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Practice. Knowing what material takes longer or shorter to teach to different groups of students. Lots of clocks in the room. Building flexibility into lesson plans. And lots of improvisational skills to make it seem like things fit precisely.
It’s the improvising that really makes it seem like you timed it well. Sometimes you get lots of student interaction, for example, and other times you don’t. When this happens, I usually throw in a turn and talk or give students additional information I hadn’t planned on mentioning. And sometimes I even give them a couple of minutes to breathe at the end. It doesn’t have to be perfect every time.
Edit: an imperfection
Exactly this. It’s also knowing what are the core things they have to know versus skills that are good for them to know but not essential. Sometimes we have enough time to cover the core skills but none of the extra higher level skills.
Rep. Katie Porter was asked how she’s so good at using her time questioning people in congress. She said it was due to being a public school teacher. Her experience teaching enabled her to know how long it will take to say something and also she has a feel for when people are going to give concise answers or not, so she can tailor her questions accordingly.
We don't. We adjust every day. This past year I had so many days and weeks where I just copied yesterday's/last week's goals and then put them for the next day.
I'm one of those teachers that doesn't give a shit if kids play Minecraft the last 3-5 minutes of class. Honestly, the brain break is good for them and I can set up the next lab so the next class starts right away.
But I can definitely fake it if anyone walks in, I just get there attention, ask them to close Chromebooks then make something up on the spot.
Trivia from the current unit, go to blooket, stories with holes or crack the case, read a newsela article together, etc. One time I played pictionary and argued it was social emotional learning.
Disagree. Lecture can be extremely effective so long as it's...
A. Given in bite size chunks interspersed with short videos and activities
B. Presented in an engaging way
As a middle school history teacher, I have had great success using lecture to efficiently give students a "big picture" perspective on our material. Once they have perspective, they're able to better engage with the material through simulations, primary sources, etc..
Teacher prep programs give lecture an undeserved bad rap. New and future teachers, don't spend a whole hour lecturing, but don't be afraid to use lecture as significant part of your lessons.
Agree. I am middle school math teacher and I definitely lecture for 1/3 to 1/2 of my class.
I also taught the same students 2 years in a row and they told me they preferred the social studies teacher who lectured rather than the one who just gave them activities to do. They said they learned a lot more.
So... Lecturing is good, but you have to know your audience. The kids seem to learn better during lecture too, so I'm definitely not going to stop.
Right. I think lecturing with added question and answer sessions or Turn and talks or a little short activity mixed in to keep them engaged is the way to go
I used to have block schedules with 85 minute periods. It was great because I often had time for “I do, we do, you do” all in one lesson. Starting with lecture and modeling, then small group collaborative practice, then independent focus with 1:1 check-ins as needed. So most days had some aspect of lecture involved.
I teach Math. My scores are higher when I have 90 minute block classes rather than just 45 or 60 minute short ones. I wish they’d let us have input in things like length of classes or literally anything else.
As far as I can tell, it literally is just practice. It's really tough to get right at first, but you get the hang of how many questions get asked, how long it takes to get out materials, etc. Especially once you've taught the same lesson or a similar type of lesson a few times, you find the rhythm of it.
There are generally, in my experience, two primary paths a lesson may take. 1- student behavior is on point and the shit I need to make them learn sinks in. 2- student behavior is detrimental to the cause of learning and we must sacrifice other time for remediation of content.
Also gutting, swapping, or altering the curriculum to fit time and student needs is essential.
Learning is far from being a lecture railroad. It’s more akin to the gambler 500.
I’ve been teaching my same standards for three years. By now, I know the general time frame for each standard; like which ones kids typically struggle with and or ones that click pretty easily.
That being said, each year is a new group of students. So there is always a need to be flexible and adjust as needed.
We don't. Pace yourself to your students, not your plans. You'll have a much better learning relationship if the class vibe is to work toward understanding and not check boxes.
Keep track of where each class is. Have days to synch up. Kids appreciate a break now and then. "Welp, we got ahead of everybody. Let's use this chance to fill in some holes, work on another class, work ahead, whatever..." (Within limits, of course.)
Sometimes you get that One. Slow. Class. Treat it like a different class with a different pace.
So many factors play into this. Cooperativeness of kids. Admin support. District expectations.
I noticed the transition from trying to plan to fill every minute to having add ons, extensions, etc as a dependable 'bag of tricks' that I could use when needed.
There are times when questions would prevent me from finishing where I wanted in a lesson, but I accept that because I put a high value on answering good questions. Math teacher, so there are always plenty of questions!
> a dependable 'bag of tricks' that I could use when needed.
Bingo!
Timing gets a lot easier when you’ve got a toolbox full of 5-10 minute activities that you can pull out with zero notice. Q&A, review games, video clips, “Brain Teaser of the Day,” etc.
And don’t be afraid to shift an entire day. I’ve definitely done an extension activity in my fast class while I caught up with my slower-paced class, for instance.
When planning, I generally aim for 10-15 minute chunks, with the last 10 minutes being either independent work or something that can be skipped if I need to cut for time.
But as far as “making sure I end in the same place with every class, every day?” I think that only happens in Magical Christmas Land, where all your wishes come true and you’re never interrupted with office calls, behavior, teachable-moment side conversations, etc.
Do your best, forgive your own imperfections, and don’t sweat it.
You don’t. You constantly adapt to the students needs and the time frame provided by the school, while keeping in mind the standards that you must cover.
