One of the things that has consistently come up as a problem for all educators as we discuss issues in this class is the amount of time we have each day, and the sheer amount of curriculum we must cover (both formal and informal curriculum). Hey teacher, today I want you to teach (potentially)math, science, social studies, reading, grammar, writing, and maybe a foreign language (just for good measure). Then, in the few minutes you have during a planning period (or on your own time) please do the following: carefully design integrated lesson plans that match up with local, state, and national standards, regularly communicate with all of your students' parents, meet with other teachers and faculty members to discuss student issues, review files, fill out paperwork, design assessments, prepare for IEPs and 504s, clean your room up (it is a mess), eat lunch, and maybe go to the bathroom.
What does this all mean? Well, I think we are headed for a change as a profession, because we are going to need a bigger boat. Never seen Jaws? Watch this clip...
Just like Quint, Chief Brody, and Richard Dreyfus, we don't have a big enough boat. If we can't get everything done in the time we have, maybe we just need more time. There are so many different ways to make more time...go an hour later each day (ugh.), cut out some of our nebulous vacation days (Do your kids ever ask why we have February vacation?), or, and I don't even want to say it, re-think how we handle summer vacation?
If our major stumbling block in doing better things in school is time, don't we just need to make more of it?
By the way...this summer is the 35th anniversary of Jaws. Wow!
Great post! Made me laugh, thinking about Jaws and comparing it to trying to fit everything into a day. WE do have a lot on our plates and it seems like even in the few short years I have been in the profession, more is being added. I always admire when a company or a restaurant knows what they do well and stick to it. Sure there are only four things on the menu, but you better believe that each of them is delicious and never disappoints. I wonder what education would be like if we took on this approach and tried to focus on a few things we do really well instead of spreading ourselves so thin we do nothing to the best of our abilities.
A more limited menu, says Sarah. Actually, a great idea. And an excellent analogy of "a bigger boat". Learning is one of the few things we do where we hold time constant and make our learning tasks fit the time available.
Sarah's suggestion about clarifying what we really want kids to learn is probably where we need to start...but then we need to keep going to decide how we want to use our time. Vacations are sacred and have little to do with learning...and the arbitrary class periods, marking periods, length of the school day, etc....also have little to do with learning.
Great post! Made me laugh, thinking about Jaws and comparing it to trying to fit everything into a day. WE do have a lot on our plates and it seems like even in the few short years I have been in the profession, more is being added.
ReplyDeleteI always admire when a company or a restaurant knows what they do well and stick to it. Sure there are only four things on the menu, but you better believe that each of them is delicious and never disappoints. I wonder what education would be like if we took on this approach and tried to focus on a few things we do really well instead of spreading ourselves so thin we do nothing to the best of our abilities.
A more limited menu, says Sarah. Actually, a great idea. And an excellent analogy of "a bigger boat". Learning is one of the few things we do where we hold time constant and make our learning tasks fit the time available.
ReplyDeleteSarah's suggestion about clarifying what we really want kids to learn is probably where we need to start...but then we need to keep going to decide how we want to use our time. Vacations are sacred and have little to do with learning...and the arbitrary class periods, marking periods, length of the school day, etc....also have little to do with learning.