Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Create a Time Management Matrix”

Referring closely to the original text, students will create a Four-Quadrant Matrix, fill it with activities, and role-play the outcomes of those activities.

In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey recommends using a quadrant approach to sort activities that are important and not important, urgent and not urgent. Working in a group of 3-5 peers, create a Four-Quadrant Matrix and fill each quadrant with activities based on suggestions from your classmates.

Then, design a role-play exercise in which participants illustrate the benefits or drawbacks of spending their time in each quadrant based on the activities listed there.

• Different group members might participate in each role-play so that each member is able to have a speaking role.
• Once your group has had a chance to run through each role-play, discuss which was the most effective and meaningful. Using the form of a journal entry, write about the connections between this effective role-play and the advice in the text.
• Be ready to share your results and impressions with the group at large.

Teaching Suggestion: Rather than sticking closely to the matrix examples provided by Covey in Chapter 5, it might be worthwhile to encourage students to draw sample activities from their own lives.