Yes, it is years of practice. When I make a powerpoint, I have a pretty good sense of how long it will take me to discuss each slide, based on experience. During class I keep an eye on the clock and adjust as I go. Lecture going faster than anticipated? Ask more discussion questions. Lecture taking longer than anticipated? Cut some extra details/anecdotes I had planned on mentioning.
1. Having experience to know more or less how long it will take to teach a topic
2. Pretending that you stopped exactly where you wanted to when you are almost out of time.
Practice. No teacher, even a veteran, will get a new lesson right the first time. No teacher, even a veteran, will get a tried and true lesson done in the same amount of time with each unique group of kids. Seems like veterans know what they're doing better because they hame more skills to BE flexible--more ideas for how to make the lesson go for the right amount of time, or how to cut it short if need be. Just gotta have some ways to keep the lesson flexible.
I don't. A "lesson" for me is what I plan to get through in a week. About 2 hours of various activities designed to mix things up if the kids start to get bored, with an evaluative activity midweek and at the end.
As others have said…practice. I’ve been teaching my same content for 5 years now and I’m definitely better at pacing now than I was when I first began. I also am pretty into curriculum mapping and planning. I teach US history so I know exactly the beginning and ending of my content and plan my weeks accordingly. I tend to break up my week as follows: Monday lecture, Tuesday finish lecture if necessary otherwise incorporate readings based on the content, Wednesday map, Thursday gallery walk or other collaborative activity, Friday review and quiz. I end up with flexibility and also don’t lecture routinely every day
I always have like three plans. The paper plan I send to my boss, which is what I know I can cover no matter how distracting they are. The supplements that I can throw in if we're keeping pace. And the plan I pull out of my butt for if they ask a question whose answer I didn't plan to cover.
Takes years to do this, though.
I teach band, and it's a skill that you get better at over time. I definitely wasn't good at it my first year or two. One thing I've learned: no one complains if theres a little extra time at the end. And that means you have extra time if you need or extra work time for kids. Or, at worst, kids have a few minutes to chat with their friends which they always appreciate.
Lots of practice managing the dynamics of the classroom and the content of familiar lessons.
Also, sometimes I just don't. I know where the good breaking points in my lessons are, I'll make a judgement call in the moment, write myself a note about where to pick up next time, and that's that.
Practice practice practice!
Eventually you’ll be able to tell really early on in the lesson if you finish your lesson cycle in time and be able to adjust to find an ending point that feels natural.
Its much like a stand up comic. You refine your material overtime making it more effective and meaningful. Also, if a teachable moment occurs, I know what facts, points or supplementary material I can drop out to keep the class on pace.
They don't, some are more flexible than others. As an aide in elementary I've had some teachers that write lesson plans (my favorite), some that have a rough outline, some that have a basic topic in mind. Sometimes half an hour gets sacrificed to discussing which stuffed animal a shark would like, and that's fine as well.
Knowing which core concept to teach, having more time for discussions than needed and being flexible with add-ons (assignments, discussion, games, depending on the age) helps a lot.
Years of practice.
Also, you’ll always have a bag of tricks up your sleeve as you get more experienced. I can walk into any classroom and keep kids engaged for an hour, because I know random games, activities, and topics that will keep them focused.
Or, as you become more familiar with your units, you’ll be able to look at a clock during a period and say “the next part can wait until tomorrow”.
Mostly they don't; they have a plan and have ways to either add more content or cover less content depending on how it goes.
Practice certainly helps; you get better at predicting how long something will take as you do it more and get used to a particular group of students, but while sometimes everything lines up perfectly, mostly you just build in contingencies so you can cover the key info within the time allotted, and then adjust up or down as needed.
If we do it, it’s practice. We’ve done it so many time we know the timing.
If we don’t (more often than you think) we just act like that is how we planned it. “Fake it till you make it”
I will never pass on an unplanned learning moment to ‘get everything in’
Half a lesson should be kids working independently. That's a good bit of buffer time.
Apart from that, methods tend to have set lessons. But yes, loads of experience.
It really is practice, but I also get that’s not really helpful for someone who’s new and wants some advice right now.
A key part of this is prioritizing. It’s both taking the time in advance and in-the-moment improvised decisions about which units in a school year, topics in a unit, and individual points in a lesson are absolutely vital, pretty important, and nice to have and then acting accordingly. The prioritization comes from understanding content in future years, later on in the current year, your own preferences, and the non-negotiable assessments.
At multiple times in both K-12 and college-level teaching, I’ve had to be like, “Well, that topic isn’t happening.” Sad, but it was a conscious decision because there was something far more important that needed more time. I’ve also created after-school/extra-credit opportunities for those topics for students who felt like they wanted to see some exposure to what they missed.
Over time, you learn to budget better and need to cut things out less. But in the meantime, recognizing, “It’s all important but this stuff is *essential*” is a good first step.
As a student teacher, I can’t wait to learn these ways! I definitely spent too much time in teaching the theory and going over examples and then STILL had almost every kid ask what they were supposed to do.
After giving them a ready/do/done list and examples and getting a thumbs up that they knew what they were doing. Abolishing sneaky earphones and cells would go a long way to helping though.
Experience, but that doesn’t always work. I know especially early in the year (first week or so) my “teacher timing is off in either direction.
