ELLEN
BERG
Diary #12
Our Kids Need Every Minute of the Day
Friday, December 6, 2002, 2:00 PM – Twenty-five antsy sixth graders have just settled into SSR after ten minutes of smoothing by the teacher. She is thinking we might just get some reading done the next 35 minutes on this, the most difficult day of the week.
Outside in the hallway, voices are heard, and they are coming closer. A few kids look up from their books and glance towards the door. "Maybe they're just passing by," the teacher prays. However, it is not to be so. The door opens. "Mrs. Berg, I need the people for the Christmas program practice," the eighth grade girl announces. The teacher checks the list, dismisses the participants, and spends the next fifteen minutes refocusing the remaining students on their SSR books. Just as everyone is back on task, deep in their books, the program kids return. "Mrs. W. said we're not practicing today so we should go back to class," one girl reports. The rest of the class looks happy to be disturbed once again. The teacher mentally hits the roof, and, time or no time, SSR is over for the day.A major concern at Turner Middle is the number of interruptions in our classrooms on any given day. There are many studies that cite the relationship between student achievement and academic learning time – the actual time kids are engaged in a task at an appropriately challenging level. Most alarming, "...one study found that students were engaged in learning activities only 28 to 56 percent of the time spent in school in a given year." (See Is It Just a Matter of Time?)
My students are behind most of their suburban peers, are easily distracted, and cannot afford to lose time on task.
I go into action mode
Fueled by my anger and frustration, on Friday afternoon I dashed off a quick email to my principal about the extreme number of interruptions we were experiencing in our building. She replied and set up a meeting for Monday afternoon.I spent the weekend compiling the list of interruptions, gathering research articles that linked low achievement with time off-task and brainstormed solutions for each problem. (I believe no one should not complain if they are not willing to suggest desired changes.) See the document I presented here.
One of our
largest problems is a lack of structure in our school. The expectation
to use every moment wisely is not held across the board. Here are the
categories of interruptions I presented to my principal:
I brought all of these concerns to my principal who expressed surprise. Since she is rarely in our building, she was unaware of the large numbers of interruptions we were experiencing. She promised to work on decreasing the interruptions and thanked me for sharing my concerns.Overuse of the P.A./Intercom: On one recent Monday, we recorded ten uses of the intercom in a 60-minute period. The intercom is used to call staff members to the phone; to make announcements any moment it occurs to someone (rather than at a set time of day); to search for students (instead of checking the student's schedule); and to call students to field trips, games and other events that do not affect the entire building.
Flyer/Memo Distribution during Core Time: It might be first block, it might be second, it might be five minutes before school is let out and someone is delivering a set of flyers to pass out, or a memo to sign for in the middle of instruction. Unscheduled Visits by Parents or Other Visitors: Parents in our district have become accustomed to dropping in whenever they think of it. Once in the building, they expect us to hold a mini-conference with them in the hallway while instruction is suspended and students get off task. Parent observers often "make a scene" in the classroom when they see their child acting up instead of taking them into the hallway for a private conversation. Student Tardy System: Students report to the homeroom teacher when they arrive late (often in the middle of instruction), and homeroom teachers are expected to forward that information to the office ASAP. Cafeteria: When teachers arrive to pick students up from lunch, many have often just received their lunch. Either the staff on lunch duty refuse to let kids get in line because they are not settling down, or the cafeteria staff does not have the food prepared on time. Not only do we routinely lose 15 minutes out of our second block class, but students are also angry at us when they have to leave the cafeteria before they have finished eating when the seventh grade arrives.
Maybe something will change
I wondered, as I left, if anything would really change. Old habits die hard, and we had been complaining to the building administrator about the problem for a while. However, as I entered our building's office just after my meeting, the clerk told me I would need to check my mailbox in that office more often since she would no longer be calling over the intercom as often. I found out later that one of our Americorps workers had wanted to make an announcement regarding a program, and he had been turned away for the same reason. I have some hope.
I went into this meeting doubting I would be heard. I always get the impression that time on task is only cursorily important in our school because of the large numbers of interruptions. My students apparently sense this, because wasting time seems to be a way of life for many of them. It is difficult for me to tell them that every moment of our time is precious when our class period is being interrupted for the seventh or eighth time in an 84-minute period. I guess the real lesson is here is to never assume. If we have concerns as teachers, we have to be bold enough to bring them to the people who can effect those changes schoolwide. If we have concerns and bring solutions to the table, we will most often be heard. And, if we're not heard on a consistent basis, perhaps it is time to consider a change.
