Making the Most of Classroom Time How Much Time Is There, ‘Anyway? 178 Increasing Opportunity toLearn 180 Concluding Comments 194 Summary 194 (On the first day of school, the academic year seems 0 stretch out endlessly. If you're a beginning teacher, you may wonder how you'll ever fill ll the hours of school that Tie ahcad—especially if you're not even certain what you're going to do tomorrow. And yet, as the days go by, you may begin to feel that there's never enough time to accom- plish everything you need to do, With assemblies, fie drill, announcements over the intercom, recess, clerical tasks, and holidays, the hours available for instruction seem far fewer than they did at the begin- ning ofthe school year. Indeed, by the end SS of the year, you may view time as a pre= P cious resource—not something that has to PALEY ONS Sete be filled (or killed) but something that must Keeping in mind that the average stadent spends 1,170 be conserved and used wisely. (Of course, _hotts per yearin school, estimate either the number of ‘your students may not share this view, as Botrsorthe percent of time that stents are actually Fjgore 8. ilusraes!) involved in productive leaming (hat is, engaged in This chapter focuses on the issues of — Medingful, appropriate academic tasks). Then read on to se what researchers have calculated and find out time and time management. Guiding the Wrst you are on trget, chapter is the premise that the wise use of time will maximize opportu leaning and minimize opportunities for disruption. Frst, we look at the amount of school time that is actually available for teaching and learning. Then we consider strategies for using classroom time efficiently. We discuss four complementary te18 PART 11 Establishing an Environment for Learning FIGURE 8.1 _ Sours wn CartoonStock com. Reprinted with permission i ling students proaches —mainaning activity Now, minimizing easton time, holding st seeoomabte, and iting the disruption caus by students leaving the room Tor spe- Gil insiracton pious"). HOW MUCH TIME IS THERE, ANYWAY? ‘Although this cemslike a staighforvard question, the answer is 9s simple. In fhe snwer depends onthe Kindo ine you're aking sbow Pll, Cooper & Mar SOO) ost tes mandate a school yer of spproximat) 10 dys wih 2 ‘aioe day of about si and half hour Tie amounts o 1170 hours of ral dine catnyear Bur epidemies break out and bolls be own; snowstorms ease tity openings and teacher workshops require eal elosings. Factor such s these ruesiey reac hime Jou have veal or eaching the emang hous aiendd tine caren hen school isin session and students ae preset, only about five and half nor of he day ave alae for teaching and Ieuning with he emaiing time ‘einy Tor anh, ces and ther breaks. Moreover, the way these ve and hall Hae oulabe ne ae aca sed varies emendvsy fom teacher each, Ticly os ofthe avalbe tine would te stractonl tne But im some cles, aun aes sec es king atedance, collecting och money, Su Ieper and repimandingmibbchaving stents consume more ine tan they ‘Sead Tis wes lysate n a uy examining how meh instation vas SEivere to stents grade 2,5, and ine arg bn rier Sih, 200. Of 2 $sovmunte 300 mints wee aval orinsvction Abeta fhe observed teats were tery effective manager, and inhi clasoons,nonnsuctonl time ‘avon abot 1 percent late other half ofthe lasrooms, nonnstuctonl vt {cs consumed a ch 30 percent of he sable ne Thus, students in those CHAPTER 8 Making the Most of Classroom Time classes received only 200 minutes of instruction each day—two-thirds of the district's official mandate. An excerpt from one observer's log conveys some of the problems: 9:00 a.m. Students are straggling in from the rain, As they enter, the teacher directs them to get out of their coats and to their desks. The kids chatter with one another as their classmates enter. At9:15 a.m, after they stand to say the pledge of allegiance, the teacher begins to take attendance and tocollect money from a candy sale. There is confusion about what has and has not been tured in yet. She then hands out some ‘worksheets and asks students to get out their language arts books, but several students ‘do not have ther books. Thee isa shor lecture about this and an emotional explana- tion from one upset student. Students move around to buddy up so everyone has a book. The attendance officer comes to collect paper work, At 9:30 A. they settle in ‘and begin work on a vocabulary assignment. (Smith, 1998, p. 9) Even when teachers are actually teaching, students are not necessarily paying attention, We must consider still another kind of time—engaged time, or time-on- task, Let's suppose that while you are teaching, some of your students choose to pass notes about Halloween costumes, play with the latest action figures, or stare out the ‘window. In this case, the amount of time you are devoting to instruction is more than the amount of time students are directly engaged in learning. This is not atypical. Research documents the fact that students tend to be “on task” about 70 percent of the time (Rosenshine, 1980). Again, there are sizable variations from class to clas. One study of time use in elementary schools Zound that some classes had an engage- ‘ment rate of only 50 percent (ie. the average student was attentive about one-half of the time) while in other classes the engagement rate approached 90 percent (Fisher, Berliner, Flby, Marliave, Cahen, & Dishaw e:al., 1980). Finally, we need to think about the amount of time students spend on work that is meaningful and appropriate—what Herbent Walberg (1988) calls productive time, ‘Teachers sometimes get so caught up in ensuring that students are on task that they fail to select tasks that are educationally beneficial. We once saw second-graders