Self-Study:

Improving Efficiency
During Lab Routines
Franchesca Beningo
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I. Focus Area: Improving efficiency and correctness when setting up and

tearing down during our microscope unit.
 Since beginning my student teaching experience, I have struggled with time
management in several different aspects of teaching. I have noticed a few specific
times when either myself or my students are wasting a lot of time--putting us
behind schedule for the day. These include at the beginning of class, when I am
lecturing, and during transitions. Before class, I have noticed that students are
slow to get around and pay attention. In order to combat this, I have started doing
a bellringer to get them in their seats and working on something so we can begin
right away. During lecture, I find that I consistently start running out of time
before I have even gotten close to finishing. Due to the fact that this was
happening every time I lectured, I had to do something differently to keep us on
track so I have been writing down the times I need to finish each thing and really
trying to stick to it. I have been working on this for about two weeks now and it
has really helped. The last area of wasted time occurs when students must
transition between spaces or activities. I have yet to start remediating this issue, so
I will be focusing on changing this for my self-study.
II. Data Collection Plan
 Upcoming in our curriculum for Anatomy and Physiology is quite a bit of
microscope work. What this means for myself and my students is that there will
be a lot of transitioning from the classroom to the lab. My goal for this self-study
is to make this transition as quick and efficient as possible.
 1. To accomplish this goal, I am going to first assign a different job to each table
group member to speed up the process of retrieving materials. The jobs will be
introduced as outlined in Figure 1: Lab Routine Jobs and Figure 2: Lab
Routine Jobs Cont.
 2. Second, at the end of the five minutes, I will collect data on the number of
students that have started the lab successfully and cleaned up the lab successfully.
o A successful start is if the student has a slide on their microscope and job
2 is done correctly. A successful completion of job 3.
 3. Third, this will be introduced as more as “the way we do things” rather than a
challenge to the students. They will not know I am collecting data.
III. Selected Resources
 Cooperating Teacher
o My cooperating teacher offered years of experience in teaching the course
and running labs using microscopes.
o As I finalized my ideas for a lab routine, I began working closely with her
to perfect it. She had really helpful advice and had plenty of fantastic
resources for me to pull from. Her advice was invaluable and the idea for
rotating during lab to speed up the process was hers to begin with.
 Teach Like a Champ
o Outside of the classroom, TLaC has proven to be a resource for instances
like this as well as many others. It offers good advice on how to
teach...like a champ.
o In chapter three of Teach Like a Champion the author runs through a
technique used to deliver lessons. This technique is called the I/ We/ You.
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I used this technique heavily in the beginning as we learned about the

microscopes and how to use them. It was very effective and I found
students had success using the microscopes.
 Tools for Teaching by Fred Jones
o The overall management taught in this textbook was essential to
implementation of the routine I had designed for my students.
o My anatomy classes are composed of a very diverse group of students.
Almost a third of the classes have special needs in addition to a couple of
students with severe behavioral management issues in my sixth hour. To
get 28 students to listen long enough and pay attention well enough to
learn how to use a microscope--classroom management had to be utilized
at every turn. Tools for Teaching provided effective strategies in
classroom management that I put to use

IV. Plan Implementation and Timeline

10/12/18: Revision Day

Developing this routine took some time and today my cooperating teacher and I looked at the
solutions I had developed and tailored the routine to how we thought it might best work. In order
to assign lab groups, keep track of proper setup and cleanup, and assign individual jobs, both the
tables and the seats at each table needed to be numbered. In addition to having routines for setup
and cleanup, a routine was developed to increase efficiency throughout this lab experience as
well; each student focuses one slide and then instead of taking the slides out and switching them
around, students stand and rotate positions. Not only does thing reduce the amount of time spent
switching and refocusing, but it also does its part in keeping slides and microscopes safer.

10/15/18: Implementation Day 1

This routine will be implemented at least every other day for the next two and a half weeks. To
introduce the routine, I spent time addressing the following:
 Table number and seat number
 What was in each bin so person #2 and #3 knew what to be looking for
 The amount of time they had to complete everything
 Each jobs assignment and where they could retrieve and return their supplies
o For each job, students assigned to that number were asked to raise their hands and
then I addressed what their jobs were and demonstrated when necessary
 How focusing and rotation would work
o Students were all asked to stand and rotate: one to two, two to three, three to four,
and four to one. Then they were asked-to some dismay-to rotate back.
Implementation day went really well. From second to sixth hour, there were already
improvements that needed to be made. I originally had different jobs and two different people
were coming up to grab each individual supply. That just resulted in a traffic jam so before sixth
hour, I consolidated all the supplies for each table into numbered bins that one person could just
come up and grab. That itself was a major improvement in decreasing the amount of time spent
getting started.
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10/16/18: Day 2
I tossed around rotating the jobs and decided against it today. I just wanted the students to have
the chance to get used to the routine. So far, it is going really well. Students are automatically
beginning with most of the necessary steps. While the students are showing initiative in using the
routine, I did notice a few things today:
 Some tables failed to pass out the contents of their bins
 Some tables did not place the necessary items on the bin or on the floor
 Leaving lab, some students left slides on the scopes which also means someone did not
fulfill their job of checking these things
I will say something about it to the class tomorrow. I did not check to see who exactly failed to
do what, but because the jobs are assigned to specific numbers, I could check who sits there and
speak to them separately. But since there was more than a couple of instances and it is only the
second day, I will just address the entire class.