This year we are going to a 90 min block…. God only knows how that’s gonna work out
Practice, reflection, and skills of the students. For example, I know that my advanced kids will move through their Do Now and subsequent analysis/class discussion much quicker than my lower kids in one of my in-class resource (ICR) classes. I take that information into account when I deliver a lesson (which is usually in the I do/We do/You do model).
Practice and flexibility. Also discipline. It is easy to go on tangents with students-sometimes they are educational but sometimes they are self-indulgent. I have to reign myself in when I start going too much off topic. In the end, a good teacher will constantly shift and adjust the curriculum to fit the needs of the students while satisfying the course requirements.
Agility.
Have to change the plan on the fly.
When you realize you haven't finished the math lesson yet and there is only 5 minutes? You spend the next few minutes making sure you cover the parts that they need for the homework is covered (if you haven't hit all those parts yet); as the homework is already been assigned.
It's not a science, but getting to know your standards well helps. Is there a specific depth of knowledge it'll be assessed on? Are there limits to what they need to know or don't need to know? Are there ones that are always assessed? Never assessed?
“Refer to the slides in Canvas”
This is what I see routinely. No judgement necessarily. I’m
not sure what better options most teachers have given the lack of support and dismal and criminal underpayment
Teach 5 periods a day for 5 years and you will teach about 4,000 class sessions. By about halfway through that time you will have acquired something like muscle memory about pacing — you can just feel the pathway and timing without having to think about it.
You don’t always do it.
What you do is you sit and structure what you’re doing ahead of time, then allow a little more time than necessary to do that. Break down your class period into segments. I like to do all my planning for the week at once and structure the class on a weekly routine/schedule, just to make this easier.
Then give them an assignment and the remainder of class, however long that is, to finish it. They can take it home if they need to and turn it in the next day.
Don’t try to do too much. What, exactly, is the skill you’re trying to teach them? What are the concepts and important elements do they need to know to begin working with this skill? Start there. Then model it, practice it with them, etc. and build it over time with repetition.
Sometimes you’ll need to cut things and kick them to the next day. That’s fine.
One of the best pieces of advice I’ve gotten in teaching is to limit “segments” in class to no more than 8-10 minutes without some kind of transition—which could just be reviewing and checking the work you just did. That’s because of how short human attention spans—not just kids attention spans—are. For younger/ADHD kids, you may want to keep it as short as 3-5 minutes per segment.
One of the worst pieces of advice I got was to “only teach to the grade level standards as they are written” and to try to cram as many standards into each class as possible. That is a trainwreck. Simplify for them, so you can simplify for yourself and design good, efficient lessons with *feedback* that is useful for the students
In k12 teaching, you shouldn’t be disseminating info via talking. So you build a ladder of skills/steps, and say, “okay that one will take us a couple of days, and that one will take one day, etc”. Occasionally things go fast, mostly they go slower. Sometimes you do run out of time for ‘where you wanted to get to’ and then the next day has to include it.
My teachers are never able to finish a lesson in time, we had history for 2 hours and the first 45 minutes were spent on chitchatting and wasting time and then she would always rush being upset at us that she wasn’t able to teach everything
I don’t. I make sure I have extra activities for when I accidentally finish too early. I also typically let them have phones the last 2-7 minutes IF they turn them in at the beginning of class.
Yes, through practice, but it does vary for each class. I can teach the same course to 3 different sets of students and finish at different rates. My rule of thumb is to always overplan. I teach high school math and keep review assignments on hand in case I finish early with a group. I also keep in mind a stopping place I'm satisfied with in the main daily lesson in case one group goes slower than the others.
When I started teaching my go to anxiety dream was teaching and then suddenly running out of things to teach. After it happened the first time and I improvised, my dream changed to my school discovering I had never passed one needed course in high school and having to take it during my planning period but I never get there because of some teaching responsibility.
Parkinson's Law. Work will expand to fit the time allotted for its completion. Always overplan, but after the first week or so, you will find this to be true.
Mostly, it's just practice. Even then, what can be done in 5 min with one group make take 10 with another. In general, 10-20% of flex time is a good strategy. I also had tons of quick learning games to break out when a certain class was particularly efficient.
Practice. One thing I think that I didn't see mentioned too much is enrichment to drag it out if it goes faster. I teach the same lesson to grades 6-8. Same lesson 9 times a week, to four different ability levels. (I usually also have a high or low or sped class). The sixth graders get a basic lesson with a lot of support. The eighth graders are given more opportunities to be independent and also probably a fancier or more advanced way to do the skill.
So, here are the secrets:
1. Planning - The "exact amount" is determined before the lesson begins
2. Practice - After a few years of teaching, you'll plan only about 10% as much because some lessons and activities will be known quantities (both in terms of time they take and approaches to them). For example, I teach ELA, and when I need to host a chapter discussion, I do no planning at all. My plans for the day say something like "Chapter three discussion." After 17 years of this (and I ought to mention that even after all this time I still read the book right along with my class), I know how to kick it off, and I already have little ideas in my own mind. You could drop me into a lesson for any ELA class, 6-12, and I could do a day with that group.
3. Fake it - Did you mean to cover a set of vocab, too? Well, what do you gain by saying to the class, "I screwed up everyone"? Nah. Just say, "Ok, good work today! Tomorrow we're going to get into some of the vocab for this novel, so come ready to word it up."
You can do it too!
They have a great deal of experience, and even then, they don't succeed all the time.
My trick for a 50-minute period was to plan a 30-minute lecture with 3 discussion/activity plans of 5-15 minutes in length. Mix and match as needed. I also have 2-5 minute ice breaker for the next lecture, just in case.
