, and the evidence we will use to support these points.

What is important when writing is the clear communication of ideas. We should also consider techniques we can use to engage our audience, which could be rhetorical questions or anecdotes in a presentation, or symbolism and metaphors in a short story.

Crucially, we should always think about how our words will be interpreted by our readers.

It is not enough to think that because our writing makes sense to us, it will make sense to them. Rather, we should edit carefully as we write, always checking that our words mean what we want them to.

One of the most helpful pieces of technology we now have available to us is text-to-speech software. Depending on your word processor, this might be a default feature or you may have to download an add-on. Regardless, being able to "hear" your writing read back to you is invaluable, and I use this to listen to each iteration of a paragraph I write (including this one):

Of course, if we are using pen and paper under assessment conditions this is not an option, but we can still whisper our words back to ourselves when we finish a sentence. These words will sound differently when heard out loud, and we can catch any errors we didn't notice before.

Step 7 - Seek Feedback

Once our first draft is written it is time to seek feedback on our work.

Depending on the task conditions we may be able to submit one or more formal drafts. If possible, do this—there is no better source of feedback than the person who will assess your work.

In addition, regardless of whether we can submit a formal draft it is worth giving our work to someone else to seek feedback. This could be someone in your house or a friend from school (swapping drafts is a great idea).

When doing this, I suggest printing two copies of your draft and giving one to the other person. Then, ask this person to read your work out loud. This way, you will see how clear your writing really is.

If the person reading your work does not stumble, your writing is effective. However, if they trip over words or look confused at any point, your expression is not clear enough. Make a note of this on your own printed copy so that you can edit it later.

Once our proofreader is finished we should ask them for some feedback: Is the central idea clear? Is meaning communicated as clearly or evocatively as possible? How could the work be improved?

Such feedback is invaluable—just because our writing makes sense to us, doesn't mean it makes sense to everyone else.

Step 8 - Rewrite

Once we have received feedback on both our formal and informal drafts it is time to rewrite our work.

In some cases, this means only minor tweaks or changes for readability. However, it is more often the case that large sections of our work need to be rewritten, or even completely removed.

This can be painful because we feel as though we have wasted our time on our earlier work. However, we needed to make those mistakes to find a better way forward. In addition, when we read the newer, more effective, passages we realise that the change was worth it.

Step 9 - Submit

Submitting a task is an important moment and we should feel proud of our work.

Plan a meaningful reward for this moment and give yourself time to appreciate this.

In addition, make a copy of your response and keep it in a safe place—it is always nice to revisit such achievements at a later date.

Step 10 - Reflect

Having submitted our work and rewarded ourselves appropriately, we should take some time to reflect on our experience.

We can ask ourselves the following questions to see how we can improve our approach next time. And remember, our goal is to work smarter, not harder.

Downloadable Resources

• Assessment Task Checklist
  A one-page checklist that summarises each of the steps outlined in this guide. This checklist is designed to be downloaded and printed when beginning a new assessment task.

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED:
Assessment Checklist