Why Time is Not Your Problem

I am currently doing the DELTA course, and if you are familiar with this qualification, you will probably know it is a level-7 post-graduate qualification, which means that you expect veteran practitioners with a minimum of 10 years of experience under their belt. This is the case on my course, some are even doing an MA simultaneously. Nonetheless, this issue doesn't seem to cut them any slack. "My major weakness is timing", a participant desperately shared her concerns during the second session about classroom management, while everyone else agreed and admitted the same. This teacher, like many in the industry, writes lesson plans and calculates the stage timing theoretically and almost accurately, but when it is time to deliver the lesson, she feels like she is being betrayed by her lesson plan.

Generally speaking, most teachers can weigh every stage and set a time accordingly, and the timing in the lesson plan, logically, adds up to the period of the lesson. So why do we frequently suffer from time-management?

The simple answer is: we don't. Timing is merely a manifestation of other subconscious issues teachers have during the lesson. If you happened to blame anything else but timing, what would it be?

When I quit blaming timing and started examining other weaknesses my lessons had, I realized the timing was not the issue. Think about it, anything that goes wrong in the classroom influences timing subsequently. Here are some issues that I brought to the surface:

- Lengthy or/and unclear instructions > Ss do not understand >teacher stops activity > explains again > more time wasted.

- Materials and resources are not ready to use > teacher preparing, while Ss watching > more time wasted.

- Latecomers > teacher explains again, feeds them in, and extends the time of the task > more time wasted.

- a technical problem > teacher tries to fix it or/and opts for an alternative > more time wasted.

- Ss find the listening challenging > teacher plays it a second time > more time wasted.

The list can go on and on non-stop. Anticipating problems related to classroom management is an essential teaching skill but it does not guarantee the infinite absence of problems. Therefore, time management is not the enemy. That being said, the teacher can better execute the lesson plan if the concrete issue, which influences the time directly, is brought to the surface. Here are some common areas to examine to find the core issue: classroom management, resources and materials, and planning skills. Having addressed the issue, the teacher will only need action to take to remedy it.