Someone asked me recently how I am able to respond to all student blogs, leave feedback for each child on the Google Docs and analyze which standards students are mastering. It sounds impressive on paper, but here’s a little secret: I’ve made cuts. Huge cuts. Massive cutbacks in what I do as a teacher.
I don’t prep for lectures anymore. Instead, I think about how I will make lessons meaningful for students. I don’t input grades into the computer. Instead, I meet with students and we fill out our assessment grid together. I don’t have stacks of papers when students are working on in-depth projects. I don’t feel the need to do so much differentiated instruction when students are customizing their learning according to identity, interests and level of mastery.
I’m still on this journey of making cuts, but here are a few things I have managed to cut from my own classroom:
- Administrative jobs: If it’s important enough to do, groups of students can manage it
- Grading: We’re doing ongoing assessment using feedback instead
- Homework: I don’t have to mess with it when I don’t think it’s helpful for children
- Discipline: I deal with discipline through class rituals and personal conversations, along with engaging lessons where students are less likely to act out in boredom
- Making copies: I spend a lot less time in front of the copy machine, because students are more often creators than consumers. We’re also more like to go the tech-route than the paper-route.