10/17/18: Day 3
Today, I addressed some of the jobs that were not completed. There were still a few instances of
error most notably leaving slides on the microscopes. However, the students have adapted well to
the routine.
Otherwise, something I noticed today is that some students are working at a much faster pace
than others and instead of getting up to switch slides, are passing them and focusing each new
slide. I am debating on whether or not I should start timing each image once they are focused to
keep everyone moving at a similar pace. I think this could be effective in the future once
everyone has a bit more proficiency with the scope.
Toward the end of class, I also made a note to run through everything that had to be completed
for cleanup. Cleanup went as per usual. I am still ending lab with a lab table having the handouts
left on it.

10/18/18: Day 4
To give some students a break with the amount of individual set up and tear down, I rotated the
jobs. As could be anticipated I saw a few mistakes like the one’s others were making on Day 2,
but on the plus side, there were no slides left in the microscopes today which has me just ecstatic.
To remediate the issue, I might keep rotating jobs but reminding everyone to check and make
sure their jobs are completed more often. As for the goal of efficiency in getting started, the
students are doing fantastically. This routine is increasing the efficiency of getting started and
wrapping up quite a bit.
There is a trend developing: I had less students begin the lab correctly than I did ending the lab
correctly today. I wonder if that is because I emphasize how important some of the final steps
are? Or maybe because the steps are more like the natural progression of things? Either way,
cleanup is slightly more successful at this point.

10/19/18: Day 5
Rotated jobs again with similar results to last week. There was a weekend between today and our
last lab so I am assuming that this had an effect on the amount of success seen. I saw similar
issues as in the past during set up, but the students remained consistent in cleaning up (only one
group failing to complete the closing correctly.)
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I do not think I will end up timing the rotations like I had mentioned before--based on the fact
that I split up the high and low students so that there was an equal distribution at each table. The
switching of slides does not impact the speed at which lab is completed at this point, and I don’t
see enough reason to add another facet to the routine. On that note though, I am incredibly
impressed at how well my students addressed the number of things I have incorporated into the
routine.
Day five has resulted in improvement. See Table 1: Number of Successful Starts and
Closings.

10/22/18: Day 6
Another more successful lab day than the last! While I wish there was more improvement and
faster, I cannot forget to consider the impact of the day to day on life. I have stayed consistent in
that I remind everyone of what needs to be done before, during, and after lab. This consistency is
working really well for the students because if some don’t hear it the first time, they may the
second or third time.
Students show more initiative in completing all tasks and are consistently having more success in
completing them correctly. I often find in the tables that complete the task incorrectly, that the
routine is only partially done incorrectly.
I have noticed in the past my students’ inability to read directions both carefully and fully. I
wonder if that is contributing to this issue. When I come across this, I usually remind them of the
other steps and go through them with them quickly and positively and challenge them to
remediate the issue the next day. They have responded well to the encouragement.
Today, we closed with an increase in both the number of start and close successes!

10/23/18: Day 7
All of our hard work is really paying off! We have had our second consecutive day of all eight
tables closing successfully in addition to reaching ⅞ tables beginning successfully! I couldn’t be
happier. Our group that didn’t get a correct start only forgot to put their table number into the
bin.

10/24/18: Days 8-10

No notable instances other than success. We reached 100% success for two days in a row and
without the need for reminders from me. See Figure 3: Line Graph for Number of Successful
Starts and Closings for a summary of their improvement.
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V. Data Collected

Table 1: Number of successful starts and closes—as we continued using our lab
routine, I kept track of how many tables had successfully begun after the first five
minutes of beginning. In addition, I kept track of the number of tables that had
successfully cleaned up following lab.

Day Successful Start (#tables/ 8 Successful Close (# tables/ 8

tables) tables)

1 4 4

2 5 6

3 5 7

4 4 7

5 5 7

6 6 8

7 7 8

8 7 8

9 8 8

10 8 8

VI. Data Analysis

 See Figure 3: Line Graph for Number of Successful Starts and Closings
 From the very beginning, the closing routine was more successful and reached
success more quickly than the starting routine. A few factors may have affected
this: eagerness to leave, easier tasks to perform, or just the simple difference in
who was performing the tasks.
 Complete success was reached in closing on Day 6. The number of successes in
closing increased relatively steadily with only a few points where it leveled off
before rising again.
 Complete success was reached for the beginning on Day 9. Overall, the beginning
routine took longer to achieve complete success but growth continued almost
continually. Day 4 saw a decline but day 5 saw the number of successful starts
raise again.
 Most often, when a table was unsuccessful, it was due to very minor mistakes. A
student might forget to pack everything up off of the table or might leave a sheet
out. Regardless of how minor all jobs had to be done correctly to achieve success.
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VII. Improvement Plan

After the conclusion of this experience, there are several areas I have identified that
can be improved upon. Right away after we practiced the first time with microscopes,
I worried that some students were not progressing. I would have liked to either spend
more time practicing, or develop a setting where I can provide more one on one
support. A live quiz after some practicing could provide that one on one time and
allow me to remediate any issues right from the start. I noticed as we continued to
view the tissues under the scopes that even after multiple days on the microscopes
mistakes that should not have been made were occurring. Another reason I feel it is
essential to introduce a more personal component—so I can come away confidence
that all of the students are proficient before we begin working with the actual
material.

