Time is most often cited as
the biggest obstacle to meaningful innovation and change in school.
“Teachers have been hired,
trained, labeled, organized, and evaluated by how well they control their time,
their classroom, and their subject. A change to the daily schedule is a threat
to who and what they are as teachers.”
How has time manifested itself as an obstacle in your school system?
How has time manifested itself as an obstacle in your school system?
One thing that immediately comes to mind is the struggle schools have had implementing MTSS, if there is not a structure in place to allow teachers to have a shared time to intervene with students, the smaller groupings necessary, with as many students as need them, would be nearly impossible. I've seen principal's eliminate some of these time obstacles as well, by setting instructional priorities and making thoughtful decisions in creating the master schedule. Things like providing joint planning times for grade level or department teams with at least one weekly designated to reviewing student data..
ReplyDeleteI agree scheduling MTSS is a constant struggle. It seems what time works for the teachers do not work for others and vice versa. My principle has planned a thoughtful schedule yet it seems the teachers always want to change it for some reason. That is what causes the confusion.
DeleteI feel that for our district MTSS has been pretty smooth with the kindergarten team. The time is not a issue. It is always the same time however if you are going to be gone then it can be rearranged. For the most part it is not a issue. I feel that with the Kindergarten team in our district this is pretty important to them to show progress and to have intervention in order to work with the groups.
DeleteAnother issue on time is start times for schools. We are seriously looking into having two different start times next year. One for students who opt to continue with tradition, and an hour later start for students that need it. Research shows adolescent’s brains function better later in the day. Allowing students an option would encourage them to choose their best learning time. Of course, athletes will probably still have to come early due to sports practices, and students that work jobs into later hours at night may need to opt for the later start.
ReplyDeleteIn my research for a class project, I found a survey by Leonard & Leonard (1995) of principals in North Louisiana, they all cited time as the biggest deterrent to being able to provide teachers time to collaborate and make changes in their buildings.
Leonard, L., & Leonard, P. (2005). Achieving professional community in schools: The administrator challenge. Planning and Changing 36(1-2), 23-49. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ737641.pdf
I've read a few scientific articles about changing school start times. I'm pleasantly surprised that your district is looking into it. There are both positive and negative views on the logistics of later start times- parent's work schedules, school practices, etc. I'm anxious to find out what your district does.
DeleteThere have been several recent article about starting school later for developing brains to work at their optimum levels. I'm curious as to what the district will do also. Stepping out of the box is always hard but we seem to be able to do it for the most part and be successful so I hope we try it.
DeleteThat is interesting I had never heard of having different start times. I do think that kids work different at different times of the day. By the afternoon I am getting exhausted from using my brain all day.
DeleteWith the implementation of MTSS and now are school is also talking about adopting Guided Reading my fear is we will sink. I look for ways to change if it is for the betterment of our students, but at this point we are being micro managed and it is a hindrance to them versus a help. If we are to truly be helping our students to learn the skills they need to be successful adults in life we need to manage our time according to THEIR needs. Not the needs of the hands on a clock!
ReplyDeleteWe have Guided Reading at our school. I have found that it works okay for some of the students I serve, some of the time. So I just do a combination of that and other things. There is something to be said for the structure of it but it is also a very intense program.
DeleteI believe for the students I serve it is just too much time. The block is 90mins. The 1st/2nd graders really struggle with 30mins sections when they have to be in the classroom.
I agree with the 90 minutes being a long time for children to be engaged. They need some brain breaks or the activity(ies) need to be fun so they don't know they are learning. This is where centers would be good to use. There is a period of whole group and a period of centers. The teacher then pulls students to work with in small group at their instructional level.
DeleteAmy Ricker.. I like your zero hour concept for having students work at their own pace. That could work for some of those SPED students that are working hard to close the achievement gap that they are dealing with. I have a few students that could benefit from that because they're always waiting around for the other students that are behind them but learning the same concept. They tend to get bored and can get easily off task when I working with the students that are needing the extra assistance.
DeleteI have really seen the issue of time manifest itself as schools are implementing MTSS. It where do you carve out the time to do intervention groups. I really think schools have been stuck on a 8-4 and 9 months of the year for far too long. I like the idea of year round school (with longer periodic breaks) and more flexible day schedules. I just don't know how we implement it. One thing that would have to change is the whole concept of Carnegie units based on number of seat hours. Until that changes I think flexibility is scheduling is limited.