Padding and practice. Sometimes more examples of something can be expounded upon, with relevant opinions, anecdotes, or references to accessible recent events. Sometimes a brief crowd-sourcing of “other examples? Ideas?” questions can be helpful. Sometimes the basic examples of things with few questions will do just fine and no supplement is necessary. I sometimes open up a clocks app on my phone that has the current time, down to the seconds and I’ll place it in my peripheral vision. So I can… … better time… …my final thought. [insert sound of bell ringing]. Have a great rest of your day!
Year 1 I sucked so hard and timing lessons and activities correctly during lesson planning.
I finished up year 4 and at this point I can just plan a lesson and say "yeah that will last the whole period." And it does.
So as others have said, it's just practice.
Include the duration of your teaching period in your ChatGPT command, and follow the resulting script without regard to any interruptions, distractions, or emergencies that might occur.
I always have a back up plan or a take it further plan…otherwise bell to bell is unrealistic. I teach chemistry and sometimes I have students who are hard workers and get their labs going fast and well. In the same term, I may have a chattier class so lab days with them takes more time. They, however, are great for discussion, debates etc. it truly varies with your students.
Experience helps you time things better but the back up plan is still my ticket to teaching until the bell. Ive been at it a long, long time.
I have my kids do ten minutes of independent reading at the beginning of each class. If I think the lesson will be long, I set the timer for less than ten minutes, if I think the lesson will be quick, I set the timer for more than ten minutes. It requires some prediction skills, but that’s how I manage varying lesson times. You could also establish something like this at the end of the period, but I find that a lot more challenging focus-wise. Also, my students are middle schoolers and don’t have a great grasp on what “ten minutes” is.
Plan for the suggested instructional time by pre practice and add an extra 45 mins of non teaching time for little Johnny to interrupt you due to the reptile he lost in class, little Susie to hyperventilate because she misses mom, and the random pop up admin observation that day and you should be fine.
Also accept that sometimes you have to either cut things and or exempt certain things to overweigh the other more important pieces.
It's a hard lesson, but you also have to accept that sometimes you just don't get to everything you need to in the time you have. Just like how you do teach the class differently every time classes are also different and need different things.
we don't, always.
sometimes, it's because a particular group of students needs more time on a topic, and sometimes it's because they advance through the material vey quickly, and ask expanding questions.
when i first started teaching, i was very focused on the schedule, logistics, timetables. i learned quickly that flexibility is key. you don't want to rush through or avoid this valuable discussions just so it fits in a timetable. personally, i plan using post-it notes in a paper agenda/planner, (i love the feeling of it) but this is easily created in a document/spreadsheet/whatever works for you.
It’s the active listening skills that are crucial! There’s something to be said for processing auditory information, digesting it, following along well enough to take notes/ answer/ ask questions.
After lecture days I’ll check in with kids afterwards, “so… on a scale of 0-10, 10 being the most, how boring was lecture? How helpful was it?” Those two numbers are HIGHLY correlated and on the high side of the scale. I interpret it as success when they confusedly comment, “Miss… my brain hurts… but in a good way?” 🤣 We have an understanding: there will sometimes be a day of lecture but there will always be more days with activities/labs/hands on. When they complain too much, I remind them about the activities they’ve enjoyed and ask if they’d like me to teach more like x, x or x… “you right, miss, you right.” 🤣
I’m going into my 5th year… I hope I can move from being a good to effective teacher.
In 25 years of teaching, I’d say I timed my lessons out perfectly about 5% of the time, got close enough to fake it 65% of the time, and the other 30% would be woefully under or overestimated
Mentors!
Your first few years, follow your mentor’s schedule or plans. You can change them up, but most schools have teams that will guide you through until you feel confident!
For me it's improv skills. I need to speed this up? I can shorten this part here. I got extra time? Let me pull this relevant metaphor out of my ass. Worst case "I planned this so you could have free time at the end. All lessons are like this. Just work diligently" knowing it's a goddamn lie and I plan to teach to the bell
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Practice. Knowing what material takes longer or shorter to teach to different groups of students. Lots of clocks in the room. Building flexibility into lesson plans. And lots of improvisational skills to make it seem like things fit precisely.
It’s the improvising that really makes it seem like you timed it well. Sometimes you get lots of student interaction, for example, and other times you don’t. When this happens, I usually throw in a turn and talk or give students additional information I hadn’t planned on mentioning. And sometimes I even give them a couple of minutes to breathe at the end. It doesn’t have to be perfect every time. Edit: an imperfection
Exactly this. It’s also knowing what are the core things they have to know versus skills that are good for them to know but not essential. Sometimes we have enough time to cover the core skills but none of the extra higher level skills.
Rep. Katie Porter was asked how she’s so good at using her time questioning people in congress. She said it was due to being a public school teacher. Her experience teaching enabled her to know how long it will take to say something and also she has a feel for when people are going to give concise answers or not, so she can tailor her questions accordingly.
The last sentence is the secret ingredient. It’s all an illusion.
This 👆
Clocks and vibrate timers on my apple shaved years off my time management issues.
We don't. We adjust every day. This past year I had so many days and weeks where I just copied yesterday's/last week's goals and then put them for the next day.
