Time to Learn

As I explore all the issues associated with assessments and accountabililty, I have begun to see that the time squandered is not only lost Time to Teach, but lost Time to Learn.  If I manage the time available for Curriculum and Instruction well, I can probably give adequate lessons.  I can squeeze them into every crack that appears in the routinized schedule of schoolday events.  The students, however, have very limited time to process those lessons that I give.  So often there is another activity or scheduled event that follows on the heels of the lesson, or I feel compelled to hurry up and give the next lesson before they have had time to process the first one.  It is the uninterrupted periods for thinking, for practice, for exploration, for integrating thoughts that is missing.  That is the REAL loss—Time to Learn.