Six Minutes

on
Google phone timer showing 00:05:59

According to TeacherTapp extraordinaire, Laura McInerney, teachers get six minutes of PPA for every hour they teach, although, as Matthew Benyohai pointed out, we're contracted to work hours before and after the timetabled day so it works out more than six minutes of planning time, even if only six minutes is dedicated PPA time. My quick maths puts it at about 40 minutes but I could be wrong - it was very quick maths.

Either way, I thought I'd put the six minutes to the test. Our lessons are 50 minutes, so I adjusted the time down to five minutes.

This is what I managed:
OneNote screenshot with the following: Title: Le Chatelier's Principle STARTER: 1. Define endothermic reaction. 2. If the energy of the products is less than the energy of the reactants, the reaction is endothermic or exothermic? Explain your answer. 3. Look at the reaction below. Which side has more molecules: the reactants or the products? 2N2 + 3H2 -> 2NH3 4. Explain why increasing the temperature increases the rate of a reaction.

As you can see I got four of my desired five starter questions written. I'm not massively pleased with them: the phrasing is a bit off; I'm not convinced they'll help me check all the prerequisite knowledge needed for the lesson; I misspelled "Chatelier". It's not great. It took me an additional 5 minutes and 21 seconds to finish planning the lesson and that included waiting on my decrepit internet connection so I could log out of my personal Google Drive and into my work Drive to save the questions. Under 11 minutes for a 50 minute lesson. Not bad?

So, if we're only given six minutes per lesson of dedicated planning time, what do we do? [I very much accept Matthew's point, but the after school time can be very easily snapped up into Department Meetings, Year Team Meetings, CPD Meetings, Parents Evenings, whereas PPA is a little more protected.] Well, we get better (faster?) at planning.

[As always, this is what I've found works for me, ymmv]
In no particular order:
  • Use a textbook.
    There is some reluctance to use a textbook - their use has been "wrongly become associated with undermining teachers’ professionalism and autonomy" (Research review series: science, 2021) but "[h]igh-quality textbooks can also free teachers up to spend more time planning and adapting what they are going to teach" and "[t]hey can also be a valuable source of subject knowledge for inexperienced teachers or those teaching outside of their subject area". Some of this is directed at students, but some is at teachers. For me, a textbook is both a source of questions (I don't have to think them up myself) and content (I know lots about science, but sometimes I need reminding which bits the students need and the textbook is quicker to scan than the specification.) It is important that the textbook is good though; if it's a poor textbook, then you risk missing vital content.
     
  • Use question banks
    90% of my planning time is taken up writing questions to assess student understanding and provide students with opportunities to practice. I don't teach anything original, so it's likely there have been questions written already that do exactly what I want. For this, I use Carousel Learning and its predecessor Retrieval Roulette. There are massive question banks with literally hundreds of questions. I also use Kuizical. Sometimes I use the questions straight up, other times I use them as inspiration for my own. When I write my own, I save them in a spreadsheet where I can sort by topic and reuse them in the future. (Once I have questions for a whole topic, I convert the file to csv and upload it to Carousel because ✨sharing is caring✨). I also like to give my KS4 students practice answering exam questions. Not for any "exam technique" practice, but because, given what we know about the impact of context on recall, I think it's probably useful for them to be as familiar as possible with what an exam question looks like. (Sealy, 2019)

  • Have a good filing and/or naming system
    I don't use presentations so much any more, but when I do (did?) they were all named and saved clearly. They were always titled "Topic code.Lesson Sequence Number: Lesson Title", for example "9K.1: Balanced and Unbalanced Forces", or "C12.4: Global Climate Change". This means if I'm looking for a lesson but I only know where it comes in the sequence I can find it, or I only remember the name I can still find it.

    I also have a logical filing system. Folders are numbered and named so they remain in order, for example:
    Google Drive folders drop down menu. There are five folders. They are numbered 0 - 4 and also named (e.g. admin, GCSE, Miscellaneous)

    Within each folder, there are unit folders where relevant, each numbered accordingly. Within topics there may be more folders for each lesson depending on how many "things" there are (a presentation, an exam question, a list of questions). 

    If you know where things are, you don't waste time looking for them. 

  • Know your sh!t
    This is one, for me, the most important. If you know what you're teaching and you're confident with the content, planning is a lot shorter. You don't have to keep second guessing yourself, or looking up bits to make sure you're on the right track. I'm not saying that you have to be a total expert - I've seen a lot of NQTs get themselves into a flap that they don't know enough - but you do need to know what you're teaching. Before you teach a new topic, flick through the spec and look up anything you're not sure on. If you're really struggling, ask to go on SKE-style CPD. There's nothing "shameful" about being unsure about certain things. I can never remember the triple-only organic content so these lessons take me about three times as long as anything else because I have to keep going over it. 

  • Use centralised resources where possible
    If you plan something good, share it. In a medium-large secondary school it's likely you could have between four and eight teachers teaching the same topic at roughly the same time. Wouldn't it make more sense to only plan it once? I know a lot of people hate using shared resources, whilst others hate planning for other people but shared resources save a lot of time. If your department doesn't have centralised resources, magpie them from somewhere else. There are loads of teachers sharing their resources for free online. You don't need to make everything from scratch.

  • On the topic of resources: don't waste time making jazzy resources
    Your slides don't need animations. Or cartoons. Or lots of colours. Dark sans serif font on a light coloured background. That's it. Aside from the issues with split attention and cognitive load, it's a waste of time. You're literally spending extra time to make your lesson less accessible. That doesn't seem right. Also, card sorts can get in the bin.
I'm sure there are more, but that's all I can think of right now. Happy planning!


GOV.UK. 2021. Research review series: science. [online] Available at: <https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/research-review-series-science/research-review-series-science> [Accessed 9 May 2021].

Sealy, C., 2019. Memorable experiences are the best way to help children remember things. In: C. Barton and T. Bennett, ed., The ResearchEd Guide to Education Myths. John Catt, pp.29-39.