Sally Gaskins' Blog #3-Routman Ch. 12-You Only Have So Much Time

I've done something I've never allowed myself to do when reading a book...skipped ahead and read the last chapter first! Ok, so it's not such a big deal with a book like this (I would NEVER do that with fiction...what a waste of a good book). When I looked at the list of chapters in Regie Routman's book, Reading Essentials, I found the title of Chapter 12: You Only Have So Much Time was shouting "READ ME NOW!" I guess it's because that's the main thing I've been struggling with this year. How can I possibly teach all of the things in my lesson plans in the little bit of time I have each day?  I also thought it was interesting that an entire chapter at the beginning of the Miller book was devoted to this subject and I wanted to see how the two compared. What I have taken away from both is that the problem of not enough time is not going to go away. It's how we as teachers use the little bit of time we have that will make us effective teachers. After reading this chapter in Reading Essentials, which gave many more specific examples of how I can better use my time than the Miller text, I know that there is much room for improvement and I'm excited about putting to use the strategies Regie Routman suggests.


For example, I've been feeling like I'm doing my students a disservice by giving them the number of worksheets and "seat work" my grade level requires. When I, the new person on the team, approached the subject with my wonderful co-workers, I was relieved that they agreed with me. We planned to look into some new, better practices between now and Christmas with plans to start the New Year/2nd semester with more engaging, meaningful learning taking place in our classrooms. This chapter is one we will definitely use as a guide. I like Routman's suggestion to "continually ask yourself when planning work for students, How is this activity helping my students become more independent as readers, writers, and thinkers? If it's not, set it aside."


Another frustration I have right now is the amount of time I spend on school work outside of school. My family is frustrated with me, too, because I'm constantly grading papers, etc. It was nice to read in this chapter that it's important that teachers live an interesting life. Routman says, "You can't come to work each day enthusiastic about teaching if all you did the night before was grade papers. You want to be able to have dinner with a friend, go to a movie, read a book, cook for fun, reflect about what's just happened. We are not only role models for learning; we are role models for living." Well, I have young children at home so my list of interesting activities needs to involve them. I definitely don't want to look back on this time of my life with regret because I didn't spend more time with my children while they were young. They come first, so I need to start right now working on "doing less, more effectively."


A teacher named Robin Woods says near the end of the chapter, "I'm learning that good teaching doesn't have to mean lots of hours. Instead, it requires lots of thinking-thinking about what matters to kids, thinking about what kids need to know, and thinking about how they can be taken to the next level. My husband will now see me spend less time at school or grading papers and hear me think aloud more about my students and how I'm approaching instruction. I'd never really thought about how being a good teacher could mean having more time at home with my family." If I can get to that point, and I'm going to do my best to start very soon, I just might feel like teaching is what it was supposed to be for me, a dream job.