Time waits for no (wo)man

Time!  These days I am doing a lot of grumbling about not enough time, wasted time, quality time, wait time, supper time, and not enough bed time.  In the classroom, I see teachers being very mindful of timetables for learning standards, time until recess, lunch, or a specialist, and most of all the time their students need to really learn.  At the same time teachers are really struggling with lack of time and are understandably upset when more standards are expected to be learned by younger and younger children often using new curriculum their experience has taught them will not be successful.  As a parent, when I send my children off to school, it seems like they are there for a LONG time – and I am hoping that as well as learning and as part of their learning, they are having enough recess time, time to actually eat their lunch, time for their day to be enriched by the arts, and lots of time engaged by all that their teacher has to offer.  Well, now that I am actually spending entire days in the classroom, I see that there is not enough time for all of that in the school day, even though the teachers want the same things for their students as the parents do.  So, how do we prioritize?  As a mom, my children are the priority, but as a mom in school and soon to be working, I am also attempting to relinquish my old priorities as a stay-at-home mom (which my family has become very accustomed to) and reshape those priorities into new ones of teaching self-sufficiency to my family and giving myself more time to be successful in a new way.  For teachers, children are also the priority, particularly children’s learning.  I witness teachers reprioritizing what is most important for children to learn every day.  Many days all that was planned does not happen, because in the moment the teacher sees the students need more time with their learning or maybe they just really need “choice time” that day because the learning’s been more of a challenge than expected.  After the students leave though, teachers who were so patient and generous with their students minutes before, are voicing their worry about being behind for whatever point in the school year it is.  How do we keep the “wait time” it takes for learning to turn it into knowledge a priority in a world with a race to the top where runners are not allowed to go at their own pace or even to stay behind for awhile and take in the view?