Chapter 16:
Regardless of our status, or where we live, or how our individual lives compare to anyone else’s, we all share one reality equally: time.
Time is a resource that we cannot recycle.
I am not talking about time zones, daylight savings, or any nuances of representations of time. I am talking about moments and what we choose to do with them. Like this moment, right now. More specifically, I am talking about our moments in the classroom.
Time in the classroom is precious. It is limited. And what we choose to do with that time is important.
Your time is precious. The time of each student in every classroom is precious. How we choose to use our time and how we choose to value one another’s time is deeply important. Furthermore, the way we choose to use the students’ time speaks loudly about our belief in them and has the potential to deeply impact our relationships with our students.
“Girls and boys, today I’m going to introduce a new Big Idea. It says, ‘Time Is Precious.’ We only have one chance to live today. What we do with today is important. What we do with each moment is important. This Big Idea will be on the wall tomorrow, but when you read it tomorrow you will know that today has gone. We can look back and wonder, ‘What did we do with our day?’ ‘What risks did we take?’ ‘What were the experiences that we can continue to learn from?’
“You also need to know that time is precious to every other person in this class, and you are contributing to his or her experience today. As a classroom community, we have a responsibility to one another to make the most of our time together.
“Time is precious!”
Please make no assumption that I make the best use of all my time. My wife, Jeannine, would likely laugh at that thought, since she is the one who most often sees me experiencing the deep importance of “down time” in the hours and seasons when I am exhausted from my efforts at school.
But when I see this statement in the classroom, I am reminded that classroom time is extremely precious and that it needs to be approached thoughtfully and strategically.
Students have only so much time during the school day, so I need to maximize their opportunities to learn, to think, and to grow. One way I can do that is by talking less so the students can think more.
I periodically pause to count the voices in the classroom. If I can’t count past one, I know I need to rethink what I am doing with the time. I need to ask practical questions like these:
Am I asking students to write during the lesson?
What kinds of individual thinking actions am I requiring of the students?
What kinds of interpersonal thinking opportunities am I including?
Am I providing students opportunities to share their thinking with one another?
When students share their thinking, are they spending too much time trying to interpret how I am hoping they will work together, or are they moving directly into the thinking?
Is this lesson experience worthy of each one of the student’s time? Is it worthy of my time?
Is this lesson so important that we will refer to it later?
Another way to make the most of the precious time in the classroom is to use the “edges of the day.” The very beginning of the day, the very end of the day, and all of the transitional moments throughout the day provide unique and valuable relational opportunities.
In elementary schools, the edges of the day may include the first part of the morning and the end of the day. In secondary schools, the edges of the periods often offer powerful opportunities to interact with students and to meaningfully and personally build connections and develop relationships.
Here are a few things you have potential to communicate during the edges of the day:
“Good morning.” “Welcome to school.”
“I am truly glad that you are here today.” “I hope you have a great day!”
“You are an amazing learner, and I can’t wait to see what you do today!”
“How are you?”
Now reread each one of those statements again, this time picturing your students saying them to you.
In addition to the edges of your day or class periods, you can also deliberately seize wedges of time, right in the middle of the day. Those transitional moments, which may only be a few seconds long, afford clear opportunities to express important messages to students. These moments of time, the edges and wedges of the day, offer you powerful opportunities to personally and meaningfully connect with your students. They help you build relationships, detect personalization opportunities, convey your beliefs about students, and set the tone of your choosing.
How do these important edges of the day relate to the rest of the day? They shape the way your students will spend their day or class period. When you make an intentional decision to connect with and communicate belief, positivity, energy, and enthusiasm to your students, you set or reset the tone the students will experience for the rest of the day. It only takes students a moment to detect the level of your passion and focus. Many times, they will perceive your mood and your commitment to them at the first edge of the day, right when they walk into your classroom. What will they detect in that moment?