Another area of improvement I noticed was my groupings. Consistently I had

students finishing their lab work at very different times. It is not a problem that
students finish at different times, but it does hinder the use of the rotation method
introduced as part of the lab procedure. In the future, I might consider giving a pre-
quiz on microscopes or run a test lab to see which students are working faster or
slower and try to group them. I was hoping that these groupings would push the
students that were slower to pick up the pace or the faster students to stop and assist
others. I think these are valid assumptions but only if I make it clear from the start
that as a table they are expected to be progressing together.

As for beginning and ending the lab period, two alterations I would make to the
procedure would be to put all materials (except microscopes) in bins and have them
ready to be picked up or at the table and to have a check point after clean up. Within
the first instance of running the procedure I switched to using the bins. It was
incredibly helpful and saved time with back ups trying to grab all of the materials. As
for the check point, I very consistently had microscopes returned with slides left on
them. One of our most stressed rules was not to leave a slide on the scope so it is
important that this issue be remediated in the future. Before a table could be
dismissed, I would probably ask that the last person either run through a check list or
each person has to be dismissed individually once I confirm they have successfully
completed. The only downfall to checking each person would be if multiple people
were finishing at the same time—some would have to wait to be seen. This could be
addressed by having questions to work on after they complete their drawings.

Overall, the self-study had only a few areas in serious need of improvement. I found
this procedure to be fairly effective and it may continue to be with some minor
changes. I look forward to using a pre-assessment and making the alterations
mentioned because I love improvement. Nothing is more satisfying than getting a
lesson or procedure to run just so.
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VIII. Benefits and Difficulties

Throughout student teaching, I have worked to improve multiple practices within the
classroom. Overall, I find using self-studies to be incredibly beneficial because it is a
practice that works toward a better classroom. To me, it felt like in order for me to get
this right, several key aspects needed to be addressed and addressed well. It was quite
consistently one roadblock after another as I was developing this and that was one of
the hardest parts. Following that, the next hardest part was remembering and staying
on task with an effective delivery (it was a lot). While these downsides existed, they
still provided opportunity to grow. With each new roadblock I would do what I could
to problem solve—seek out my cooperating teacher, seek out resources, etc. As far as
delivery, it was really great practice in developing a natural cadence and flow while
making sure all pieces of information are gathered. For the students, this self-study
was really beneficial in not just creating an efficient lab experience, but also in how it
allowed them to demonstrate and practice several new skills. Most notably of these is
probably their proficiency in using microscopes. Additionally, they practiced and
demonstrated critical listening skills which in turn allowed them to gain independence
and practice their personal discipline skills. I was really happy with the outcomes of
this self-study. It allowed lab to begin and end in such a way that I didn’t have to go
through every step—it freed me up to be focusing on other aspects of the lesson and
environment.
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Self-Study: Improving time spent in lab set up and tear

down
Objective: Within five minutes of the teacher beginning lab setup and initiating lab tear
down, all students will have completed their respective jobs.

Job Assignments: -4 slides in their lil bucket

 Seat 1: Pick up table numbered
bin
 Seat 2: Unpack and Pack bucket
-Pass out sheets to both sides of
table
-Carefully pass out the slides
-Put microscope covers and table
#s in bin
-Put bin on floor next to table
 Seat 3: During clean up--you
make sure everything is back in
the bin
-2 Red Hot sheets
-2 Mucle Lab handouts
-2 muscle/nerve lab handouts
 Seat 4: Return bin
Groupings:
 8 tables
 4 seats/ table
 Tables numbered 1-8
 Seats numbered 1-4
 All seats assigned and posted in
room
Results: Over a ten day period, this
self study worked toward the goal of
starting and ending lab successfully
within five minutes of the cues. At the
end of the study, 100% success was
reached.
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Figure 1: Lab routine instructions and jobs—these are the jobs every student had to
complete each lab period. This was practiced with them before they were entrusted to
work through it independently
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Figure 2: Individual jobs for each table member—Each table had numbered seats so
the students knew what their jobs would be to get started or clean up. They rotated jobs
after about two days so each person could try the different jobs.

Success Reached Within the First Five Minutes of Beginning

an Closing Lab
9
Number of Successful Tables

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Day

Successful Start (#tables/ 8 tables) Successful Close (# tables/ 8 tables)

Figure 3: Line Graph for Number of Successful Starts and Closings —these results
were based off of the number of tables total that began or ended successfully. A
successful beginning or end would only occur if ALL jobs were done correctly.