spend 20 minutes of a 60-minute language arts lesson coloring the animal pictures on a ‘vocabulary worksheet. The students seemed totally engaged. But how did the activity enhance students’ reading skills? Unfortunately, this example is not unusual; in fact, fone educational observer has concluded that the reason so many students reach the "upper grades without reading skills is that they spend their time on the “crayola cur- riculum” (Schmoker, 2001). ‘This chapter began by asking, “How much time is there, anyway?” Figure 8.2 ‘depicts the answer to this question. The bar atthe far left shows the number of hours ‘of Zora! time in the typical mandated school year—1,170, For the sake of argument, We wil assume that stdent absences and &D Pause anp REFLECT School closings reduce this figure by 10 19 days, or 65 hours, Thus, the second bar Most teachers ae surprised when they see how lite time Indicates that atended ime is 1103. One lly pen ote ering. What are some hour of each day is generally spent in lunch Paetices that erode the ime available? What are some eee gee replete cake aoe ance and recess, so only 935 hours are available {for instruction (bat 3). Clerical and admin- rma as you red the nex Seton of the chapter. istrative tasks typically consume about a180 PART 11 Establishing an Environment for Learning a “Time Arita for Academie Learning 1409 pgog |_ 3.000 ai Atended Aviabe Fsrucional Engaged. Produte Tine “time “ine "ine Me Leasing Tine FIGURE 8.2. How Much Time Is There, Anyway? insractional tne (bat 4), Hs 21% of that ime, leaving only 748 hours facta instr Sens pay ateaon 8 percent of tha tins engaged ne 58 hours a 8). And ‘ssn tht stent worn caning, spropdste sk for80 pent of he tne they ate engaged, we se that productive learning fine is us 479 hous—oaly 4 percent of "mandated oa ime "Obviously these figures are estimates. But the graph summarizes our fndamental point The hows avllablefor learning ae fr mre nied than they nal appear INCREASING OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN ee eee eee ieee pete heer ee ee ae ee cee ee me : sce ee ene pe en eget eae eee Ser a Oe oer ee ee gees CHAPTER 8 Making the Most of Classroom Time “abruptly thrusting American children out of the classroom door in the middle of the afternoon is a wasted opportunity” (p. 18). The frst recommendation of the task force is to increase the amount of time that children spend in school by lengthening the school day and, inthe case of low-performing schools, the school year. 1t appears that the recemmendation to expand learning time is finally beginning to gain acceptance. Just over 1,000 U.S. schools now operate on expanded sched. tles, an increase of 53 percent over 2009 (Edwards, 2012). Indeed, as we were work- ing on this chapter, five slates (Colorado, Connecticut, Massachussetts, New York, and Tennessee) announced that they were instituting pilot programs that add at least 300 hours to the school calendar Nevertheless, the six-and-a-half hour, 180-day school year is still the norm in the United States. For this reason, it is essential to consider ways to increase students’ productive learning time within the constraints of the traditional school day. We will discuss four strategies for achieving this goal: maintaining activity low, minimizing transition time, holding students accountable, and managing “pullouts.” (See Table 8.1 for a summary.) Of course, these strategies not only maximize time for learning but also help to establish and maintain classroom order. Maintaining Activity Flow ‘Tom Good and Jere Brophy (2008) observe that “four things can happen” when stu- dents must wait with nothing to do, and “three of them are bad; (I) students may remain interested and attentive; (2) they may become bored or fatigued, losing interest ‘and ability to concentrate: (3) they may become distracted or start daydreaming: or (4) they may actively misbehave” (p. 79). Given the three-to-one odds that waiting + Maincain activity flow ‘vod flip-flopping Avoid “stimulus-bound events” (being pulled away from the ongoing activity by an event cor object that doesn't relly need atention), Avoid overdvelling and fiagmentation, + Minimise ransition tine Prepare students for upcoming transitions. Establish clear roatines. ‘Have clear beginnings and endings: Bring fist activity toa halt, announce the transition, "monitor the transition, rake sure everyone i attentive, begin second activity. * Hold students accountable ‘Communicate assignment: clearly. ‘Monitor students" progress + Manage pultous Coordinate wit special services to schedule pullout to minimize disruption. Create a schedule showing when various students are present and wien the whole lass ‘ogether: Establish a policy and procedures for having students who ae pulled out complete work they missed, 1st182 PART 11 Establishing an Environment for Learning vill result in undesirable behavior and a loss of valuable learning opportunities, i's ‘sential for teachers f0 lear how to maintain the flow of classroom activities. ‘Once again, we turn for guidance to the classic work of Jacob Kounin (1970) who investigated differences in teachers’ ability to initiate and maintain activity flow jn classrooms, He then looked for relationships between activity flow and students’ engagement and misbehavior. He found that activity flow plays a greater role in class- room order than specific techniques that teachers use to handle misbehavior. ‘Kounin’s research identified many differences in the ways teachets orchestrated classroom activities. In some classrooms, activities flowed smoothly and briskly, Avteicas in others, activities were “jerky” and slow. Kounin even developed a special Vocabulary 0 describe the problems he observed. For