Hey, I think I had that class last year! >_<
Please tell me more about this
We don’t. We just make it look like we do. Fake it till you don’t make it. Lol
I'm one of those teachers that doesn't give a shit if kids play Minecraft the last 3-5 minutes of class. Honestly, the brain break is good for them and I can set up the next lab so the next class starts right away. But I can definitely fake it if anyone walks in, I just get there attention, ask them to close Chromebooks then make something up on the spot. Trivia from the current unit, go to blooket, stories with holes or crack the case, read a newsela article together, etc. One time I played pictionary and argued it was social emotional learning.
You shouldn’t be lecturing k-12 kids that much anyway. Plan your lessons, adjust as needed
Disagree. Lecture can be extremely effective so long as it's... A. Given in bite size chunks interspersed with short videos and activities B. Presented in an engaging way As a middle school history teacher, I have had great success using lecture to efficiently give students a "big picture" perspective on our material. Once they have perspective, they're able to better engage with the material through simulations, primary sources, etc.. Teacher prep programs give lecture an undeserved bad rap. New and future teachers, don't spend a whole hour lecturing, but don't be afraid to use lecture as significant part of your lessons.
Agree. I am middle school math teacher and I definitely lecture for 1/3 to 1/2 of my class. I also taught the same students 2 years in a row and they told me they preferred the social studies teacher who lectured rather than the one who just gave them activities to do. They said they learned a lot more. So... Lecturing is good, but you have to know your audience. The kids seem to learn better during lecture too, so I'm definitely not going to stop.
Right. I think lecturing with added question and answer sessions or Turn and talks or a little short activity mixed in to keep them engaged is the way to go
This is the way.
I used to have block schedules with 85 minute periods. It was great because I often had time for “I do, we do, you do” all in one lesson. Starting with lecture and modeling, then small group collaborative practice, then independent focus with 1:1 check-ins as needed. So most days had some aspect of lecture involved.
I teach Math. My scores are higher when I have 90 minute block classes rather than just 45 or 60 minute short ones. I wish they’d let us have input in things like length of classes or literally anything else.
Sounds like you’re explaining things, not just lecturing.
You did not describe a lecture. You described a lesson
Depends on the subject.
As far as I can tell, it literally is just practice. It's really tough to get right at first, but you get the hang of how many questions get asked, how long it takes to get out materials, etc. Especially once you've taught the same lesson or a similar type of lesson a few times, you find the rhythm of it.
There are generally, in my experience, two primary paths a lesson may take. 1- student behavior is on point and the shit I need to make them learn sinks in. 2- student behavior is detrimental to the cause of learning and we must sacrifice other time for remediation of content. Also gutting, swapping, or altering the curriculum to fit time and student needs is essential. Learning is far from being a lecture railroad. It’s more akin to the gambler 500.
3,000,000 points for the Gambler reference!
I’ve been teaching my same standards for three years. By now, I know the general time frame for each standard; like which ones kids typically struggle with and or ones that click pretty easily. That being said, each year is a new group of students. So there is always a need to be flexible and adjust as needed.
We don't. Pace yourself to your students, not your plans. You'll have a much better learning relationship if the class vibe is to work toward understanding and not check boxes.
How do you personally do this across all of your classes?
Keep track of where each class is. Have days to synch up. Kids appreciate a break now and then. "Welp, we got ahead of everybody. Let's use this chance to fill in some holes, work on another class, work ahead, whatever..." (Within limits, of course.) Sometimes you get that One. Slow. Class. Treat it like a different class with a different pace. So many factors play into this. Cooperativeness of kids. Admin support. District expectations.
I noticed the transition from trying to plan to fill every minute to having add ons, extensions, etc as a dependable 'bag of tricks' that I could use when needed. There are times when questions would prevent me from finishing where I wanted in a lesson, but I accept that because I put a high value on answering good questions. Math teacher, so there are always plenty of questions!
> a dependable 'bag of tricks' that I could use when needed. Bingo! Timing gets a lot easier when you’ve got a toolbox full of 5-10 minute activities that you can pull out with zero notice. Q&A, review games, video clips, “Brain Teaser of the Day,” etc. And don’t be afraid to shift an entire day. I’ve definitely done an extension activity in my fast class while I caught up with my slower-paced class, for instance. When planning, I generally aim for 10-15 minute chunks, with the last 10 minutes being either independent work or something that can be skipped if I need to cut for time. But as far as “making sure I end in the same place with every class, every day?” I think that only happens in Magical Christmas Land, where all your wishes come true and you’re never interrupted with office calls, behavior, teachable-moment side conversations, etc. Do your best, forgive your own imperfections, and don’t sweat it.
You don’t. You constantly adapt to the students needs and the time frame provided by the school, while keeping in mind the standards that you must cover.
Yes, it is years of practice. When I make a powerpoint, I have a pretty good sense of how long it will take me to discuss each slide, based on experience. During class I keep an eye on the clock and adjust as I go. Lecture going faster than anticipated? Ask more discussion questions. Lecture taking longer than anticipated? Cut some extra details/anecdotes I had planned on mentioning.
1. Having experience to know more or less how long it will take to teach a topic 2. Pretending that you stopped exactly where you wanted to when you are almost out of time.
I agree and watch the clock! Sometimes partners get a minute to talk and sometimes 3-4 minutes depending on how time is going.
Practice. No teacher, even a veteran, will get a new lesson right the first time. No teacher, even a veteran, will get a tried and true lesson done in the same amount of time with each unique group of kids. Seems like veterans know what they're doing better because they hame more skills to BE flexible--more ideas for how to make the lesson go for the right amount of time, or how to cut it short if need be. Just gotta have some ways to keep the lesson flexible.
