How was your week? Since today is Friday, if you are like most teachers, what you are feeling right now is relief that the weekend is here! But when you think about this week, to what degree does it also leave you feeling satisfied and fulfilled? To what degree do you feel like you were able to use your time purposefully? If you gave yourself a score, would it be 100%? I certainly hope not! I hope that you made some time for a bit of frivolity, some space to have a cup of coffee with a friend, to nurture your spirit, to lose yourself in the pages of a book, to exercise or stretch deeply, to indulge in a guilty pleasure, to wander aimlessly, or just to sit and ponder deep thoughts. In short, I hope that you are finding some balance in your life. It may not be exactly as you think it should – it rarely is for educators – but I hope that you are actively working to establish reasonable goals, set boundaries, use your resources wisely, and streamline processes to inch closer to your ideal balance point every week, month, and year
In many classrooms that I visit, this balance of the use of classroom time is a significant source of frustration. Teachers tell me that they are spending a disproportionate amount of time on redirection, largely because they feel that children are not using their time wisely. This manifests as children not getting required work done in a timely fashion and/or in excessive socialization in the classroom. Teachers are aggravated because these distractions are taking away from instructional time. And few are taking the time that they need to observe the classroom before making future plans. So common is this situation that it struck me as a topic worth exploring this week.
Teachers, as individuals, have varying expectations for the level of focus and quiet needed in a classroom. This should surprise no one. Yet we believe that we have a common understanding of what “use your time wisely” means. When asked to verbalize it, most will say that it is very hard, but, “I know it when I see it.” But we don’t seem to talk much about what that looks like when children are using their time wisely; most of what we talk about is what it looks like when the productive working environment is absent
Some teachers seem to gauge that time is being well-used when socialization outside of snack time, lunch and recess is limited to conversations about the work. When children’s conversations stray from work-related topics, these teachers’ antennae go up and they intervene.
For others, assessment is seemingly made by the number of works completed or the degree to which required work is completed on time. When the number of works completed drops or the number of overdue works increases, they begin to restrict choice for children
In both cases, the teachers are taking control of the situation to return children to work. While the intention is good, I suggest these metrics and the paradigm of control behind them do not serve us or our children well. Let’s first look at each of two metrics and see where they might be leading us astray, and then we can examine what a workable alternative might be
If the children believe that they are expected to dedicate their focus exclusively to work during the full work cycle, believing that side conversations can only be held when the watchful eye of the teacher is elsewhere, are we not building a paradigm that good and productive people just buckle down and “put the pedal to the metal” all day? If a child feels that he can only legitimately take time to be with a friend or to ponder deep thoughts by simultaneously posing with work, how will he be able to intentionally carve out time for rejuvenating practices as an adult; will he learn to self-regulate, to balance work and rest or are we setting the stage for the same struggle for balance that many of us are combatting in our adult lives today? When we reflect on this, it is obvious that what we actually want is for children to establish a healthy balance between work and socialization. This is a great concept, but pretty tricky to define and establish, particularly in Montessori classrooms where individual children are in various stages of work and rest at any given moment. We cannot monitor every child individually, so with all good intention, we monitor the group dynamic. Is the room too loud? Is there an excessive amount or rate of movement? Are we hearing lots of conversations about pop culture? If so, we take control and fix this situation so that children are working. Most frequently, the teacher rings a bell to announce that the volume is too high, the response to which is that, for a time, children continue their conversations at a whisper level. The next most common response is what I call “drive-by redirection”, where the teacher determines that a pocket of the classroom is unproductive. The teacher walks up to the children and says something like, “You are socializing too much. Please separate.” After a prolonged period (often punctuated by, “But I was going to…” and other attempts at negotiation) the children relocate, sometimes finding a place where they can finish the work. Both of these actions result in a temporary improvement in productively; neither is very satisfying or long-lasting
Alternatively, if we are gauging children’s use of their time by numbers of works completed or by their success in finishing work on time, we are creating a “check the box” system where children’s priority is to complete assignments rather than to learn deeply and explore lavishly. The quality of the work suffers, as does the children’s willingness and ability to direct their own learning. We see children race through the required work and then “do nothing”. When we ask them about their work, they say, “I am done,” and after a few attempts to entice children to find something of interest, we let them be as long as they aren’t disturbing the work of those who are still working on requirements. We are teaching children to be passive learners, and causing their focus to be squarely on the product rather than the process, creating a new source of frustration for ourselves
Step One: acknowledge that we do not and cannot control children. (If you missed last week’s blog on Circles of Control, Influence, and Concern, please pull that NOTE up and read it before proceeding – it will help all of this resonate much more fully!) Recall that we only control ourselves and our reactions. Here is what I have seen in classrooms that seem to be symptoms of an ill-advised attempt to control children and their choices:
- Threats – “If you play during work time, you will work during play time.” In some classrooms, children with overdue work miss recess. In other classrooms, when the class has lost focus, after some arbitrary number of warnings, the entire class will miss a number of minutes of recess time, to “pay back” work time. The number of minutes to be lost is usually tallied on the white board or other highly visible place.