instance, he found that some ineffective managers would terminate an activity, start another, and then return to the first activity. Kounin called this flip-flopping. Ivis illustrated by the following situ- ation: A teacher finishes reviewing math problems with the class and tells students to take out their reading books. She then stops and says, “Let's see now. How many fot all the [math] problems right? ... That's very good. .. . Allright, now let's get at our readers” (p. 94) ‘Kounin also observed stimulus-bound events, situations in which teachers are “pulled away” from the ongoing activity by a stimulus (an event or an object) that really doesn't need attention. Kounin describes the case of a teacher who is explain- ing a math problem at the board when she notices that a student is leaning on his left tlbow as he works the problem, She leaves the board, instructs him to sit up straight, ‘comments on his improved posture, and then returns to the board, ‘Sometimes teachers slow down the pace of activity by overdiwelling—continuing, toexplain when students alteady understand ot preaching at length about appropriate ‘behavior. Another type of slowdown is produced when a teacher breaks an activity into components even though the activity could be performed as a single unit—what Kounin called fragmentation: “The teacher was making transition from spelling to arithmetic a follows: “All right everybody, I want you to close your spelling books. Pu away your red pencils, [Now close your spelling books. Put your spelling books in your desks. Keep ther ‘oat ofthe way.” [There's pause] “Allright ow. Take out your arithmetic books tnd put them on your desks infront of you. That's right, let's keep everything off Your desks except your arithmetic books, And let's sit up straight. We don’t want any Tazy-bones do we? That's fine, Now get your black pencils and open your books to page sixteen” (p. 106) Flip-flops, stimulus-boundedness, overdwelling, and fragmentation—these are all threats to the flow of classroom activities. Not only do they result in Tost learning time but also they an have a significant effect on children's behavior. When activities proceed smoothly and briskly, children are more involved in work and less apt to mis- behave. Indeed, as Kounin concluded, activity flow plays a greater rote in classroom order than the specific strategies that teachers use to deal with behavior problems. During one visit to Gametta's classroom, we watched the skillful way she main- tained the flow of activity ia her math class. Students were working in groups, ting colorful cubes to solve division problems. For no apparent reason, there were CHAPTER 8 Making the Most of Classroom Time innumerable intrptions that day. A messenger fom the office wanted to know the number of children who had signed up fora spec Saturday program, tld came to borow a projector for anole cache; and thee was an announcement ovr the loudspeaker abot aterschool actives All these ineruptons oscued Within a IS-minste period. Greta worked vainly to kep the momentum gong. She to the messenger fom the office, "Pm inthe midle ofa lesson Tl find ot ltr and let the office know.” When she tumed fo gt the projector, she ist gave her elas tak todo I'm going wo ive you a realy tough problem wile T ke cae of ths business~88 dvd by 21 Lasse if you can dat one” This bought Gaeta some atonal ime an crested special challenge for students, We heard murmurs like That's nt tough” and “On, tas easy, they immediately began manip late the blocks to solve the problem. - Latte aed with Gare sbout the way she had managed to keep activi moving. With a good deal of fervor, she told us: : eed fo Keep acivies “Tie est gro 1 her's ay “own to Mg ep ‘out of hand. If students have to sit and wait while paper is bei ; is being passed out, that provides an opportunity for trouble. If they have to wait until Pve written problems on the board, they get fidgety I's important to keep them actively involved and participating. That's also why I tend to have them work in groups, rather ‘than call on one student a atime. ee ee ee Ce way does nn by providing issn with sever cotss abt what esa Eg do whee ty ene sano dese ee ne Seca cies sans tesing ses aiiiy tes wat ooo ae rca ey oar ane at on av ee aes eer eee dues on bug remake oc un Log, hos mes rang Taos inacpendeny vrs pcs wowed sass cd king pose Msclpal tly boo and emo wakiogon inp catapunn cae he ‘were open-ended activities with no clear ending (in contrast to a workbook page) and Secor cane sarees wea ice oe cncees metered gues ad Saves ea ae evi oes ete insta oops meat Sides wee sever nk winning tea anes Tac) astray trial ven 6 kn ou Gar eras mon es weaaee srt coaaiy ogi fe SU aac pein os tah oe ts a ea Sle Minimizing Transition Time Kounin identified “flip-flopping” as one problem that can occur during transit between acvites. Bu transitions are vulnerable in other ways. An analysis by Pau ‘Gump (1982, 1987) helps us to understand why transitions can be so problematic. First, Gump observes, there may be dificult “closing out” the fist activity especially if students are deeply engaged. (Ironicaiy the very involvement that teachers strive to achieve makes it mor difficult o get students to switch activites!) Second, transitions 183184 PART 11 Establishing an Environment for Learning are more loosely structured than activites themselves, Because there's usually more leeway in terms of socializing and moving around the room, there is also more oppor- tunity for disruption, In fact, in a study of 50 classes taught by student teachers, there ‘was almost twice as much disruption (such as hitting, yelling, obscene gestures) dur- ing transition as during nontransition time (Artin, 1979) ‘Third, students