Why Pacing is Important in the Classroom
Pacing is important so that your students don't look like this in your class ๐
Definition of Instructional pacing and it's benefits in the classroom:
Being able to pace a lesson effectively is an important skill that all teachers need. Pacing, first and foremost, is the speed at which a teacher covers their curriculum material. Using deliberate pacing in lesson plans will help teachers:
stay on track
cover all necessary material
maintain a well-managed classroom
Good pacing helps teachers ensure that students are engaged and getting the most out of each lesson. The practice of instructional pacing connects to Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal development; teachers must make sure that they are not going too slowly or too quickly through a lesson or activity.
Improper instructional pacing occurs when a teacher:
moves too quickly through a concept outside of the students' schema
moves too slowly through concepts the students already understand
This leads to students feeling lost, left behind, or overwhelmed. If students feel any of these things their cognitive load becomes over-loaded, and no more learning is able to occur. We have also discussed John Flavell and his excerpts pertaining to metacognitive theory. Within a classroom setting, well thought out instructional pacing aides in the construction of students' metacognitive ability to:
engage with the world around them
to reason
to learn
to remember
All in all, instructional pacing methods are undoubtedly central to the goal of getting our students to where they need to be. Teachers must be able to recognize if their students need more or less time on certain subjects, and must be able to adjust their pacing plan to match their students' needs.