I was a substitute teacher in a pre-k classroom this week and since it was a half-day of school, only the morning class of 22 was in attendance. There was one 20-minute lesson by an ESOL teacher planned and the rest of the time was allocated to PE, lunch and playtime. It was interesting to see how the ESOL teacher allocated her 20 minutes of time. The whole group sat on the carpet and watched the teacher show various school supplies – pencil, eraser, stapler, marker, tape dispenser and glue. As she showed the items, she sang a repetitive sing-a-long phrase and the kids repeated the phrase with her. Then the children broke into 3 small groups. I led one group by showing pictures of the six school supplies and a laminated card with the associated word typed out in big letters. We went over the picture, and matched the word card to it. The kids passed the card and picture around, repeated the associated word after me and we highlighted the first letter of each word such as p for pencil, e for eraser, etc.
I wondered if 20 minutes of learning was enough for this pre-k class of mostly Hispanic students? After the morning greeting on the rug, the students went to PE. Upon their return, the ESOL lesson occurred, then the class chose various play centers for an independent learning time of 20 minutes. After that it took time to wash everyone’s hands before lunch, serve lunch, eat lunch and then pack up and go. It seemed like the para-educator and I spent most of our time getting the students to the next step in their daily routine. It was hurry up, go to PE, hurry up for ESOL, play – go play, then wash your hands, eat, and good-bye.
I began to wonder how does this teacher organize her days and juggle the learning requirements for 22 students in the morning, and 23 new students in the afternoon. Ellen Blackburn Karelitz (1993), states that time management can be very challenging for teachers because there are so many things to do and sometimes the period of time for instruction is choppy and doesn’t have a natural flow or sequence to it. Karelitz said she uses the breaks in the day for snack, lunch, recess and specials – art, music, PE to signal changes in focus or momentum. Karelitz also says it is easy to get into the habit of trying to cover the curriculum at the expense of open-ended time for students to immerse themselves in a project or be reflective during a discussion. Karelitz said her time management skills developed through trial and error, observing other teachers and a lot of study, reflection and evaluation. She also used her intuition many times (pages 23-24).
I am glad to hear that time management skills are sometimes learned by trial and error and intuition. After being in the pre-k class for ½ day session, I can see that managing time is key. I have a better understanding that teachers and students are teaching and learning from each other every day even at the pre-k level and that it is important to manage the flow of time from one subject or activity to another. At the pre-k level, I’ve learned that play time is still paramount and most of the learning does occur during the time for activity centers.
Source:
Karelitz, Ellen Blackburn. 1993. The Author’s Chair and Beyond. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann
Lise,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post on time management in connection to your experience in the 1/2 day classroom. I completely agree with you that time management skills are very much learned from trial and error. In fact, I would add to that by saying that unfortunately, it is something that many teachers must work on year after year. Each year there are countless things outside of our control which alter how we manage the time in our day and the pace of our lessons. New students each year can completely dictate how you manage your class. Curriculum changes seem to constantly alter not only what is being taught, but how much is being taught and when. There have been requirements that literacy blocks be a certain length and math blocks be a certain length, so it can be a challenge to fit everything in. There are also just general scheduling conflicts that we have to overcome all the time. Whether it is heading to specials as you mentioned or meetings or assemblies or any number of things, it is nearly impossible to maintain a consistent schedule and that is why it is so important to work on time management skills!
I get a little disheartened sometimes about the amount of material we have to cover in kindergarten in Montgomery County. While I believe that the students receive wonderful exposure and experiences and gain immensely during the year, I often find that I am not able to do some of the things or special projects or lessons because of all of the other material I have to cover. As you said, the children are always being rushed from one activity or lesson to the next and you have to really be conscientious to take the time to allow them the other experiences that are so important to development.
While it is impossible to really give direct advice on managing your time each day, I found this website (http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4153) from Scholastic to have some helpful tips for teachers. I think one of the most important things is to get your students used to positive transitions and routines in the beginning of the year. It will make the rest of your year go much more smoothly with less instructional time lost. Best of luck! :)