sometimes “save up” problems or tensions and deal with them dur- ing the transition time. They may seek out the teacher to complain about a neigh- bor, ask for permission to retrieve a book from a locker, or dump out the contents of their bookbags in search of a lost homework assignment. Although these behaviors are legitimate—and help to protect the adjacent activities from disturbance—they also ‘make transitions mote difficult to manage. Finally, there may be delays in getting stu- dents started on the second activity. Teachers may be held up because they are dealing, with individual children’s concerns or are busy assembling needed materials. Students may have difficulty setting down, especially if they are returning from physical edu- cation or recess. (Gump's analysis suggests that teachers can reduce the potential for chaos by pre paring students for upcoming transitions, by establishing efficient transition routines, ‘and by clearly defining the boundaries of lessons (Ross, 1985). These guidelines are especially important for children with attention-deficivhyperactivity disorder and those with“autism, who may have particular difficulty with transitions and changes in routine (McIntosh, Herman, Sanford, McGraw, & Florence, 2004), ADVANCE PREPARATION ‘Transitions are far more chaotic when teachers fail to war students about an immi- nent change of activity. In the following vignette, we see what can happen when the teacher doesn't realize thatthe period is about to end: “The lesson was sil continuing when the bell would ring. Not having reached any losute, the teacher, with some degree of desperation, would say something like “OK, you can go,” end pupils would charge out of the room, often knocking each ‘other over (Sometimes, pupils did not even wat forthe signal from the teacher) The teacher might then remember an announcement and interject tothe dispersing mob, “Don't forget to bring back money fr the trip!” (Actin, 1979, p. $0) In contrast, our five teachers are very skillful “clock watchers.” They take care to ‘monitor time and to inform students when an activity is drawing to a close, In the following scene, we see Garnetta warn her students that they will be changing activi- ties in two minutes. We also see her spur them along by counting aloud, although she times her counting to match students’ progress. Finally, she praises students for their cooperation: 115 Ladies and gents, you have approximately two minutes to finish up "o8 crer ste yout working on. Ten pt or Peper 8 Yur Creative writing book and sit up straight to show me you're ready to go to Basic Skills. 0:17 OK, F'm starting to count. One, We've got one person ready, now two people, four people. Table 2 looks excellent; Table I is excellent. Pm on two, (She circulates, CHAPTER 8 Making the Most of Clasroom Time walking close othote who tre not yet ready and watching ws more and more ‘dnt up rat) Tm p tothe. Tale sods Tae 2, beat TA table Robert inal puting ngs ni de At everyone ead ogo Rober areyou ready ie sop oright} Tale ove 1028 [She pels in ery gut voice] OK, everyone kn orally rs Are sec i ht 1 Tate i aya Table [hire al pa in thc and fin up ui] abe iethewnyoullocd up eres, 101g The cla Ives fe oom in monde, quit Boe Not only do our teachers war ter sens about upcoming tansitons but aso they propa tem fr the activites that will occur after Tunch, feces, Or special classes. Hor, we soe Ken cal his class together five minutes before they ae 0 © Tunch He reviews what the aftrnon’s aves wil be and makes sre ll he St den have thei materia out nd ready Ke Fos, ike everyone a throbs, [He pauses while students return gB to their set from the varius parts ofthe rom where ey have Been FS) working Now befor we ge tones, Twantto tke fie minutes so at Joule for thi ateroon. What are you going to need for ib afternoon? yong Sropn: Page 39, page 40 (worktcts th tadents have been working on, and our cocoa Hew God Tae amine et how oer nd puttemon our des, Wat Stoner We need oor prime owas wit the answers tothe questions "Kx Right Get your priate journal ready ad on Your dese runnin Wenced our bok reper, hae Good yor ec repro yur deh? Srupawr: Wenced our peer tutoring log ‘Kes Yeu. Get them out 'm going t tr to look at them this afternoon, We'l aise watch the health video if we ave time. Any problems? Several aden inform him aboot place hey have to go tnt eftersoon to a tecondigrade cla for poor tring, o band practice oa yearbook meee: ing] OK, fll, ace you ltr. [Students getup get tel cont and lave fecrecens] Because transitions and unpredictability are problematic for children with ADHD and those with autism, a timer or hourglass can help them to see how much time they hhave left. It can also be helpful to tape a detailed schedule on their desks so they can keep track of what's going to happen when. In Time to Teach, Time to Learn, Wood (1999) advises teachers to show the times graphically, so that there is consistency between the schedule and the classroom clcck. Wood also suggests that children have ‘a watch that matches the clock (sweep han¢ or digital readout) so they are reading the ‘time in the same way on their wrist and on the wall, 185,186 PART 11 Establishing an Environment for Learning ‘THE USE OF TRANSITION ROUTINES In Chapter 5, we talked about the need to have clear, specific routines in order to keep the classroom running smoothly. At no time is the use of routines more important than during transitions, Well-established routines provide a structure to transitions that helps to prevent confusion and lost time, Once again, this is particularly important for children who struggle with transitions. They can benefit from having a job to do, such as signaling the beginning and end of the