ReplyDeleteI know there are some schools in the US that do a year round school approach. I know of one in Parker, CO and I think there are some in California. I thought it would be interesting to work at one of those schools to see how they do that. I think that would work better on teacher moral due to the longer breaks. The teachers get a little time to relax and then by the end of the month be ready to come back and start teaching again. I would like how they form their days with the school. I also thought about doing more center time work for the students to be involved in mastering skills and cooperating with each other. Then the teacher could do small group instruction. There would be time to teach whole group but the majority of the time would be the students being involved in center group work or individual group. I know this would take time to implement but I think worth it in the end. Each student is getting more individualized instruction. The special education teachers would then be able to implement a center and/ or work a center or be able to pull out students easier as you would only have to revolve around the teacher lead small group instruction.
DeleteWhen I first started teaching, I taught at a school with a year round calendar. There were things that I loved about that calendar...things that I didn't. What was nice is that we went between 7 and 9 weeks on and then 2 weeks off. It worked great for teachers and students because the breaks came at just the right time. They were long enough that you felt like you had a vacation, but short enough that students didn't lose a lot of education. What was super hard for the kids is that they had to go to school until the last Friday in June. ALL of their neighborhood friends were out of school, so it made it tough for them. Educationally, I loved that they students didn't have enough of a "summer break" that they lost a lot of information. We didn't have to start over as much in August, even with the lower kiddos. Our daily schedule ran much the same as every other school...we started at 8:00 and ended at 3:30. The year round calendar worked for a very long time. :)
DeleteNot enough true collaboration between teachers in and across grade levels. So much time is wasted as teachers build, plan and implement projects, activities and lessons on their own.
ReplyDeleteMy school has mapped their math and LA curriculum but I don't see the fluid movement.
I could see how not having enough collaboration time could be an issue. I would think that having sufficient time to plan and collaborate with each grade level team for teachers who work with multiple grade levels could also be an issue.
DeleteI think the biggest issue on time is where to carve out the time. We have set aside time for interventions and discipline (math, reading, science, social studies) meetings, but there is no good time for SPED to meet with these groups. Even other disciplines really don't have time to meet to collaborate. It makes it hard to have collaboration between disciplines. I think that we need to find a more flexible system to that groups can meet and work together.
ReplyDeleteI liked in the book the one school that had one or three weeks (can't remember) with one teacher for an intensive class that involved the community. This way the teachers are able to collaborate at times and the teachers not collaborating can watch the students. The students are doing self directed learning and projects while the teachers guide and collaborate. That would be interesting to see. Sounds a little like a Montessori type classroom for older students. This would work for getting different disciplines together to collaborate.
DeleteI see the biggest deterrent to time is the shift to reading and math blocks. These blocks are suppose to be uninterrupted time devoted to either reading or math. This limits pull out time for intervention for special education and speech services. Holcomb has a time blocked out for each grade that is for MTSS. This is where the team teachers split their classes to send to a particular team teacher for the level they are at. The teachers then teach reading or math at those students' levels. I think this is an awesome use of time and a way to meet the needs of each student. Special education students can go to the interrelated teacher and the ESL students can go to the ESL teacher for instruction. While the students' needs are getting met, there is limited time for the teachers to meet and collaborate. There is one day a week that a grade level team get to get together for 1 hr to discuss the students at the various levels of MTSS. I think this is a step in the right direction. They are to use the time to analyze the results of different programs progress monitoring and where to go from there. The trick there is to make the most of that time and plan on what to do next. The challenge I see as an itinerant teacher is finding time to pull out my students so it doesn't interfer with time periods that are important for the students to be in with their peers.
ReplyDeleteOne instance involved students who were advanced in Math. These students had the opportunity to take Algebra I during 7th grade at the middle school. When they got to 8th grade, then the students walked over to the high school for Geometry. The HS ran a 7 period schedule, and the MS ran an 8 period schedule. The school made it work, but teachers and students were frustrated by the amount of time they missed from other classes (leaving early from a class or arriving late) so they could attend an advanced Math class at the high school.
