Some Thoughts on Obtacles

What is an obstacle? Webster’s Dictionary defines an obstacle as ‘that which impedes or hinders progress, motion, activity, or effect’.

The definition might imply to some that obstacles are always negative things, but not always. Traffic laws could be considered obstacles. They restrict the freedom of lead foot or otherwise irresponsible drivers from affecting the safety of the public. Traffic laws are good obstacles.

Obstacles however, more often than not, negatively affect us. Obstacles can be internal,such as shyness. They can also be external, like the obstacle of poverty. I see drivers everyday (sometimes blatantly) overcome the obstacles of traffic laws, and this leads me to wonder; what percentage of obstacles can be overcome? 20%? 50% 90%? The longer I think about it, the more I tend to think that a high percentage of obstacles CAN be overcome if an individual is willing to do what it takes to overcome the obstacle.

Many of our students face obstacles, some are serious and some rather benign. Poverty, physical impairments, the learning of a second language, a dysfunctional home life are just some of the serious obstacles that our students face.

I believe that one of my primary jobs as an educator is to encourage my students to deal effectively with their obstacles. Whenever possible, I try and share my belief that most obstacles can be overcome. I’ve seen art painted by the blind that is beautiful, I’ve seen a man climb a mountain with no arms or legs. I want my students to understand that it is ATTITUDE that can knock down obstacles.

Check out this video. It features a 14 year old named Aaron Fotheringham who can do amazing things in his wheelchair. Born with spina bifida, Aaron has been confined to a wheelchair for most of his life. He has the kind of attitude that has allowed him to overcome an obstacle that many would think insurmountable.

A Matter of Time

Time. We are all prisoners of it. That fact is especially evident in the classroom. We try to make more of it (think Saturday school, extended day, homework). The fact is, the way we look at time and how we use it is a major factor in determining student success.

Up until now, everything I knew about time, I learned from watching “The Twilight Zone” and “Star Trek,” so I was eager to find out about a new way of looking at time from D.C. Berliner's work, Simple Views of Effective Teaching and a Simple Theory of Classroom Instruction.. Time is, of course, a limited resource, and it is often looked at metaphorically as something ‘that runs out’. Time can be looked on in other ways as well, something we can affect.

Berliner tells us that time at school can be divided into 4 different categories: Allocated, instructional, engaged, and academic learning time.

The largest category of time, making up 100%, is allocated time. Allocated time is the amount of time set aside by the legislature. It’s our 180 days from 8:00 a.m. until 3:10 p.m. We all make efforts to increase allocated time with extended day, after-school tutoring, Saturday school, and of course homework. Allocated time can also be further broken down by subject area. Scheduling affects the allocated time to various subjects throughout the day.

The next category of time is called instructional time. Research shows that instructional time represents about 90% of allocated time. Instructional time is the time that a teacher can be observed teaching. It can be whole group, small group, or individual instruction. Instructional time can be increased by good classroom management and the minimization of outside distractions.

Engaged time, which represents about 75% of allocated time, is the time that students spend actually engaged in a task. The concept of engaged time does NOT take student success into account. Therefore, while engaged, students may be bored, or they may be struggling or frustrated. Motivating students, scaffolding instruction, and tapping into prior knowledge all serve to increase engaged time.

The final type of time, and the most valuable, is referred to by researchers as academic learning time. It is the time the learner is engaged in appropriate activities that are closely related to improved academic performance. Unfortunately, academic learning time only makes up about 35% of allocated time. Educators can seek to increase this precious type of time by giving effective feedback, helping students recognize success, attributing success to effort, and creating self-directed learners.

It is true that we can’t make more time, and even without supporting research, it seems fairly obvious that the more time we spend on a task, the more we learn. Research has verified that this relationship exists for academic activities. But simply assigning more study time to a topic will not automatically increase the student's learning. There are strategies to reallocate, or reshape the kinds of time that we are using during the day. Research shows a positive relationship between the amount of academic learning time and student achievement so the idea here is to increase the desirable academic learning time to the maximum amount possible. This, while at the same time decreasing unproductive portions of the other, less desirable types of time.

Berliner's research has shown that successful teachers who maximize academic learning time spend a great deal of time actively instructing their students through interactive lessons that feature teacher-student discourse and relatively little time working without guidance. They stimulate their students to react to the curriculum in a thoughtful and successful manner. For the most successful teachers, instruction occurs during interactive discourse with students rather than during extended lectures, presentations, or demonstrations. It is this combination of quantity and quality that defines effective academic learning time.