Instructional Time, 2/3 vs 1/3

So I went to a conference last Friday in Eau Claire. The instructors were Chris Tovani and Samantha Bennett. While I gained quite a few good "take aways" on the day, the one that's really stuck with me is the 2/3 vs 1/3. Bennett professes that 2/3 of the the instructional minutes should be students reading, writing, and speaking. That means the teacher gets 1/3. So in our 80 minute period, the students should get 53 minutes, and our teachers should get 27 minutes. The point is that whoever has the minutes in their "column" is doing the learning. For example, if a teacher is just blabbing away, the teacher is the one doing the learning. That makes total sense to me. We need to make our students the active learners. (And we all could take a lesson from our marching band directors.) And then the reality of my own classroom hits me again on Monday morning. What is my instructional minutes total? I can't get that out of my head. Then, the guilt seems to kick-in when I know my minutes are starting the add-up, and my students are being robbed of their minutes to read, write, speak.

I will aspire to that notion. But I'm sure I will also wrestle with that reality.

In a similar vein, as I begin coaching, when I notice teachers who are monopolizing the "students' minutes," how will I coach them along - to hand those minutes back to the kids?

Three workshop days ahead of me in Brit Lit - focus on students reading, revising, research. Boom!