Is there enough time?

When thinking about incorporating literacy skills into everyday instruction I know what needs to be done, but I do worry about the time it will take to effectively teach these skills. For instance, last year my co-teacher and I taught a lesson in which students recorded various weather facts for week and then were asked to write about their findings. What was supposed to last a double period turned into over a week’s worth of instruction. In the original packet we broke down the material into examining one fact at a time and then putting the information together. We found that the students did not have the language to properly express their knowledge. We ended up having to write up model packets, introduce science sentence starters, and teach the students how to incorporate data into the written form. We ended up falling behind on the unit we were teaching and then had to rush to finish in time.

When looking back, I know it was a frustrating experience but it was something that needed to be done. Also, we gained some skills in teaching students scientific writing and definitely had some assumptions shattered. As teachers, I think we assume that our kids have learned the skills needed to write a simple examination of facts, but they haven’t. We forgot that our students are only in 6th grade and have had little science experience prior to middle school. If we had failed to teach some of these skills in 6th grade, it is likely that in the 7th grade they would struggle with these skills as well. In fact, if they do not continue to work on these skills in the 7th grade it is likely they will struggle in the future. Basically, we need to continue to build these skills all throughout a students’ education. Time will always be an obstacle, but we have to push through if we want to properly set our students on a path of success.