Too Much Time / Not Enough Time
I have experienced this from class to class in the same day.
Murphy's Law - if you think it will be a huge success, always have a plan B.
Shalika:
Clock watching can (not necessarily is) indicate students are tired, not interested in the material, or feel that last 10-15 is like an athelete's cool down period.
Defining what you think is the cause is the first step, then correcting it. Lab activities or some activity that requires out of their seat moving around will diminish students who may be tired.
Keeping interest and attention is an ongoing challenge, especially for newer teachers. If the the students feel the information is important to them, they'll pay attention. So, make it so it's important to them: a quiz at the end of class, a review of upcoming test material, a discussion that requires they will be participate in. There are some fun end of class activities that can done such as QandA facilitated by the students (class devided in two or more teams - each team comes up with questions to challenge the other teams). This is usually both fun and assists learning course material.
Regards, Barry
Okay now, I have experienced situations in the classroom where there is definetly not enough time to thoroughly go through the class assignments for the assigned day. I am a new instructor with a lot of excitement and knowledge in the field that I teach. Yet, it frustrates me when I see the students noticing the time on the clock, sometimes ten or fifteen minutes before class dismissal. Any suggestions?
Hi Julie:
Perfect. Pacing classes often goes uneventful, but at other times it's like the timing just can't get smoothed out. So, having a series of video such as appears is available if terrific.
Regards, Barry
Barry,
Yes, we have a whole series of surgeries for them to choose from. They love seeing the different services, and we have fun choosing which one to watch.
Hi Julie:
This is a good idea. The only disadvantage is that you really can only use that vedio once per classs. Maybe you have access to a series of related video's that pertain to a number of topics related to your profession.
Regards, Barry
If I have any extra time, I love to pop in a video of what the students will be seeing and doing in the field. It gets them so excited, and it generates a lot of discussion.
Hi Barbara:
Better teachers will always have a "Plan-B" they can introduce if there is extra time. We want to avoid just time fillers, but have something meaningful and related to to the lesson. Depending on how much time is available, getting students into groups, and have them summarize the lesson is one activity. You can also have the groups present their summaries to the class. Another is "Jeopardy", where groups of students will come up with questions that challenge the other team groups.
Regards, Barry
Our classes have time constraints also, and we are not permitted to release students early. I find it important to have several time-filling activities pertinent to material being covered in order to keep students focused. This way you have a better control of the environment. Too much unstructured time contrubutes to potential chaos.
Hi Mary:
Sounds like you've got a busy schedule but als a good handle on it. Good for you! I once heard it sid "there's no such thing as time management, because we all have the same amount of time. It's really self management of the time we're given". Some use it more wisely than others.
Regards, Barry
I agree that Time Management is crucial to getting in all the subject matter needed in the course. I teach from 4 different books and need to complete so many chapters in each plus allow for testing, assignments and workshops. I have a calendar I use for the amount days in each course and make sure that everything I need to cover has been entered in one of those days. It basically is my course at a glance.
Hi Kassy:
You have a rational argument that favors the adult learner. In many institutions, teachers are not allowed to dismiss early (or start later than scheduled) due to financial aid requirements, state disability rules, accreditation expectations, and most prominately, institutional policy. So, in these instances, pacing the course and sequencing instruction to closely match the allotted time is best. Sometimes, there will over/under estimates and teachers will need to be creative in assuring that whatever activities are planned, they are are useful to the lesson, and not a waste of time for all.
Regards, Barry
Frankly, I don't believe in busy work for adult students. If the material has been covered and questions have been answered, dismiss the class and let those who need extra time with the instructor hang around.
Hi Scott:
Time management is important, for the classroom and the workplace. Students don't always seem to be able to relate to school preparing them for work responsibilities, but still, our job is to do what we can to reinforce time management into academic assignments as preparation for graduate workplace readiness.
Regards, Barry
I stress to the students how important time management in the class room and in the real world. If you do not have good time management you are going to struggle in projects and deadlines given to you from your boss
I feel that students need to challange them selves, and whem time is an issue, to ask them how the could be more efficent on thinking about the rest of the day and what is expected of them, and maybe they could use that extra time to start the tasks early
Hi Bruce:
Timing how long classes or specfic topics take is a skill that comes with a combination of experience, planning, curriculum adjustment, and maybe some creative student-teacher engagement.
Regards, Barry
I have a back up plan for every couse I teach.One day you may have 20 students and everything runs very smooth and the next class you have 30 students and the time management is all off. Many more questions as the student enroll is larger and the demos take longer to make sure everyone is understanding there objective to the course.
Hi Sarah:
Thanks for sharing. Application of things that make sense to you from these posts are really the heart and purpose of the lessons - to help make us better instructors.
Regards, Barry
I like this idea and will incoporate. I use to put up all the things we were going to do and the time I had alloted. I might start doing that again.
I use to work with children in a program that they could come and go as they wished so I learned the value of Plan B very early in my career. This idea of a plan B plus my involvement in improvisation helped me learn the art of second guessing. I have always had a plan B and even a plan C. I don't think I have ever resorted to C, knock on wood.
