MANAGING CLASSROOM TIME

RESEARCH FINDING:

How  much time students are actively engaged in learning  contri-
butes strongly to their achievement.   The amount of time availa-
ble  for learning is determined by the instructional and  manage-
ment  skills of the teacher and the priorities set by the  school 
administration.

COMMENT:

Teachers  must not only know the subjects they teach,  they  must 
also  be  effective classroom managers.   Studies  of  elementary 
school  teachers have found that the amount of time the  teachers 
actually used for instruction varied between 50 and 90 percent of 
the total school time available to them.

Effective  time managers in the classroom do not  waste  valuable 
minutes on unimportant activities;  they keep their students con-
tinuously  and actively engaged.   Good managers perform the fol-
lowing time-conserving functions:

   . Planning Class Work:  choosing the content to be studied,
     scheduling  time for presentation and study,  and choosing  those 
     instructional activities (such as grouping,  seatwork, or recita-
     tion) best suited to learning the material at hand;

   . Communicating Goals:  setting and conveying expectations
     so students know what they are to do,  what it will take to get a 
     passing grade, and what the consequences of failure will be;

   . Regulating Learning Activities:  sequencing course con-
     tent  so knowledge builds on itself,  pacing instruction so  stu-
     dents are prepared for the next step, monitoring success rates so 
     all  students stay productively engaged regardless of how quickly 
     they learn,  and running an orderly,  academically focused class-
     room that keeps wasted time and misbehavior to a minimum.



When  teachers carry out these functions successfully and supple-
ment them with a well-designed and well-managed program of  home-
work, they can achieve three important goals:

  .	They capture students' attention.
  .	They make the best use of available learning time.
  .	They encourage academic achievement.


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