Time Management
When preparing a lesson plan, I often have difficulties with under- or overestimating the amount of material that I can cover in a class period. Is there any kind of "rule of thumb" for deciding how much time to assign for a particular activity or type of activity?
Assigning time frame on each of the topic for the day helps me organize my class. Having a clock in front of me to refer to facilitates my time management. If there are learners with vast experiences and relevant input, I allow them to share their ideas with some limitations. Return demonstrations are utilized with fun.
I agree with the question and answer. Cover the topic, and allow the class to ask the questions,and then give them a poll question revelent the topic.
Tammy
I like the idea of doing games at the end. It could be a nice review and a good way to end the class. I will have to think of a few games that we could play. This would also help the issue of any classes moving to far ahead of another class.
Thanks
Hi Stephen,
I teach long classes as well (4 until 10:00 p.m.). I keep the pace of the class moving quickly and offer a lot of variety. I use the last part of the class when the students are very tired to play games for review. The games bring energy to the class and gets the students ramped up. The time goes very fast and the students leave with a good review of the class content while getting to be a bit competitive with each other.
Gary
Any advise for a very long class? I tend to use any extra time as review.
I like this... thank you. I find that some classes just take so much more time to teach the same information.
Hi Mary,
You are right about the challenge of completing certain segments of the course and not knowing how long they are going to take. There are so many variables that come into play that lesson planning is a guess at best. After teaching the course a time or two you do start to get a feel for time and then you can make changes as needed based upon the dynamics of the current group of students. This will give you a lot more comfort as you work through the course.
Gary
My experience with this is that students are aware of the fact that I didn't get through all the material I planned for the day, then they feel frustrated, as though they are missing out on important information (which I would argue is true-- it's ALL important :-)). But, truly, from class to class, it is almost impossible for me to predict how long it will take to cover material. There seems to be so much individual variation in competency and interactiveness among my students.
Hi Ernest,
Thanks for sharing your insight on this. The beauty of being an experienced teacher is that you do have a large bag of tricks from which you can pull when you need to. The key is make all of this happen in a seamless flow of instruction.
Gary
Here's the rule of thumb for which you might be seeking: always prepare more material than you are able to cover, prioritize it so that you are certain you cover the major themes, concepts, and constructs; carry over any minor components to the next lesson where they are likely to once again be ranked rather low on the priority cut-list. It may be that some of those minor components are never used, but you have them if you suddenly find yourself at the end of your learning activities before the bell sounds. Although, I don't like to think of what we do as requiring a bag of tricks, the low priority components tend to come from that bag.
Hi Daniel,
You are not "out in left field" on time-indexing, it is just not used to often. The reason is many instructors are reactive in their lesson preparation rather than proactive. They see teaching in light of survival each day. Taking the time to really plan out the lessons and them attaching time to them helps to keep them on schedule. I suggest that instructors start to use this format after they have taught a course a couple of times and get comfortable with teaching and the content. Time-indexing also gives the instructor the opportunity to be flexible when needed so it is a win win for everyone.
Gary
In order to keep time managed, one of my techniques is to time-index my lesson plans. This has been especially important for me because otherwise, time can easily get away from me, especially as I must frequently respond to questions in real time. This has helped me avoid losing control of class time by giving me a target for when to move on to the next topic. It's also helping me understand what kinds of topics my students indeed find difficult, versus what they might or "ought" to find so according to educational theory.
Is time-indexing of lesson plans a standard technique or am I "out in left field" for this one?
This is true, experience is the only way we can determine Time Management. Utilize our peers advice and learn from experience.
Hi Kamen,
It is always better to have too much time rather than too little in your planning. That way if you do have some extra time at the end of the class you can use it just as you indicated. My students look forward to this time because they know they get to work in groups or review through games course content.
Gary
Well, I will also agree that experience is the key word here, but perfect timing is difficult to achieve anyway. What is the level of interest in class is important as well since it differs from class to class. I personally don’t like leaving things unfinished and prefer to plan extra time and in case I have 10-15 minutes left in the end, I can always use them for some group activities, or to discuss some old topic and see what has been retained and to remind some key points again, etc.
Although experience is a big factor when it comes to class activities, I also like to have a run-through with others. Since it is a college class, friends and other teachers will not be bored with the subject and will be willing to help you out. Getting a feel for how long it takes in your run-through should be essentially the same in your class. I also like to take into consideration the students in the class. Already knowing that a class is talkitive or non-talkitive helps in estimating times as well.
Hi Virginia,
Good question tough to answer. Experience is the best way to determine the time frame for presenting content. Though I have found that with one class a topic that takes about 15 minutes may take an hour with another due to the experience of the students or the questions they ask. I use the 3 for 15 rule when I introduce new content. Three major points in 15 minutes. I don't go any longer than about 15 minutes with a topic before I stop have have a Q&A session, activity or group work. This is because the attention span of students is around 15-18 minutes.
Gary
