Stealin’ Time

By Jim Cope

Scribbles 'n Bits, June 2006

            “Atwell teaches in her own school, that’s why she can give up class time for free reading and writing workshop.  In the REAL WORLD, there’s just not enough time to do that.”

            “I have to cover all of the material in the curriculum.  There’s just not enough time for independent reading and writing.”

             “All of the ideas you taught us are great in theory, but in the real world there’s not enough time to let students read or write in class. I really want to give students time for free reading and to write, but there’s  no time.”

            Fifteen years of supervising student teachers and working with teachers in graduate programs hasn’t changed the laments.  “There just isn’t enough time!”  When I hear this, I try to be patient and understanding, but I also never give in.  There is enough time if we focus on what’s important and figure out how to steal time from what isn’t.  This becomes easier if we can move away from the idea of teaching as “covering material” and from the notion that students must learn basic skills before they can read or write anything meaningful.  As Nancie Atwell so clearly put it, “Genuine, independent reading and writing are not the icing on the cake, the reward we proffer gifted twelfth graders who’ve survived the curriculum.  Reading and writing are the cake.”  Reading and writing are the heart of the English/Language Arts classroom, and to focus on them accordingly, we have to steal time from anything less important.

            The first place I ask my students to look for this time is vocabulary instruction.  In the hundreds of classrooms I’ve observed over the years, the majority of vocabulary instruction looks something like this: 

• Monday – assign vocabulary words and give the rest of the period to look up definitions, complete synonym and antonym worksheets, etc.
• Friday – Give students five-ten minutes to look over their words (we give them precious class time to study because we know they won’t study them otherwise – students know what is and isn’t important).  Give test and then grade it in class going over each item.  This should take most or all of the period.

            Following this schedule means we have used two classes that week -- forty percent of our instructional time so that students can binge on a list of words to purge on a quiz.  This educational bulimia does not create learning that lasts.

            Research clearly shows that reading helps students learn new vocabulary.  Nagy estimates that if students read 3000 words per day (about ten pages) that, over the course of a year, they will encounter over 10,000 different unknown words (Nagy and Herman 1987).  Anderson and Nagy conclude, “Reading is the single most important factor in increased word knowledge” (1987). So, if reading is the single best way to improve reading and increase vocabulary, why not take most of that class time spent on vocabulary in isolation and devote it to independent reading?  Still not convinced? Then let’s do a little math.

            Assuming that students retain every vocabulary word they are assigned over the course of the year, students will learn 720 new words (36 weeks X 20 words per week).  The reality is that students will learn significantly less than 100 percent of the words.  If you want to find out how much less, do a little research study of your own.  Before you give out the first list of words next year, give students a pop test on them.  Then assign the words as usual and compare the pop test scores to those earned after you’ve spent forty percent of class time on the words.  Finally, wait a month and test students on the words again with the same pop test format. I’m betting that the first and last test scores will be depressingly similar.  Then what?  Steal the time. 

            Take that huge block of time and devote it to reading, writing, and talking about reading and writing. Also, take a small portion of that time and use it for vocabulary instruction that works.  The research is clear that direct vocabulary instruction is valuable for teaching a specific vocabulary.  If teaching such a vocabulary, and not words in isolation, is your goal, then I recommend that you research strategies that work.  Janet Allen’s Words, Words, Words: Teaching Vocabulary in Grades 4-12 is an excellent place to begin. 

We need to continually examine how we structure our instruction.  To do the right thing for our students and place reading and writing at the center of our teaching, we need to be willing to steal time.

Works Consulted

Allen, Janet.  Words, Words, Words: Teaching Vocabulary in Grades 4-12.  Portland, ME: Stenhouse, 1999.

Atwell, Nancie.  In the Middle. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 1987.

Krashen, Stephen.  “We Acquire Vocabulary and Spelling by Reading: Additional Evidence for the Input Hypothesis.” Modern Language Journal 73, 4 (1989): 440-464.

McKeown, M. G. and I. L.  Beck. “Learning Vocabulary: Different Ways for Different Goals.” Remedial and Special Education 9 (1985):  42-52.

Nagy, W. E. and R. C. Anderson. “How Many Words are There in Printed School English?” Reading Research Quarterly 19 (1984): 303–330.

Nagy, W. E. and P. A.  Herman. “Breadth and Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge: Implications for Acquisition and Instruction.” The Nature of Vocabulary Acquisition. Ed.  M. G. McKeown and M. E. Curtis. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1987. 19-35.

Nagy, W. E., et. al. “Learning Words from Context.”  Reading Research Quarterly 20 (1985): 233–253.