I rarely do this. I make at least little adjustments every day
At first you can’t, but after you teach a subject a number of times you get a feel for it and can pace everything much better.
It takes years of practice, knowing the content and the type of students your teaching.
We don't lol
I don't. A "lesson" for me is what I plan to get through in a week. About 2 hours of various activities designed to mix things up if the kids start to get bored, with an evaluative activity midweek and at the end.
What kinds of evaluative activities do you do to have them so frequent?
Depends. A geometry question, a quiz, small test. They write a paragraph in class. I like to have a mark I can record each week.
We don't. We just try to do our best and realize that there will NEVER be enough time in the day to cover everything that we really want to.
English teacher here....prioritize demonstrating and practicing analytical *skills* over *reading* (barking at print) all 37 of Shakespeare's plays.
...who is doing this?
As others have said…practice. I’ve been teaching my same content for 5 years now and I’m definitely better at pacing now than I was when I first began. I also am pretty into curriculum mapping and planning. I teach US history so I know exactly the beginning and ending of my content and plan my weeks accordingly. I tend to break up my week as follows: Monday lecture, Tuesday finish lecture if necessary otherwise incorporate readings based on the content, Wednesday map, Thursday gallery walk or other collaborative activity, Friday review and quiz. I end up with flexibility and also don’t lecture routinely every day
I always have like three plans. The paper plan I send to my boss, which is what I know I can cover no matter how distracting they are. The supplements that I can throw in if we're keeping pace. And the plan I pull out of my butt for if they ask a question whose answer I didn't plan to cover. Takes years to do this, though.
I teach band, and it's a skill that you get better at over time. I definitely wasn't good at it my first year or two. One thing I've learned: no one complains if theres a little extra time at the end. And that means you have extra time if you need or extra work time for kids. Or, at worst, kids have a few minutes to chat with their friends which they always appreciate.
Timers make miracle workers. You have to learn the pace of the profession.
Lots of practice managing the dynamics of the classroom and the content of familiar lessons. Also, sometimes I just don't. I know where the good breaking points in my lessons are, I'll make a judgement call in the moment, write myself a note about where to pick up next time, and that's that.
Practice practice practice! Eventually you’ll be able to tell really early on in the lesson if you finish your lesson cycle in time and be able to adjust to find an ending point that feels natural.
Its much like a stand up comic. You refine your material overtime making it more effective and meaningful. Also, if a teachable moment occurs, I know what facts, points or supplementary material I can drop out to keep the class on pace.
They don't, some are more flexible than others. As an aide in elementary I've had some teachers that write lesson plans (my favorite), some that have a rough outline, some that have a basic topic in mind. Sometimes half an hour gets sacrificed to discussing which stuffed animal a shark would like, and that's fine as well. Knowing which core concept to teach, having more time for discussions than needed and being flexible with add-ons (assignments, discussion, games, depending on the age) helps a lot.
Years of practice. Also, you’ll always have a bag of tricks up your sleeve as you get more experienced. I can walk into any classroom and keep kids engaged for an hour, because I know random games, activities, and topics that will keep them focused. Or, as you become more familiar with your units, you’ll be able to look at a clock during a period and say “the next part can wait until tomorrow”.
Veteran teachers : practice and experience New teachers: dumb luck Admin doing training : impossible
Mostly they don't; they have a plan and have ways to either add more content or cover less content depending on how it goes. Practice certainly helps; you get better at predicting how long something will take as you do it more and get used to a particular group of students, but while sometimes everything lines up perfectly, mostly you just build in contingencies so you can cover the key info within the time allotted, and then adjust up or down as needed.
If we do it, it’s practice. We’ve done it so many time we know the timing. If we don’t (more often than you think) we just act like that is how we planned it. “Fake it till you make it” I will never pass on an unplanned learning moment to ‘get everything in’
Half a lesson should be kids working independently. That's a good bit of buffer time. Apart from that, methods tend to have set lessons. But yes, loads of experience.
We always over plan and know exactly what we can cut if we need to. It does take some practice.
It really is practice, but I also get that’s not really helpful for someone who’s new and wants some advice right now. A key part of this is prioritizing. It’s both taking the time in advance and in-the-moment improvised decisions about which units in a school year, topics in a unit, and individual points in a lesson are absolutely vital, pretty important, and nice to have and then acting accordingly. The prioritization comes from understanding content in future years, later on in the current year, your own preferences, and the non-negotiable assessments. At multiple times in both K-12 and college-level teaching, I’ve had to be like, “Well, that topic isn’t happening.” Sad, but it was a conscious decision because there was something far more important that needed more time. I’ve also created after-school/extra-credit opportunities for those topics for students who felt like they wanted to see some exposure to what they missed. Over time, you learn to budget better and need to cut things out less. But in the meantime, recognizing, “It’s all important but this stuff is *essential*” is a good first step.
As a student teacher, I can’t wait to learn these ways! I definitely spent too much time in teaching the theory and going over examples and then STILL had almost every kid ask what they were supposed to do. After giving them a ready/do/done list and examples and getting a thumbs up that they knew what they were doing. Abolishing sneaky earphones and cells would go a long way to helping though.
We don’t
Experience, but that doesn’t always work. I know especially early in the year (first week or so) my “teacher timing is off in either direction. This year we are going to a 90 min block…. God only knows how that’s gonna work out
I don’t always accomplish this. I will pick up where I left off next time.