transition, collecting papers, or timing the transition with a stopwatch (Wood, 1998). Barbara has instituted a routine for entering the room in the morning and setting in, This routine helps to ease the transition from home to school. When students come in, they immediately check the chalkboard to find out what they are to begin doing. ‘Sometimes the board says “SQUIRT.” and students know to begin sustained, quiet, ‘uninterrupted reading time. Sometimes the board sys “JOURNALS”: Soop es 8:30. Students enter the room, glance at the board, go to their seats, and ‘ake out their journals. They quickly begin writing, as Barbara circulates. She gets the attendance form and silently notes attendance while students are Working. Without a word, she hands the form to a boy who takes it to the office. He.comes back in one minute. Barbara says, “Thank you, David.” She continues to circulate, occasionally commenting toa child. Courtney uses cueing and signaling to alert her students when writing workshop is about to end. At the beginning of the year, she was extremely explicit. Five tutes before the end of writing workshop, Courtney would call for attention: “Writers, hhands up (a signal to put their pencils or markers down and listen). We have five ‘more minutes of writing time.” At the end of writing workshop, Courtney would say, “One, two, three, hands up. Writers, writing workshop time is over. Put your caps on your markers. Close the stamp pad, Put your papers in your folders. Monitors, put the buckets and bins away.” Later in the year, when Courtney judged that her students no longer needed such explicit instructions, she changed her routine. As she told us: » Now I just put on « CD and play a song that lasts about one minute and | 20 seconds and has two verses. This way students know that when the frst | verse is done, their transition ime is about half over. AS soon asthe children ~~ hear the music, they know to get ready for writing workshop. And the same thing at the end: When the music starts, they begin cleaning up, and table monitors return he materials othe shelf. Randy has @ routine for the end of the day when students arc ining up to go home. He uses this transition to review skills and concepts: “Are we in a row or a column? Do you know your doubles? What's 4 + 478 + 82 15 + 15? 16 + 16? Today is ‘Thursday; what is tomorrow?" Not only does this practice increase instructional time, jalso helps to get stragglers in line and ensure thatthe transition from school to home ‘B0es as quickly as possible. ‘in many classrooms, the transition routines are implicit, and students are expected to figure out what to do by picking up on subtle cues. This may be fine for the majority CHAPTER 8 Making the Mostof Gasstoom Time 187 of students, but those with ADHD, autism, or other disorders may have trouble and end up geting reprimanded you have students PAUSE AND REFLECT © this im your clas, it is essential (and The. ‘opening of the school day is very unsta aly fa) © spend time techn students st aren Brae ses tw yc how to make efcen ode wansions. peso loging, such as bckpcks a nth boxes, Sasactataiecomsn Singular Practical Tips feature. the cede ou might ceo mal his ranston rom home to school as quick and efficient as possible. CLEAR BEGINNINGS cones AND ENDINGS. ‘Transitions proceed more smocthl Tan smoothly if teachers bring the first activity to a hal, ete tarstn, allow ine to make sue tha eveyone Is atest ea begin the second activity (Arlin, 1979). In other wor CoE Scand activity (Artin, 1979) In other words, smooth anions are charac Teaching Transitions ‘Think abou th wansions tt occur ring the petod, suchas Encing and leaving the clastomh Dating tera ad prpaing for te nea ak Cain up a work ane Morin om pop wrk to independent work peels 1 xpi each he expe tansiton Beavor Move he behavior sing bth comet an inca examples Provide pportunies forse ope Provide edac, Rete ind 1 Provide precoracton (sinnkesof the expe ete ete behavior before the wanton 1 Prvie pose einfrsent fi efficent, rely anstons Give specif pa or pec prvilge and aces, ie iagble romania, cv sieve wanston Seth om lng bt pian propia lk aound the room, sng roxy enouge stents toemage a appropriate behavior. s ate Interact with students during ihe transition, providing reminders and specific praise. ‘Source: Melntosh etl. 2004,188, PART 11 Establishing an Environment for Learning, Sometimes, in an effort to maintain activity flow, teachers rush into the second ‘activity without checking to be sure that students are “with them.” One classroom ‘observer writes: “Several times I noticed over 15 children continuing the previous activity while the teacher was giving directions for the new activity” (Arlin, 1979, p. 50), Needless to say, those teachers then became exasperated when students asked {questions about what to do. ‘Our five teachers make certain that students are listening before they begin an activity. Often, they'Tl preface lessons with remarks designed to “grab” students’ attention. Garett, for example, uses verbal cues like these: “Let's get everything put away now. I want everybody with me 100 percent for 2% this. Ie’s important.” “Put everything else away. Now we're go “We're doing this for the first time, s0 you all have to be quiet and listen very carefully.” to have some Fur.” Courtney finds that chants work especially well in kindergarten, She'll call out “One, to, three, eyes on me” of “Tootsie rol, lollipop, we were talking, now we stop.” and children chant a response, Rhythmic clap patterns that students have to emulate are also effective. "Although it’s important to make sure that students are attentive before proceed- ing with a new lesson, Gump (1982) warns that waiting 100 long can cause @ loss