Managing the Classroom
Managing Time and Routines
Indicator 13 - Minutes of Nonacademic Time UETS 3d.
Effective teachers maximize the time students are engaged in academic tasks related to educational goals of the class. Approximately 80% of class time should be spent pursuing academic activities related to measurable outcomes.
IDEAS/SUGGESTIONS:
- Keep transitions between classroom activities brief and fluid.
- Countdowns
- Songs
- Timer set for one minute
- Bell
- Watch the time and give voice signals
- Avoid time when students are not engaged in academic activity. Non-engagement enhances the potential for misbehavior.
- Confront misbehavior promptly and consistently.
- Manage tardy students at an appropriate time, not during instruction. Wait until students are actively engaged in seatwork before conferring about tardiness.
- Establish specific routines for working and what to do when work is complete to avoid nonacademic situations similar to the following:
- Excessive student socialization
- Lengthy management routines
- Disorderly or disruptive transitions
- Extended disciplinary interruptions
- Attempt to spend 80% or more of class time in academic activities that relate to specifically established educational goals.
- Make "overlapping" - your ability to engage in more than one activity at a time - a management technique that becomes second nature to your preparation and routines. Overlapping helps you begin your class promptly.
- Provide students with a regular activity to complete while you take roll; such as
- A challenging math problem
- Vocabulary words to define
- A topic for journal writing
- A geography question of the day
- Provide an outline of the main points or activities of the day's lesson (Advance Organizer) on the white board or on an overhead/document camera for students to copy as you take care of the roll and other opening activities.
- Put a brainteaser on the board for students to begin immediately upon entering the class.
- Start with a daily quiz about the previous day's assignment when the late bell sounds. Take roll while the students work.
- Ask open-ended questions (who, what, when, where, why and how) at the bell for students to make notes about.
- Use the time available at the end of class for productive activities:
- Review important information presented in the lesson during the last 5 minutes of class.
- Grab student attention about tomorrow's activities during the last five minutes of class.
- Provide time for students to summarize the day's lesson as you work with individual students at the close of class.
- Avoid telling students that they can chat with their friends until the bell rings.