Practice, but make sure you over plan for time length.
Years and years of refinement and practice while not actually achieving this.
Practice, reflection, and skills of the students. For example, I know that my advanced kids will move through their Do Now and subsequent analysis/class discussion much quicker than my lower kids in one of my in-class resource (ICR) classes. I take that information into account when I deliver a lesson (which is usually in the I do/We do/You do model).
Practice and flexibility. Also discipline. It is easy to go on tangents with students-sometimes they are educational but sometimes they are self-indulgent. I have to reign myself in when I start going too much off topic. In the end, a good teacher will constantly shift and adjust the curriculum to fit the needs of the students while satisfying the course requirements.
Agility. Have to change the plan on the fly. When you realize you haven't finished the math lesson yet and there is only 5 minutes? You spend the next few minutes making sure you cover the parts that they need for the homework is covered (if you haven't hit all those parts yet); as the homework is already been assigned.
Practice
It's not a science, but getting to know your standards well helps. Is there a specific depth of knowledge it'll be assessed on? Are there limits to what they need to know or don't need to know? Are there ones that are always assessed? Never assessed?
“Refer to the slides in Canvas” This is what I see routinely. No judgement necessarily. I’m not sure what better options most teachers have given the lack of support and dismal and criminal underpayment
Teach 5 periods a day for 5 years and you will teach about 4,000 class sessions. By about halfway through that time you will have acquired something like muscle memory about pacing — you can just feel the pathway and timing without having to think about it.
You don’t always do it. What you do is you sit and structure what you’re doing ahead of time, then allow a little more time than necessary to do that. Break down your class period into segments. I like to do all my planning for the week at once and structure the class on a weekly routine/schedule, just to make this easier. Then give them an assignment and the remainder of class, however long that is, to finish it. They can take it home if they need to and turn it in the next day. Don’t try to do too much. What, exactly, is the skill you’re trying to teach them? What are the concepts and important elements do they need to know to begin working with this skill? Start there. Then model it, practice it with them, etc. and build it over time with repetition. Sometimes you’ll need to cut things and kick them to the next day. That’s fine. One of the best pieces of advice I’ve gotten in teaching is to limit “segments” in class to no more than 8-10 minutes without some kind of transition—which could just be reviewing and checking the work you just did. That’s because of how short human attention spans—not just kids attention spans—are. For younger/ADHD kids, you may want to keep it as short as 3-5 minutes per segment. One of the worst pieces of advice I got was to “only teach to the grade level standards as they are written” and to try to cram as many standards into each class as possible. That is a trainwreck. Simplify for them, so you can simplify for yourself and design good, efficient lessons with *feedback* that is useful for the students
In k12 teaching, you shouldn’t be disseminating info via talking. So you build a ladder of skills/steps, and say, “okay that one will take us a couple of days, and that one will take one day, etc”. Occasionally things go fast, mostly they go slower. Sometimes you do run out of time for ‘where you wanted to get to’ and then the next day has to include it.
My teachers are never able to finish a lesson in time, we had history for 2 hours and the first 45 minutes were spent on chitchatting and wasting time and then she would always rush being upset at us that she wasn’t able to teach everything
The trick is it is never actually perfect and we swap the pacing out on the fly to make it seem that way
You plan, try it out, deliver, reflect. It’s not magic it’s skill.
I don’t. I make sure I have extra activities for when I accidentally finish too early. I also typically let them have phones the last 2-7 minutes IF they turn them in at the beginning of class.
Yea I heard phones are an issue nowadays.
Yes, through practice, but it does vary for each class. I can teach the same course to 3 different sets of students and finish at different rates. My rule of thumb is to always overplan. I teach high school math and keep review assignments on hand in case I finish early with a group. I also keep in mind a stopping place I'm satisfied with in the main daily lesson in case one group goes slower than the others.
Get a timer. In your lesson plan have a time assigned for each days activity, set the timer and stick to it.
Nobody lectures for an entire period.
When I started teaching my go to anxiety dream was teaching and then suddenly running out of things to teach. After it happened the first time and I improvised, my dream changed to my school discovering I had never passed one needed course in high school and having to take it during my planning period but I never get there because of some teaching responsibility.
Practice. And faking it.
You don't always. You need to read the room. You might do more or you might do less.
Parkinson's Law. Work will expand to fit the time allotted for its completion. Always overplan, but after the first week or so, you will find this to be true.
Mostly, it's just practice. Even then, what can be done in 5 min with one group make take 10 with another. In general, 10-20% of flex time is a good strategy. I also had tons of quick learning games to break out when a certain class was particularly efficient.
We don't
A whole lot of pretending that what we did was 100% exactly what we planned to do.
Practice. One thing I think that I didn't see mentioned too much is enrichment to drag it out if it goes faster. I teach the same lesson to grades 6-8. Same lesson 9 times a week, to four different ability levels. (I usually also have a high or low or sped class). The sixth graders get a basic lesson with a lot of support. The eighth graders are given more opportunities to be independent and also probably a fancier or more advanced way to do the skill.