ReplyDeleteCoordinating time between two buildings is very difficult. I worked in a district where I worked in two different buildings....the clocks were never synched. One of our para's tried to work in both buildings and the timing issue was a big one.
DeleteFinding time for MTSS has been the issue in my district as well. I feel my district gives ample time for collaborating with grade level as we have been doing PLC for many years. My struggle is the teachers giving me time to pull my students for services. My school also has the 90 min blocked reading and math, which makes it difficult sometimes to schedule students for services. One grade level in my district is doing MTSS after school and expecting students to stay for 30 minutes.
ReplyDeleteTime is a very big obstacle in my school. It seems as if every day I run out of time and have to end a lesson at a less-than-ideal stopping point. Several of the teachers that I work with use a curriculum that works best in 50 minute blocks. I believe that many of them wouldn't know what to do if they were given more time to teach. I feel very lucky that, as a special educator, I can slow down, pause or rewind if my students are struggling - I understand that teachers have several standards that they MUST meet by the end of the school year.
ReplyDeleteAssessments also take a lot of time from instruction. When my students took the MAP assessments at the beginning of the school year, I was unable to teach a lesson for a whole week. I lost a WEEK of valuable teaching time. I appreciate the data that the assessments collected, but my school has taken three assessments already this year.
Fifty minute class periods are not ideal. As the author stated - anyone can wing a 50 minute class period with zero preparation time. Our students need longer classes to learn at a deeper level.
Time has proved to be a significant obstacle on many different levels within my school system. Many people have mentioned MTSS and the strain on time it has had. For me, time is a huge obstacle in the form of scheduling. I work with several students with diverse needs who belong to separate classrooms. Along with this, our entire school has math and reading at the same time during the day which makes it very difficult to provide in-class support with limited para professionals in the building. Due to the accountability for student performance focusing on reading, writing, and math there has been a cut in focus for art, social studies, and science within our school system. Many teachers try to incorporate these areas along with their daily instruction but have very little, to no, time dedicated to these specific content areas. Outside of the general education classroom, many students receive extra supports, or services. We have students who work with interrelated pull out, speech and language pull out, ESL pull out, and other specialist pull outs. We also have some students receiving multiple services and miss a lot of classroom time. This crunch for time is everywhere, not just in school systems.
ReplyDeleteWhen ever we are presented with a new technique or technology to try in our classrooms the most common feedback I hear is "when am I supposed to find time to learn this myself before I bring it into my classroom?" I agree with the author, when it becomes a priority we will find the time. Until then I wonder, if the reason we are not moving forward with innovations that better our classrooms is because it is not a priority yet? Tough question! Fortunately my principal does whatever he can to give his teachers find the time for collaboration, he understands how important it is. We also get 2 paid days in the summer to work on the next school years curriculum in our departments. But not all teachers take advantage of that, again- priorities!
ReplyDeleteCarol-
DeleteI totally agree with you about being able to find/make the time if the task is considered a priority. I don’t just see this in the school setting either, but in my own personal life. I’m always thinking that there aren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish everything I need to, but despite this, somehow I’ve managed to keep up with episodes of ‘The Voice.’ Funny how that works ;-) I guess I just need to quit DVRing it, and then the problem would take care of itself, haha!
It is very difficult to consult with all educators/administrators when you are in several different buildings and districts depending on the day. I went through a training several years ago about a "coaching" model that we provide to early childhood students eitiher in the home or in a preschool classroom. We were taught that spending time up front to "coach" or educate/collaborate with parents/teachers would pay dividends in the end..and I truly believe it. If we can get parents, teachers, support staff, etc all in agreement and they all "buy in" to what's best for that child, we have seen amazing results! It is HARD to MAKE the time but I have found it is soooo worth it! I do agree with you Deanna....it is hard to find time to pull kids for services. The teachers push for our help (and so thankful they do! ) but then they can barely let them go for an hour a week!
ReplyDeleteEducation seems to have become more about crunching everything in and less about making sure things are done correctly. I know some have proposed longer school periods and less emphasis on extra-curriculars, but in our culture it is hard to break away from the notion that children are entitled to sports and music. I think that those are very important components of a successful life, but after elementary school are the extra-curriculars as important as the specific fields they are learning? Would more time in the day be more conducive for a position like yours? Or do you think you would still face the same issues?
