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Elementary Science

Time Management

Author Post
Isabelle Sash Isabelle Sash 695 Points

Hello, my name is Isabelle Sash. I am a junior at Wartburg College in Waverly, IA. I struggle when writing lesson plans with how much time activities or different parts of my lessons will take. How can I predict to help me prepare how long it will take students to complete an activity?

Ashleigh Dunn Ashleigh Dunn 287 Points

Hi Isabelle, 

I am a senior at Wilmington College, and I can absolutely relate to struggling with timing in a lesson plan. One of the main pieces of advise that has helped me with this is that, it is always better to overplan than to underplan. Meaning, identify the block of time in the day that you will be teaching, and create your lesson, if you feel like you may run short on time, add a short closing activity that you can throw in at the end, if you need to stretch the lesson out for a few minutes. One thing that I have learned though, the more lessons you write and teach, the easier it is to predict the timing. Its just another one of those teacher skills that comes from experience over anything else.

Hope this helps!

Hannah Lynch Hannah Lynch 295 Points

Hi Isabelle! I agree with you. It is hard trying to measure how much time you will need. I would recommend giving yourself more time than you believe you will use, just to be safe. I would say it also depends on the students and grade level you are working with. Thanks!

Samantha Schmidt Samantha Schmidt 250 Points

Whenever I make my lesson plans I always go into the mentality that I'd rather list to much time for something then not enough. If it ends up taking not as long as I plan I always haveing something extra for the students to do. An example of this would be if the students have to list the parts of the cell and they finish early then in the extra time they can color. To help predicts would could also try to breifly do the work yourself as if you are the student as see how long it would take. I also accomidate extra time for trasitioning to a different subject or activity to help me predict time more accuratly.

Margaret McDaniel Margaret McDaniel 1675 Points

Reflecting on a recent lesson, I realize that I took more time than anticipated! As you wisely pointed out, it's perfectly acceptable to allocate more time than you think you'll need. This insight has inspired me to plan more effectively, thereby avoiding any potential awkward moments with students. I've learned the importance of accurately gauging the time needed for a project before assigning it. 

Antonia Clark Antonia Clark 275 Points

Hi Isabella! I am a senior at Wright State University. I can relate! I would try to do a test run of your lesson with your friends. Tell them to act like that grade to simulate what could happen. It helps you get a better feel about how much time you need to help run the lesson. Good Luck!

Abbigael Beirise Abbigael Beirise 600 Points

Hi Isabella! I am a senior at Wright State University. I would recommend adding more time than you intend to use. Teachers know that not all lessons go as planned. It is much better to have too much time than not enough. I would consider rounding up the amount of time chosen about 5 minutes or so! I also think acting out the lesson beforehand to simulate how much time it might take is an excellent idea!

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