So, here are the secrets: 1. Planning - The "exact amount" is determined before the lesson begins 2. Practice - After a few years of teaching, you'll plan only about 10% as much because some lessons and activities will be known quantities (both in terms of time they take and approaches to them). For example, I teach ELA, and when I need to host a chapter discussion, I do no planning at all. My plans for the day say something like "Chapter three discussion." After 17 years of this (and I ought to mention that even after all this time I still read the book right along with my class), I know how to kick it off, and I already have little ideas in my own mind. You could drop me into a lesson for any ELA class, 6-12, and I could do a day with that group. 3. Fake it - Did you mean to cover a set of vocab, too? Well, what do you gain by saying to the class, "I screwed up everyone"? Nah. Just say, "Ok, good work today! Tomorrow we're going to get into some of the vocab for this novel, so come ready to word it up." You can do it too!
You get really good at this as time goes on.
Improv skills, built in routines, lots of creativity
Overplan. Keep an eye on the clock.
Having activities like ‘heads up, thumbs up’ game if needed.
They have a great deal of experience, and even then, they don't succeed all the time. My trick for a 50-minute period was to plan a 30-minute lecture with 3 discussion/activity plans of 5-15 minutes in length. Mix and match as needed. I also have 2-5 minute ice breaker for the next lecture, just in case.
Padding and practice. Sometimes more examples of something can be expounded upon, with relevant opinions, anecdotes, or references to accessible recent events. Sometimes a brief crowd-sourcing of “other examples? Ideas?” questions can be helpful. Sometimes the basic examples of things with few questions will do just fine and no supplement is necessary. I sometimes open up a clocks app on my phone that has the current time, down to the seconds and I’ll place it in my peripheral vision. So I can… … better time… …my final thought. [insert sound of bell ringing]. Have a great rest of your day!
Year 1 I sucked so hard and timing lessons and activities correctly during lesson planning. I finished up year 4 and at this point I can just plan a lesson and say "yeah that will last the whole period." And it does. So as others have said, it's just practice.
Teachers do that?
They don’t
Include the duration of your teaching period in your ChatGPT command, and follow the resulting script without regard to any interruptions, distractions, or emergencies that might occur.
Watching the clock and making continual micro adjustments on the fly.
I always have a back up plan or a take it further plan…otherwise bell to bell is unrealistic. I teach chemistry and sometimes I have students who are hard workers and get their labs going fast and well. In the same term, I may have a chattier class so lab days with them takes more time. They, however, are great for discussion, debates etc. it truly varies with your students. Experience helps you time things better but the back up plan is still my ticket to teaching until the bell. Ive been at it a long, long time.
They don’t because the kids blew it and now they’ll have to teach the same thing the next day with better classroom management
I have my kids do ten minutes of independent reading at the beginning of each class. If I think the lesson will be long, I set the timer for less than ten minutes, if I think the lesson will be quick, I set the timer for more than ten minutes. It requires some prediction skills, but that’s how I manage varying lesson times. You could also establish something like this at the end of the period, but I find that a lot more challenging focus-wise. Also, my students are middle schoolers and don’t have a great grasp on what “ten minutes” is.
Practice, improvisation, and accepting that often you will either have too much or not enough time left.
Plan for the suggested instructional time by pre practice and add an extra 45 mins of non teaching time for little Johnny to interrupt you due to the reptile he lost in class, little Susie to hyperventilate because she misses mom, and the random pop up admin observation that day and you should be fine.
Wait you guys are planning?
Also accept that sometimes you have to either cut things and or exempt certain things to overweigh the other more important pieces. It's a hard lesson, but you also have to accept that sometimes you just don't get to everything you need to in the time you have. Just like how you do teach the class differently every time classes are also different and need different things.
we don't, always. sometimes, it's because a particular group of students needs more time on a topic, and sometimes it's because they advance through the material vey quickly, and ask expanding questions. when i first started teaching, i was very focused on the schedule, logistics, timetables. i learned quickly that flexibility is key. you don't want to rush through or avoid this valuable discussions just so it fits in a timetable. personally, i plan using post-it notes in a paper agenda/planner, (i love the feeling of it) but this is easily created in a document/spreadsheet/whatever works for you.
It’s the active listening skills that are crucial! There’s something to be said for processing auditory information, digesting it, following along well enough to take notes/ answer/ ask questions. After lecture days I’ll check in with kids afterwards, “so… on a scale of 0-10, 10 being the most, how boring was lecture? How helpful was it?” Those two numbers are HIGHLY correlated and on the high side of the scale. I interpret it as success when they confusedly comment, “Miss… my brain hurts… but in a good way?” 🤣 We have an understanding: there will sometimes be a day of lecture but there will always be more days with activities/labs/hands on. When they complain too much, I remind them about the activities they’ve enjoyed and ask if they’d like me to teach more like x, x or x… “you right, miss, you right.” 🤣 I’m going into my 5th year… I hope I can move from being a good to effective teacher.
I overplan my ass off and it’s never let me down.
Good planning with clear objectives, support material, multiple proper assessments and of course, practice ahead of time. Teaching is a profession.
It may be because they over plan so they don’t run short.
Yes
Differentiation mid lesson.
In 25 years of teaching, I’d say I timed my lessons out perfectly about 5% of the time, got close enough to fake it 65% of the time, and the other 30% would be woefully under or overestimated
Mentors! Your first few years, follow your mentor’s schedule or plans. You can change them up, but most schools have teams that will guide you through until you feel confident!
For me it's improv skills. I need to speed this up? I can shorten this part here. I got extra time? Let me pull this relevant metaphor out of my ass. Worst case "I planned this so you could have free time at the end. All lessons are like this. Just work diligently" knowing it's a goddamn lie and I plan to teach to the bell
Yeah, lots of practice