Instructional Time?

Time is the most important commodity teachers control. Think about it. We don’t choose our clientele; we are not in control of our budgets; and, though in many cases choosing resources is somewhat within our control, this is nowhere as important as those moments students are in our rooms. Not even close.  

Re-imagining how time is used in the classroom and the teacher’s role in that room is fundamental to more effective instruction, according to the Expeditionary Learning’s Transformational Literacy. What does this look like?

Their design is really quite simple (check out and comment on their graphic: EL’s Read, Write, Speak, Think Graphic). In their model, daily instruction is centered on examination of a “Worthy Text,” and students are provided a chance to “read about it, think about, talk about it, write about.” “Worthy Text” is basically defined as one that is complex and relevant.

Now, is this really a re-imagining of how classroom time is spent? For many teachers, probably not; for others - definitely.

Of course, anyone in a school can find this out by walking through the building at any given time - what are students doing? I do this regularly in secondary schools throughout my district. It is part of my job.

And in truth, what struck me most when I began doing this was how infrequently I actually saw students read or write - even in ELA classrooms! According to Mike Schmoker in Focus (2011),  “... in the United States, instead of reading and writing, … students spent their time preparing for multiple-choice tests or working on ‘projects’ where students were instructed to do things like ‘glue this to this poster for an hour.’"

Sure, I saw some of that - test prep and projects gone awry. And as a teacher, I facilitated some of that. But what I witnessed more than anything was students engaged in vocabulary instruction, vocabulary activities, grammar lessons, and grammar activities, generally out of context from any text study. Is it the tangibility of these tasks that makes them so appealing? Is it because the abused becomes the abuser?

I’m not sure, but I know in my vision of classrooms, the time is spent differently. Students read with pencil in hand marking for questions, reactions, connections to a learning target. They discuss their thinking and confusion with their peers and their teachers. They revisit the text -  thinking, scratching ideas, and then they explain their thinking in some type of writing that actually means something to them and to their intended audience. Through all of this they dig into words - vocabulary, and seek to understand how to communicate effectively and efficiently, which is really the entire purpose for grammar instruction.

They do this because they are in school, but also because they understand that they are growing as learners - they can see this when they compare their initial work with current work, and because their work has meaning - a solution to a problem, an opinion on a controversial topic, an epiphany (I know, striking high for some middle schoolers!).

And this is the other thing Ron Berger and the other EL authors note as fundamental for transformational teaching and learning, that teachers must raise “their vision of the capacity of students for high-level work.”

So, if this is not the reality for classrooms - for students, should it be? If so, how do we make it happen?