DeleteTime....our school is on a block schedule which is not a good thing for students on my roster....The other issue I see, especially with junior high students is that 90 minutes of seat time is too long. Even when teachers try to break that up a bit. When I am the inclusion person for Gen Ed classes, I often find myself ready for a change after 45 minutes or so. It seems that we give students too little time to move around or be out in the fresh air. I agree with a previous poster that it is hard as a SPED teacher to find time to meet with the math, English, etc disciplines as their time together is filled.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the 4 day school week also causes concerns with student learning. At no point in time am I pointing fingers or putting down any school district I work with, but the differences between the 3 are pretty significant from what I've witnessed. One district on the 4 day week seems to have very loose expectations and kind of lower grade level expectations (at least at the younger grades) where there is a class of students that I see that absolutely needs 5 days of educational opportunity as they are significantly lower than the classes in the other 2 districts that I see, both emotionally and educationally. AGAIN I'm not judging just stating my opinion. So time in that situation would benefit the students by getting them closer to grade level in all areas instead of 1-2 grades levels below. If the district would use the day at the end (or beginning)of the week for grade level interventions/discussions I truly believe it would benefit the students at the lower grades. Plus if there were discussions between grades, students could be accelerated or remediated on a particular day therefore opening up the possibility of our first question on this blog of how fast our world is changing and how schools need to change our approaches.
ReplyDeleteI would say the 2 biggest ways time has been manifested as an obstacle in my districts has been through the implementation of MTSS and also teachers letting students out of their classes to receive other support services. Overall, I think most of my districts have made it through the MTSS scheduling phase pretty okay (It was ROUGH in the beginning though), although I still see instances of time not being utilized in the best interest of the students, but what’s most convenient for a select few teachers. Regarding pullout times for students, I understand that if you work in special education, you kind of just have to roll with it regarding when you get to see kids. However, I don’t feel like the support services being provided to our kiddos are any less important than what they’re receiving in a regular education classroom. Although, I’ve also had a classroom teacher basically tell me the exact opposite, sooooo… Up for debate I guess ;-)
ReplyDeleteI feel that time is a factor in most schools. When do I find the time to do intervention and plan for intervention groups, when do I find the time to target struggling students, when do I find the time to teach the things I feel are important, when do I have the time to work one on one with a student which is requested by SAT's and when can I just be a teacher and not have to worry about the worlds guidelines, called Common Core, of what they think I should teach? These are the things that I feel teachers feel everyday and time is always something to look at. Everything takes time in order for the students to be successful and excel in the grade levels. The focus is about time and time constraints. In SAT's the goal is what I am going to do and in 6 weeks how am I going to show this student made gains, It is all about time and using the time to get students at a level of learning for that grade level. It is not allowing for students who learn slower paced to learn because time says that they have to move on, It is not allowing students who learn faster to be challenged, or the students who are in the middle to learn because time says this is what is to be taught for how long and go on with a new skill. I feel that there is enough time in the day to reach all the students that need to be reached.
ReplyDeleteTiming is everything in this school district, and there never seems to be enough of it. What is most frustrating, in my opinion, is that all of the classes are scheduled at the same time... no matter the grade level. All English and Math classes are held at the same time of day. This makes it difficult for pull out. Instead of giving the individual attention each student needs and deserves, my paras and I are buzzing around the room to ensure that 8 children on 8 separate lessons are learning and understanding what they are doing. While this is frustrating for me, I can't even imagine how the kids are doing it. It's organized chaos at best.
ReplyDeleteTime is a huge obstacle for change in our district. Our MTSS team really wants to implement a designated math intervention block but are facing a lot of resistance because of time. No one can figure out how to give up any more time for intervention. The classroom teachers have so much on their plates, I can totally see their side of things. Everyone wants kids to be on level and up to speed on everything; however, no one is willing to give up any classroom time to make it happen. Even when trying to schedule my SpEd time, I run into teachers that don't want to give up any of their classroom time even for IEP needs. I think it is definitely a difficult topic; however, I think that with some creative thinking, things could work themselves out as far as time is concerned.
ReplyDelete