Maximizing Instructional Time

A sign in the front of a classroom at Mastery Charter School’s Shoemaker Campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, reads, “We have 90,000 minutes this year; make each one count,” Having those minutes count can be extremely challenging.  Consider the ways some of those 90,000 minutes might be lost or frittered away.   Ineffective classroom procedures, students fooling around before starting on assignments, or excessive time spent distributing or collecting materials are a few time wasters that might let the sands of the hour glass drain away. A 7^th grade math teacher, Chris McCloud, is featured on Teaching Channel discussing how he addresses time management with his student.    

Although there are many aspects of time management that could be discussed, this post is focused on maximizing instructional time.  With the demands of the Common Core State Standards, teaching bell to bell is the expectation.  Consequently, instructional practices need to be introduced to students just as explicitly as management procedures. 

At the most basic level, time management is actually priority management.  By choosing essential questions, unit goals, and lesson objectives teachers are able to create instructional priorities and identify specific outcomes. When a teacher posts and shares objectives, students have an idea of the lesson's focus and what they’ll be learning.  Education researcher Robert Marzano has developed nine High Yield Instructional Strategies.  His research indicates that sharing objectives and providing students with feedback could account for a 27 percentile gain in achievement.

  

 High student engagement helps move students towards academic success.  By ramping up participation with both the teacher and peers, more learning takes place than when students work independently. Cooperative learning activities and other small group work encourages total participation and engages them in the learning process.  By adding a little time pressure students stay connected and are held more accountable to use time wisely.  Timers often motivate students to complete the task with a minimum of chatter. When the timer goes off, students put their hands in the air and stop working just like they do on an episode of Food Network’s Chopped!  Small timers work well and can be purchased cheaply at the dollar store.  And as you know, the Smart Board timers is an excellent tool because it’s visible to students so they can self-monitor.

“Academic learning time has to do with quality; it is the amount of time students spend actively working on tasks of an appropriate difficulty.  Success breeds success.  When a teacher targets the instruction of a new concept or skill so students can succeed at least 75% of the time, students are more engaged and achieve at higher levels”.  Time-on-Task: A Teaching Strategy that Accelerates Learning  

Featuring One of Our Own: A Classroom Tour

Elizabeth Walton is teaching at Smart Intermediate School in Davenport, Iowa.  She has been assigned to six sections of 8th grade math and one section of 6th grade math.  Classes started on Monday, August 18th, so Elizabeth is already in the swing of things!  She sent some wonderful photos of her new classroom!