How to Manage Time in the Classroom

Teachers must act as effective timekeepers to maximize learning

Time-management skills are among the most valuable tools an educator can bring to the classroom. Students love entertaining distractions, but the goal in the classroom is to learn. It is up to the instructor to keep the class moving along swiftly enough to reduce boredom, but slowly enough to keep the class together. Time-management skills teach the value of punctuality, focus and accountability, and in many ways they prepare students for the world outside the classroom as well.

Instructions

1. Mount two wall clocks, one behind the students and one behind the teacher's desk. The idea is to provide easy access to accurate time for both the students and the instructor, so everyone in the room can glance at the time without distracting body language. If the classroom is set up in a manner other than the traditional rows of desks, more clocks might be necessary.

2. Write the day's schedule on the whiteboard before the class begins. Try to provide as much detail as possible and stick to the plan. Be sure that there is an effective mix of several different types of learning methods, from quiet reading to group work and unstructured creative activity. Post the schedule without breaks between sections, but prepare for a small amount of transition time.

3. Manage the transitions with a mix of intellectual incentives and age-appropriate encouragement. A strong lesson plan moves from one section to the next with rapidity, but without rush. The key is to find the precise amount of time that students can devote to a specific learning exercise and stop several minutes before that point is reached to move to the next section of the lesson plan.

References

• Brigham Young University: Effective Classroom Time Management
• Utah State University: The Research Literature -- Time Management

Resources

• University of Toledo: Lesson Plan --Time Management
• Walden University: Teaching Time Management Skills to Children