of ‘momentum. He reminds us that a new activity will often “pull in” nonattending chil- ddren, Gump writes, “Waiting for absolute and universal attention can sometimes lead to unnecessarily extended transition times” (p. 112). Clearly, teachers need to find the happy medium between rushing ahead when students are inattentive and waiting so Tong that momentum is lost. I's a delicate balancing act. Holding Students Accountable During a visit to Ken’s class, we watched as Janice tried to get Monica to stop work- ing on an assignment and do something with her. It wasn’t clear exactly what Janice ‘wanted to do, but Monica’s reaction was unambiguous. “No,” she responded firmly, [want to do this now. I don’t want to do it at recess, I don’t want to do itat lunchtime, and I don’t want to do it for homework. T want to do it now.” Observing this interaction, we thought of Walter Doyle's (1983) comment that students tend to take assignments seriously only when they are held accountable for them. Your own school experiences probably testify to the truth of this statement. Even as adults, it takes @ good deal of self-discipline, maturity, and intrinsic motiva- tion to put your best effort into work that will never be seen by anyone. And elemen- tary students are children. Unless they know that they will bave to account for their performance, itis unlikely that they'll make the best use of class time. Furthermore, students ate unable to make good use of their time if they are confused bout what they're supposed to be doing. Teachers sometimes tell students merely to “get to work” and are immediately bombarded by questions: “Can I use pen?” “Do I have to ‘write down the problems or can T just put the answers?” “Do we have to reduce to lowest terms?" “Can I work on the rug?” When this happens, precious clas time has to be spent clarifying the original instructions. CHAPTER 8 Making the Most of Classroom Time Inordrt ep chien tt tine wisely teachers ms communicate asi ments and requirements clearly and menitor students’ p1 on & Emer, Student progress (Everson & Ener 2002). Before en wrk, for ample sul xin wha ey il doing and wy ow og ep what do wih compte werk wa od wea thy nnd ow oe th penn eta Yu ae ned ne : ar familiar ith you work tnd for example, wat Kno barrio, hte ey hl png, how om ag and erasures are allowc fter giving instructions, it’s a ‘ic ' stents explain what hey wl be ding in their own Wows Simply ashing "Dees oo understand?” seldom yields useful information, —. ring one visi to Gameta'sclasroom, we watched her explain to her that hey wee pongo rea about thee of Main iter King i nen we summaries She nid th wnnas sha be bet Sng oy be Ios inporant iets rover, sessed ht thy nd be en he {erat pn tenon ry Tepes ae oe eS nnn ee pe nang ee eee reader. (Garnet ‘opens the reader and reads a few paragraphs, The children leary sy ia teeraraamrety ces an 'n his story? What ddI just read? (Children raise ther hands, Garmeta calls om ind Ter ere oon pereaeep pete tienen anes prepen Sa lage acento eae your partner, and then you're writing it down in your oun words go Wing instructions and work assignments onthe boar o prov cues can fen be elf Sone staen wi leaning bls cana ence ua I of mals cht wh on pts of pager pons ty and Books cas eed oon communicate whi en tin ihe er oy young che, ed tse a ta pasting) especialy ithe steps had to be done it patel der To woke ines ast for tens, sto ony goes tough he ston rly but so plas on : pe moar magnetic cards that list the steps. (See Figure 8.3.) " neem, ey signe re area on he calkbosd when tens eee cassooin nthe ong. Asal char tthe sie rom ne east the mosing wl be ctrl Each eng op sted ye le of ie nove singe lng with sizes an he tie le meng wih Ken After th moting ming, Ken ee he semen wih te cle and checks hat everone knows what odo that moming. On the lege fot eae is the schedule for the afternoon, along with due dates forthe week assignments. Ss192 PART 11 Establishing an Environment for Learning, Garnetta monitors students" progress on a science experiment. Some teachers keep file folders for each child. These contain all of the worksheets dnd assignments for the day. Children complete their work and put it back in the file folders, which are then returned to the teacher’s desk to await checking, Other feach- ts appoint student monitors to collect each assignment. Ifthe monitors alphabetize the papers, it simplifies the task of noting whose work is missing. In some classes, students are assigned numbers, which they put atthe top of every assignment. This snables the monitors to put the work in aumerical order, another way of making it easy to scan assignments. ‘Checking or grading all the work done each day is an arduous task. One student teacher recently wrote about “the looming mountain of paperwork that a teacher must perpetually climb": Sometimes I'm not sure if I'm a teacher or certified [public] accountant! “However, my experience . .. has enabled me to find ways to reckon with the ponderous load. Simple things like color coordinated folders . . . or writing the names of absent students on quiz sheets to keep track of make-up work, are “tricks” that Lam extremely grateful to have been shown along the way: We asked our teachers how they handle the paperwork. Their ideas are listed in the Practical Tips feature. Managing Pullouts as Efficiently as Possible With the movement toward inclusive education, children with special needs are jncreasingly served by special services personnel who are “pulled in” to the general ‘education classroom, Nonetheless, “pullouts” are still common. In Randy's class, for example, students are pulled out of the classroom (o receive gifted and talented edu tation (GATE), occupational therapy, instruction