When students are given due dates and held accountable for meeting them, it teaches them important lessons about responsibility and hard work. It also helps prepare them for future jobs where they will likely be expected to meet deadlines.

That said, not everything in life has a hard and fast due date. As adults, we have to determine the most convenient and productive time to do household chores, schedule appointments, work on home improvement projects, or complete tasks at work. To do this, we negotiate around things like our family schedule and our preferences, as well as on what works best for others involved. In other words, a big part of real-life is knowing what needs to be done and when to do it.

Allowing students to determine their own due dates on some projects and assignments can prepare them for this aspect of adult life. This doesn’t mean students should be allowed to turn in work whenever it suits them. Rather, negotiating their own due dates means working with their teacher to determine a deadline that works best for both of them.

While due date negotiation isn’t right for all assignments, implementing it occasionally throughout the school year can produce positive results.

1. It teaches students to evaluate and plan.

To come up with a reasonable due date, students need to decide how they will complete their project or assignment. What resources or materials will they need? How and when will they obtain them? How much time will it take to read or research for this assignment? Will they be working with others? How much time will be needed to proofread, edit, revise, or test this project?

Once they have evaluated their process, they can determine a workable schedule for completing each step. They will also need to consider things that might hinder their progress like family plans or extra-curricular obligations. They should also take into consideration their own social lives and work habits. In the real world, adults often plan around these types of things, and kids should learn how to do this too.

2. It teaches them to articulate their process.

Students should be expected to justify their due date and obtain teacher approval. Conferencing with students about why they came up with their date allows them to re-evaluate if necessary.

3. Allowing kids to choose their own due dates builds student/teacher relationships.

When students see that their teacher respects their decision-making skills and the things that are important to them, like extra-curricular activities or hobbies, it builds a stronger rapport in the classroom—something that almost always leads to better performance and better working relationships. And by working with a teacher who cares about their personal time, students also learn empathy and the importance of work-life balance.

4. Students who have determined their own due dates are more motivated.

This just makes sense. Students who have gone through the process of evaluating and planning to determine the best due date are more likely to feel invested in that date and more likely to stick to a schedule to meet their goal.

5. Determining their own due dates helps students know themselves better as learners.

The kid who has always blamed late work on being too busy now has time to plan around his busy schedule and might discover that that was never the problem. The student who has always felt like she works best under the pressure of a looming deadline might realize she is more relaxed and productive when she has a process and schedule. And kids who are easily frustrated and overwhelmed might discover that a well-thought-out plan is the key to tackling tough assignments.

6. Student-negotiated due dates are a big win for teachers.

At first, some teachers might feel that finding time to conference individually with students about their due dates and keeping track of a revolving door of deadlines will be too time-consuming and confusing. But there are other perks to this system that outweigh these hurdles.

For starters, allowing students to set their own due dates eliminates the barrage of excuses that accompany nearly every assignment. You had a ballgame? Work? A family outing? Well, you knew about that when you set your due date. Something unexpected came up? Life is full of unexpected events. You should have built in a few extra days. Of course, there will always be students who have excuses, but this way it’s harder for students to justify them.

Teachers also benefit when due dates for assignments are spaced out over time instead of all on the same day. This naturally stretches and thins out our grading load. No more staying late to grade the 75 half-completed dioramas that were turned in at 3:00!

Flexible due dates don’t work for every assignment. It might take some trial and error to figure out when and how student-negotiated deadlines work best. Still, any classroom technique that gives students more ownership of their work and at the same time takes pressure off the teacher is worth trying!