What if time were not something you could run out of?
How often do I hear “If we had time, we would do X but instead we will do Y.” X is usually something that sounds more fun, more personal, engaging and involving thinking and doing.
It’s been a problem presented to me since I started working in schools and that is a long ‘time.’ So, I think about what we can do about this problem with time, how we might look at in ways that serve us better.
When we feel pressed for time, we usually fall back on our default modes—telling kids what to do rather than letting them discover, covering material to get it done, winging it in the classroom rather than planning and scaffolding.
Time is our demon that makes life for teachers and principals nearly unbearable at times. It can also be an ally to organize and get things done—providing structure and boundaries to organize, motivation to get down to work, to progress, agreements to coordinate in order to work together. Without it, we might just drift forever.
Though we operate as if time were a constant limit, it is in fact not a static reality.
For many of us, our perception of time is deeply ingrained in our sense of reality. It is hard to imagine other ways of thinking about it. There are many reasons to reconsider how we perceive and manage time so we experience more room in our lives.You might need to suspend disbelief to consider these possibilities that could loosen the bounds of our construct of time.
- Multiple ways to perceive time from science and religion. To learn about how our western concept of time developed and the many different ways that time is perceived in not only in different cultures but in different contexts. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1369268/
From the scientific community, Physicists are proposing new theories about the nature of past present and future—that the future informs the present. http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2012/aug/03/can-the-future-affect-the-past
After the movie “Interstellar,” was released, I heard many conversations about the dynamic of time and space. Perhaps our construct is evolving.
- Constructs of time vary in hugely significant ways among cultures. Even in western cultures, there is a difference in pace, tempo and expectations between different European cultures and U.S. Some indigenous peoples don’t have a concept of future so all time is now. We quantify time to name it while other cultures identify with events and seasons.
http://www.utexas.edu/courses/sami/dieda/anthro/concept-time.htm
Why time is a social construct
I was raised to believe that being on time was almost a moral issue. I learned to let go of that when I was frequently with colleagues from cultures where ‘the time to start was when everyone was gathered.’ I found that when I let go fo watching every minute worrying over getting other things done to be on time somewhere else, I did arrive on time—like magic I can’t explain. Yes, there are still times I’m frustrated to be left waiting but I’m less judgmental.
I’ve experimented when running out of time in workshops or classes. I found that when I relax into the flow of the sequence rather than focus on each planned item, unimportant activities drop away so we manage to do what we most need to do.
Our construct of time determines so much we do in our practice, schools and classrooms.
- Deadlines for students to turn in work before they are ready, with consequences for not turning in work on time.
- Pace of the school day: schedules, bells, covering content to get through the scope and sequence on time, moving on when the majority understands though some students are lost.
- Rhythm of class: transitions, breaks, reflection
- Length of time spent on a project or unit; making connections between one unit and the next.
What can you do with enough time?