in English as a Second Language CHAPTER 8 Making the Most of Classroom Time ‘Handling Paperwork * Poor oi ert npr cdo eh ye he licen nent fac ete fe Farce thee iene alo apm eae ht ou ae edd i ht ou hve examples of exc ls achicemon ns ae and cee a, nd at 1 She came OF the spnsbily fr epng cor Tetch hem ep tack hom poe Foren hy in cna pape nen spling words tey gt night each week. Even Kings ‘stamp their assignments. oo f When posible, onset in-class ewer roe oH wile sens ar digi a «group w Cale incl worksheets and then : and thn reste tem rdomly fr grading a & ro sae hd hay pth pt oe # Monto eter ccc ica ut ce dens comple clas wrkafet eg xt of math robe aoe ‘but don’t grade them. Grade only quizzes and tests. te 1 Instead of erecting dain every homework npn techec wha sues a eming eames Poe ees 1 Give quizes with questions instead of 25 ify drowning a paper, oe ging to much Pate domn! GBSL), eee sevice, math sept ad lengua and aig inereto, Dain ved as Randy's class dwindled from 20 students to 9 du fe or ing is ie Given al these comings and ( and goings you may sometimes feel mor fe cooler than a ear, urteror, Hay soem a ough hes hoe ‘holes instruction One student easher wrote abou tis problem in he oor 1am 50 frustrated aso this journa en an is journal entry My ids ge pulled ot for so many erent ings ha rary have olf tor vih helo Heo none tah the sj ht al stud’ ae spied fo get? The ke £0 tn thre dss diferentes fo compensatory econ Oe i $05 out ow day a wera diferentes ora one ho oko mss "mom Tiree mre stun ot ee dst fren tines for ied pre iran. Thee quatre of te class goes ot one weak or cho, ban, ind art club. There is NO time in the day, and there is absolutely. isteney indi ately no consistency There i also no simple slo fr i Tm Je slton fr this problem. Al of our teachers ace some exe an al of tem ind string. Te fst pec to ys he put into scheduling. If you can work closely with special services personnel na es pasoanel, You _— =194 PART 11. Establishing an Environment for Learning ay be able to develop a schedule that will minimize the fragmentation and ensure ‘that there are some time periods when you will be able to instruct the whole class or a small group without excluding somebody. For example, it can be helpful to schedule basic skills and ESL at the same time. In this way, a large umber of children can be ‘out of the room simultaneously rather than at different times throughout the whole day. (At Barbara’s school, these special services are now scheduled right before first period—8:00 to 8:40—so that children do not have to be pulled out during the regular Schocl day.) If you have students who require the maximum instruction possible in reading and math, make sure that you don’t schedule your own instruction in these content areas while they are out of the room. On the other hand, if children go to resource room instead of receiving regular class instruction in these areas, then it's a ‘g0od idea to schedule your own literacy and math instruction at chat time. "You will also need to think carefully about the procedures you want to implement ‘to make children’s leaving and reentry as smooth as possible. You might appoint a special “buddy” for each student who is pulled out; buddies are responsible for orient- ing the students upon their return to the regular classroom. It can also help to have & speci folder or box for each child who is pulled out so that you don’t forget to put aside assignments or materials for children Who are out of the room. CONCLUDING COMMENTS ‘Tracy Kidder’s book, Amiong Schoolchildren (1989), describes one year in the life of Chris Zajac, an elementary teacher who's feisty, demanding, blunt, fair, funny, and hard-working. At the very end of the book, Kidder describes Chris's thoughts on the last day of school, Although she is convinced that she belongs “among schoolchil- ‘Chris laments the fact that she hadn’t been able to help all her students—at least ‘Again this year, some had needed more help than she could provide. There were ‘many problems that she hadnt solved. But it wasn’t for lack of trying. She hada’ sven up. She had runout of time, Like Chris, we all run out of time. The end of the year comes much too quickly, and some children's needs are much too great. Hopefully, the concepts and guidelines pre- sented in this chapter will help you to make good use ofthe limited time you have. Leen eee EEE SUMMARY In this chapter, we discussed time as a precious resource, First, we looked at the amount of ‘choo time that is aetelly available for teaching and learning. Then we described four state- pies fr ineeasing students" productive learning time. We reviewed research by Kounin dem- “onstating that activity flow plays & greater role in classroom order than specific techniques that eachers use to handle misbehavior. We stressed the importance of minimizing transition times, We outlined way’ to hold students accountable and helping them to use ther time wisely FFinaly, we talked about ways to cope with the managerial nightmare created by pullout. CHAPTER 8 Making the Most of Classroom Time 195 ‘Types of Time 1% ‘Total time: The time the state mandates that school bein session "© Attended time: The time students are actualy in school. "= Available time: The time remaining after activities such as lunch, recess, an ‘val s hy ress, and assemblies are Instructional ime: The time that is actually used for instruction. Engaged time: The ime a student spends working attentively on academic tasks, Productive time: The amount of engaged tine ding which ens are doi ‘meaningful and appropriate. eae How to Increase Hours for Leaning 1 Minin stv fow by viding ip-opring Sirabund events, Overdvcing penta, 1 Minimise stn sine by Defining boundaries