It’s always a problem, especially at the start of a new academic year. There’s just so much to get through but your class is just SO SLOW!
But don’t worry it happens to every teacher with every new class – and goes hand in hand with your question …”did they learn anything last year?”
Every class you ever receive will be slow – for starters they will be slow because they have just had 6 weeks holiday and need to get back into the way (and pace) of school life, they will be slow because they do not know you as their teacher and what your expectations are and they will also be slow because as children move up through the year groups the expectations and demands of the curriculum mean that there is more to cover and as such greater speed is needed!
However on the plus side they will all be slow together!
The problems comes when you have a mixed aged class with lets say Y3 and Y4 together….when you are teaching to the whole class and written work is involved then the difference is huge and yes, you do at times have to wait …which is frustrating!
So how can you gradually speed things up?
As the teacher you will know just how much of the curriculum you have to cover each 1/2 term or each term. You have configured your planning at both long term and medium term and so have also set out a basic timetable overview for delivery.
At the beginning of the academic year I would suggest that you don’t worry too much if there is slippage in what you were hoping to deliver and what you are actually capable of delivering.
Don’t forget that its not just about getting through the material – the children actually have to learn and progress in the knowledge and skill elements that are contained within each taught unit.
However slow they may actually be to start the year then it is up to you to develop their ability to work at a faster pace. If you do not then you will be faced with a slow paced class all through the year and ultimately one where you have not been able to deliver and teach large areas of the curriculum…..in short “its up to you to get this sorted out!”
Let’s be quite honest here and say that there is not 1 quick fix…there is nothing that will instantly speed up the children in your class. Rather it is a gradual raising of your expectations to bring the children up to the level that you want.
Time allowances for work to be done
This should be done on 2 levels
- For whole pieces of work – in other words once a piece of work has been set then actually tell the children how long they have to complete the work. Dependent on the nature and type of work set then give a realistic time allowance (especially on the early occasions) and stick with it. Differentiate with expectations as you would with content.
- For sections within a taught lesson – there are occasions within a lesson where you may wish to either expect the children to write things down, solve a problem or problems or work in a group situation to then feed back to the class (there are a myriad of situations). here again set a time limit on how long they have for this task. When time is up, then expect the work to be done!
Be the speaking clock!
Unless the time is very short let’s say 5 minutes or less then you need to remind the children how much time they have left to complete a task. This tends to emphasise the urgency of the situation and also shake the dreamers back into life!
Couple this with a walkabout
When children have been set a task and should be getting on it’s always a good idea to be walking about to see how things are going. If the task is part of your teaching then the time you have set will not be too long….perhaps to do a drawing or write something down. In this situation then by moving about the class you can chivvy the children along whilst at the same time giving them time checks.
If however it is a longer task and more often than not occurs following some teaching by yourself then I personally would position myself to work from my desk. This gives me advantages of :-
- I can see the whole class
- I can give time checks
- I can work with a child next to me and still have an overview of the class
- I can call out “the usual suspects” and see how they are getting on.
Not that I would be anchored to my desk….every now and then I would get up for a walkabout to check how things were progressing and actually say to particular children that their progress was not enough or they needed to speed up to finish on time….or, hopefully, that some were doing well!
So what about children that don’t finish in time?
Let me reiterate that this is a progressive speeding up of the children’s work rate and as such don’t expect too much too soon. However do push things along. If children don’t complete what you have asked then in my classes they had to continue their work at playtime or lunchtime until it was completed. What I don’t want is lots of unfinished work with large gaps – that is of no use to anyone and looks untidy.
That’s ok if you have set work following some teaching – you have expectations and they weren’t met so the child needs to complete in their own time. But what happens if a child or children are dragging their feet with tasks that are part of some teaching? It’s the same approach – as I said before …give a time for the task to be done. Let’s say it’s to copy down a drawing and label it and you set a time of 5 minutes. After 5 minutes you wish to continue with the lesson so you need this to be done. Move around the class and keep the children on task (perhaps assisting individuals if they need help). Be the speaking clock and at approximately 5 minutes (could be 6 if all have nearly finished ) tell the children to put their pens / pencils down (you are now going to carry on with the lesson). At this point you may have some children who have NOT completed what you asked them to do. In this instance you simply tell them to leave a space to complete the work and they will finish it later….you’re moving on!
In PART 2 we will look at further strategies that you can employ in class to ensure your class are “up to speed and standard!”
