Nicole Ricci- Time on Task

Time management seems to be a HUGE, MASSIVE issue that I have been encountering all year. There seems to be never enough time in the day to cover everything that needs covered. I even make daily agendas that my students receive each day as a guide for how the class will go. Some days (very few), we will finish everything on our agenda in 1 day. Other days, it will take 2 days to complete 1 lesson. It all depends on the lesson that is being taught.

When it comes to my classroom, I feel that the reason we get behind certain days is that the skill that is being taught is a hard concept for them to grasp and they lack background knowledge to understand it immediately. If I feel that they aren't comprehending what is being taught, I use outside sources that aren't in the curriculum to further push their understanding. I teach 5th grade reading to 45 students. On the PSSA last year, only 13% of them were proficient. So most times I need to do more than just the curriculum to help my students. In knowing my students, I know that the more practice they get, the better they become and the more confident they are when taking their test.

When it comes to the school and district, I am finding that I am always frantically trying to get the Unit tests done on time. The problem with setting a time limit on the Unit tests is that if I need to spend more time on a particular lesson or module, the district and school don't account for that. Also, in doing the 4sights, that too has pushed me further behind in terms of teaching the curriculum.

I feel that a way to solve these issues is to not set time limits on when unit tests are due. Every class/student learns differently so I believe its unrealistic to say that every school needs to be done with a unit at the SAME time. It not only puts stress on the teacher, but then we place our stress on the students which in turn back fires on us!!

Interactive Direct Instruction- Stanley

Providing specific feedback to students has been a struggle for me along with time management. I teach 6th, 7th, and 8th grade math to ESL students so it's been a stretch just feeling prepared to teach the content let alone having to adapt it for beginning ESL students. We move slow in class which means there is some time management issues (pacing...etc), but there is student growth. I use warm-ups and homework to ensure students' understanding of the content. I would like to use exit tickets, but it's just another element of planning that I'm not quite ready for at this point teaching this curriculum. As students complete their warm-ups I check their homework and give feedback. I often am able to clear up misconceptions at this point. The warm-up is also designed as a review of recently taught skills so if students are struggling with that I know that they are having difficulty with the content. This tells me I need to work with them in a small group. When students are working in small groups I try to give them roles to make sure that they all participate. I keep these on popsicle sticks and either assign roles or let them choose them randomly. The roles include: reader, look for examples, Ask questions, keep pace. I like to assign as many students as possible to look for examples, this is a huge skill aligned with CC that many students struggle with. If they can reference their own work and apply it to other situations they will be more successful as they move forward in their education.