oesons Preparing stent or nse Esabishing rots, Hold stds acount by Communicating signet and requirements lea, Montorng sta” progress Enablihing ons fr enletng and checking clssyvk an bane ‘= Manage pullouts as efficiently as possible: “ oe “hy she pio ching ate a schedule showing pers of time when various students ar preset a the whole class is together. ee Exabinh proces frsmoet trnsons when stents eum oe aso. By using tine wily, you can maxinize opportune fo , is fr ening an minimize dspion ior som, ht ow ch te ig tn eth ond ape i your oom now mh eigenen by sey an ea wks Be ae atthe hous aval orinsracton avi for than ey it pp ACTIVITIES FOR SKILL BUILDING. AND REFLECTION In Class 1 Reale owing ante nl ep if far ht re he ty ow af the lesson. Once you have died te problems explain how you Wo them if yon were he ache pomieas celia ton yeavouli ord ‘Mrs. P. waits while her second-grade students take out their packs of ls take out their packs of cardboard fraction pieces to begin the math lesson, When most of the children have placed the packs on their ‘desks, she begins to remind the class of the work they didn fractions te previous day. As she explains the tasks they are about to do, she notices that Jack does’ have his circles,196 PART 11 Establishing an Environment for Learning “Jack, where are your circles?” don't know.” is the third time you don’t have your circles. You didn’t have them last week, and you ha to say in at recess one day and you also los fee me. Now go write yourname tn the board while I see if Thave an extra pack for you to use.” Mrs P goes tothe supply closet and pulls uta pack of ration crles for Jack. She then instructs the class to place the pack of shapes on the top left side of thei desks. “Now {ake out the blve circle and two red pieces. Place the red pieces onthe blue csc.” “The children do so. Mrs. then directs them to take out two remaining red pieces and place them on the blue circle “one a a time, “How many red pieces did you use to cover the blue circle?” ‘The class responds, “Four.” “And what is one piece called?” ““One-fourth.”| “Did [hear the back table? I want everyone to repeat it with strong voices!” “ONE-FOURTH! ‘Excellent, Now what are to pieces called?” “Two-fourths.” “tet didn’t hear everyone. Let's hear Rhonda's table. (Rhonda's table responds.) OK, now about Shakia's table? (They respond.) And now Reggie's table. Good.” ‘As she passes Rob's desk, she notices a pink slip of paper. "Clas, 1 almost forpot “Those children who have permission forms forthe 200 trip need to give them to me now, so can get them tothe office” ‘Children proceed to hunt through their desks. Several ask permission to go get their ‘ook bags, Once alte slips recollected, Mrs, P. returns tothe lesson and goes ont talk aaa hinds, At the completion ofthis activity, Mrs. P.direts the students to put away the fraction pieces and to take out their spelling books. “OK, children, tum to page 37 in your spellers and let's review the words fo this week, Tanya, please read the fist word and use it ina sentence.” “As Tanya begins, Mes. P. interrupts: “T'm sorry, Tanya, but I just realized that forgot to tell you all what the math homework is, Everyone, take ont your assignment pads and (ote down the assignment as I write ton the board.” She takes apiece of chalk and writes, “Math—page 25, even problems only.” The children copy the assignment. Mrs. P, scans tee teon’ te make sure everyone bas written the assignment. When all the children are ‘Fenech direts them to retura to their spellers. “Allright, now where were we? Tanya, sou were doing aumber one." When Tanya finishes, Mrs. P. has the clas sell the wort ae ted and then moves on fo the next word. The clas is on the fourth word when the bell rings for lunch ‘Oh my, I don't know where the time went, OK, boys and gis, get ready for Tanch ‘We'll continue with spelling when you get back. On Your Own 1. Observe an elementary class for one complete class period, carefully noting how much of the prio i actelly used fr instructional purposes. For example, e's suppose you clect (ee Roorve a 50-minute mathematics lesson. While you are observing, you note that the ‘Granve minutes of the period are spent checking to see who does and who does not have th homework (a eerieal job). Then inthe middle ofthe period, the teacher asks students {o get into groups of fou, and moving into groups takes up anther fve minutes, Next an CHAPTER 8 Making the Most of Classroom Time snvoancement comes on ovr te loudspeaker, and the sense ome oe and he las dicses the amouncement ines Pally the ether traps Upl iris mes Ps sup cls five minutes before then Hepner tin CnC of 5 mt on ‘Bim onal nevis, leaving onl 32 mime O acta Ines wo teachers boat 1 bot holies nd proce erin acs. res wih respect pllot nse Do thy ree stents who te lle eto complete Werk th ed Ite ‘endo stan do the werk? How doth erent Stale thy se yar opal ou sina? ns ew ey em cle? Do For Your Portfolio Develop a transition routine for each o Dovaap 2 the following situations. Remember, your goal isto use 1. Beginning ofthe schoo! day Snack time. Retuming from recess, Going tothe restroom. ‘Taking attendance, Collecting papers Leaving at the end ofthe day, FOR FURTHER READING. ee ee ee “Rit Oecoehatterecttnateares “ ice le th tes M, ~ Laer K. (1995), Best practices for increasing academic. ee ii ie Drie pes rh iis ct or reviews ‘t ieee “atresia sat acre on st enh al aig ae — rene Quarterly, 36(5), 652-682. . ae vel a somereytcmi re ie ee nye and recommendations are outlined. Cee ORGANIZATIONAL RESOURCES National Center on Time and Learning (www timeandlearning.org). Dedicated to redesigning ing ( ing i si ‘and expanding school time to improve opportunites and outcomes fo ll students. 197