I read You Only Have So Much Time this
month. This article made me realize that I could do more with the time I have
by keeping things simple and making the best out of each minute. Every week I’m
constantly trying to find all things for my students to do and this article
reminded me to keep it simple. One major take away I got from this is use
transitional periods as teaching times. There are many times throughout the day
that I could incorporate spelling, phonics, or rhyming words. In my classroom, I could have students line up by calling out a word that rhymes with their name or by holding up a sight word and they have to tell me what the word is before they line up. Another way I could make use of transitional time in my classroom is to have the students count while we change subjects. To help my
students with their high frequency words I am going to use the idea of having a
mystery word for each day. I feel like the time in the mornings in my classroom are maximized and used efficiently but the afternoon could use some tweaking. In the afternoon after lunch, recess, and specials the momentum in the classroom slows down and everyone becomes a little restless and tired so I'm going to think about ways I can effectively maximize this time. I can’t wait to have reevaluate my schedule and see
how else I can maximize my teaching time to become a better effective teacher.
Yes, I think all of our schedules could use a little re-evaluation time. I think we as teachers have a lot of teachable moments during transitional times that we don't take advantage of. In Pre-k we have a set of teaching cards called "Mighty Minutes" that were created to take advantage of those precious minutes lost during transitional times. They reinforce skills such as rhyming, syllabication, and counting.
ReplyDeleteHi Shaylla,
ReplyDeleteI loved this text too and appreciated the relevant, practical suggestions she provided for reflecting on how we spend our time and challenging us to make the most of what time we do have so that our students are engaged in meaningful reading and writing and thinking. What parts of the reading stood out to you? You mentioned how you wanted to work on using your transitions as teaching time? What would that look like with your first graders? What parts of your day do you feel like time is maximized and used efficiently? Are their any parts of your day where you feel that time is not used as well as it could be? I want to encourage you to continue to revise and tweak the time you have so that it maximizes our students' time engaged in independent reading with support. Sincerely, Dawn
Shaylla, I love this article as well. Making use of every minute of the school day is so important. I encourage you to continue to tweak your schedule and find those all important minutes. The road to high achievement can be a long one in first grade, making each minute you gain an important one.
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