As I head into my sixth week of student teaching, I've noticed that I've been designing my lessons increasingly around time. Time rules everything in my second-grade classroom; with preps and specials and a 10:45am recess/lunch break, scheduling lessons is a bit of an act of chrono-contortion.
The first time consideration I must make in designing my lessons is that nearly all my lessons are limited to 30 minutes. Some of my lessons are capped at 15. These time limits are determined by the time allotted by the MT for each subject: In order to get daily literacy centers, an hour of math, specials, recess, lunch, school-assigned bathroom breaks and -- if time permits -- social studies OR science all to fit in the day, lessons have to be brief.
Another timing consideration I've come to recognise (and, thanks to my MT, intentionally to design around) is the students' attention spans. I've found that my students' stamina for a single sustained activity has a 10-minute limit. This means that for my 30-minute lessons, I need to change up activities every 10 minutes. This is not to say that the objective needs to change after 10 minutes; Rather, I need to ask students to engage in the lesson in a different way. For example, a lesson I taught on the five Ws involved a mini-lesson with whole-group discussion punctuated by some pantomime and partner work. The objective remained the same and students were able to maintain focus throughout the half-hour lesson.
The final, and most unexpected, timing consideration is imposed by required standardised testing. The deadlines for the assorted tests students need to take are looming, and as a result, the school has hired subs to come in and supervise the classroom as teachers take students into the hallway to test. Teachers do not know, however, what time or for what duration they will have the sub. Thus, teachers (including my MT) have been drafting flexible daily plans in quarter- and half-hour chunks that can be rearranged at the drop of a hat.
On one hand, I think it's excellent that teachers are able to think on their feet and demonstrate flexibility for their students. Good classroom management and quick, thoughtful transitions should circumvent any kind of chaos or discontinuity issues that may result from suddenly switching up the schedule. On the other hand, I wonder how in depth teachers are able to explore topics with students if their lessons are so piecemeal. How well can lessons build off each other? How can a teacher extend a lesson that is going particularly well, or is proving to be particularly mentally stimulating for her students?
While I can understand the issue of students' attentional stamina, the other timing restrictions seem arbitrary and potentially disruptive. They are indicative of the priorities the school system places on certain subjects over others, and are a significant topic in the larger issue of whether or not standardised testing yields net good or harm for students. I imagine it takes a skilled (and probably experienced) teacher to navigate smoothly the erratic scheduling of today's elementary school day. This navigational prowess and a deeper understanding of the contexts in which they occur are skills I'd like to learn to hone over the school year.
An excellent and insightful post. The only response I have is that you are brining up and wrestling with one of the intractable dilemmas of teaching. I think the best way to cope with this dilemma is to be mindful of what you are focusing on. If you are focusing on time and fitting in / filling up time, then that will take precedence. However, alternately, you can focus your mind and energies on learning objectives - big ideas, rationales and objectives for each lesson and task, etc. Although this in no way eliminates the time challenges that are a permanent part of classroom teaching, it is a way that you can assure yourself that you are focusing on what is important and meaningful - what do you want the students to think about will hopefully then overshadow concerns of time.
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