This Might Not Work

 As reported by Paul Tough in his book How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character, Mental Contrasting with Implementation Intentions, developed by NYU psychologist Gabriele Oettingen, is the best way to move from a current state to a desired state. When using mental contrasting, one concentrates both on a positive outcome, while also predicting the pitfalls they will encounter along the way (Tough 93). Without knowing it had a name, this is a strategy that we have used for years when planning for long term projects like Genius Hour. The whole thing is predicated on a student being able to see into the future and anticipate what will happen and how they will respond. Possibly, some extra guidelines may make it a more useful activity.  Some categories that we could use to examine obstacles may be self (what problems may I cause myself), other people (not returning messages, scheduling,  not doing their share, etc) , non-human outside factors (technology, travel, etc). Otherwise, often it comes down to “I might procrastinate and not get it done on time.” This method seems like a gentle version of Red Teams where one envisions that things went horribly wrong and the project ended up with the worst possible outcome. Rather than imagining a catastrophe, MCII is more of a “these are some things that may go wrong,” 

Having students create their own schedule based on known future events made a difference in AP Seminar this year. Some kids knew they were going away for spring break and scheduled everything to be completed before then and they appreciated the guidance.

Tough, Paul. How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012.