My question is what strategies should I employ in order to improve the pacing and the timing of my class? This question came about, because the pacing of my class was somewhat problematic during my short practicum. At times the classes went a lot slower than they should have. Moreover, the students in the class were at times a little bit bored and unsure of what to do, as they had finished the assigned activity and were waiting for more work. Because most of my lessons were structured so that students were receiving the instructions and resources to complete each activity or assignment en masse, there was little else for me to do than to request them to help their peers, in which case their peers would normally just copy the answers that the helpers had written. Nevertheless, I believe that in some ways my pacing was good. The proper pacing of the class really actually should vary from student to student. While I acknowledge that I should have tweaked the pacing a bit for the class in general (or given most students two assignments to do in one hour, for example) the EALs benefited from the rather slow pacing of the class, because it gave them the opportunity to complete their work. In fact, I feel as if I am accustomed to the slow and thoughtful pace of EALs, because I used to teach ESL for a living, both abroad, and here in Canada. I have made it my set goal to adjust my teaching style so that I can find a good balance for the pacing of my lessons within the Canadian public school context.
My question is significant, because as a teacher, I need to know how much of the material I should expect my students to complete within the time frame of one lesson, or one unit. Teachers are expected to teach all the PLOs that are prescribed for a course, and time management is essential to that end. However, there are many instances in which a teacher gives the students an inordinate amount of work and the students work through it, perform well on the final exam, and pass the course, but then they forget all the information that they just learned, because there was too much, or because it was presented in an unengaging or oversimplified manner. This is frequently the case however well-behaved or studious the students are, because the teacher simply wishes to get through more information than is reasonable. In fact, I have been the culprit of such a teaching style. As an EFL teacher in Mexico, I often taught English idioms or vocabulary too fast and with little to no practice. During the test, the students would often get most of these expressions and vocabulary items, but afterwards they quickly forgot what they had learned. Thus, I started to slow my lessons down significantly with more opportunities for language use. This strategy benefited such a particular group, because, as public school attendees, they were learning on their terms. Yet this strategy would not work in the public school, in which one must fulfill the criteria set out by the Ministry of Education. At this point, I am teaching the material a little too slowly. I need to pick up the pace in a matter of speaking and keep the mainstream students in my class busy with several activities.
I will be drawing from a number of journal articles in order to conduct my research. There is a plethora of education journals from which I can extract these articles. Similarly, there are some books that discuss the subject. I feel like the journal articles will be effective research guides, because they show a different strategies for a variety of circumstances. For example, I found one article that discusses the correct pacing for Honour’s courses to which all students are eligible (they don’t have to have outstanding marks). In such a case, it is difficult for the Honour’s teacher to maintain an appropriate pace, because many of the students in the class are struggling with the material. Furthermore, there is one article that seeks out to help teacher candidates, specifically, find strategies to improve their pedagogy. I believe that there is a guide from the B.C. Ministry of Education that gives strategies for students with learning needs. Such a guide will probably discuss appropriate pacing strategies. I will consult these resources for effective strategies and analyze which ones will work the best for the classes that I have. Then, I will apply the strategy and assess the results. If the results are unsatisfactory, I will tweak the strategy slightly and try it again, or I will scrap it altogether. If the results are satisfactory, I will continue to use the strategy for the remainder of the week to see if really work. If that is the case, I will continue to apply such a strategy to my class consistently.
I expect to find out that the appropriate pacing depends on the class. Some students are very well-behaved, yet need more time to consider the information that they have just absorbed. In some cases, the teacher must provide a lot of time for students (particularly EALs) to reflect on a question or a problem, and consider responses to it before giving them. So, in reality I think that a slow pacing is not necessarily a bad thing, but many teachers and students prefer the quicker teaching style. I expect to find that it is beneficial for the teacher and the mainstream students to have a back-up plan for the latter in order to get them to use their class time productively while EALs or slower students are still working on the prior activity or assignment.