- Bribes – “Fun Friday” for children who complete all of their required work by Friday morning. These children are allowed to take out educational games or choose Practical Life work while socializing about any topic. (Incidentally, under the umbrella of being cautious of implicit messages, if Fridays are “fun”, what is the rest of the week?)
- Tight control of children’s work choices – “Do 2 Math and 3 Language works before lunch” Any logical person, particularly a pleaser, will insure being able to meet this expectation by choosing the shortest and easiest of the options available to him to be certain to meet expectations. Who would choose something that is challenging or might require getting additional instruction? That might take too long.
- Using work plans as a weapon – Upon seeing a child wandering, “What should you be doing now – let me see your work plan!”
All of these tools will cause temporary compliance – we may be fooled into believing that we are creating a working environment. But if we remove these practices and the working environment is not sustained, then it is not authentic. Perhaps more to the point, we are dooming ourselves to being the sole point of accountability for children doing work; we must always be on the alert, lest someone slip through the cracks and not complete work! (It exhausts me just to type that sentence! Why would we want to do that to ourselves?)
Step Two: recognize that we do have a great deal of influence over the environment that we create and nurture in our classrooms! We can create an environment in which children and adults alike value the process of learning! But let’s be honest – this is not accomplished with an instantaneous proclamation; it takes time and a consistent attention to the values and practices that we hold dear. We can begin to shift the paradigm as soon as tomorrow by being aware and intentional with our words and actions, and we can continue the shift with other practices that will take a little time to develop and nurture. Creating a productive work environment requires two things above all: trust and patience. We must trust in the inherent good nature and intentions of the child, something that Montessori wrote about at length on numerous occasions. And we must be patient with the children and with ourselves; changing paradigms, like changing habits, takes time.
Step Three: acknowledge that where you put your attention – your time and energy – reveals what you value. If you want an environment populated by people that value learning, deep exploration, and continuous self-improvement, put your focus there. A very simple first step is to end every day with 5-10 minutes of community time. Ask, “Who learned something cool today? … Who accomplished something that made them feel proud today? … Who saw someone else do something interesting or kind today?” In the beginning, there may be few children who volunteer an answer. They may not know how to respond to such odd questions. If you find that to be the case, “prime the pump” during the day. Notice who has accomplished something for the first time and ask the child how that makes him feel. Express excitement or interest in something a child is learning. Express appreciation within earshot of others for a generous act. Bonus: when you and other adults make it a point to notice the great things that are happening in the classroom, it builds upon itself, bringing
When this becomes
Step Four: broaden children’s view of what constitutes school work – give them an active role in managing their own learning. One way to accomplish this is to challenge children to pursue interests in addition to the required work. What do they want to learn beyond the lessons that they are already receiving? Give that independent learning a place of honor in your work week by naming it – I use the term “inspired work”. (To get the ball rolling, you may, ironically, need to require that children do
Reflection for children: We are a bit past the middle of the school year. This is a good time to reflect on how far we have come and where we are heading. Think about all of the things that you have learned so far this year! What do you find to be the most interesting things? What makes you feel proud and/or joyful? (This might be something academic, social, or personal – or maybe you have something that makes you feel proud in each of these three areas!)
What things do you wish you had learned about? What things are you curious about? If you could propose one or more topics for lessons, what would they be? Are there non-academic things that you wish you could learn? What intrigues or excites you about those topics – what makes them cool things to know?
Reflection for adults: You read about many ways in which a paradigm of control leads us to less effective practices in our classrooms, sometimes making us feel less capable and helpless. Some undoubtedly resonated with you more than others. Some are overt and some are pretty subtle. In what ways have you been holding yourself accountable for controlling the work environment? What language or practices do you employ that convey to children (and yourself) that the responsibility for creating and maintaining a productive working environment is yours and yours alone? What effect has that had on your confidence as a classroom leader?
Envision the work environment that you want for your classroom. It may seem like a far-distant dream right now, but remember that, as the Chinese proverb says, the journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step. What first step can you take this week? What new joy do you anticipate with that first step?
“Time is a gift, given to you, given to give you the time you need, the time you need to have the time of your life. ”
― Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth