Should Classes Move at One Pace?
In this video, Dr. Justin Baeder discusses why whole-class pacing is more realistic, effective, and aligned with how the world actually works.
Key Takeaways
- Classes Are Taught at One Pace - In a class setting, teaching happens on a shared timeline, even if individual supports are added along the way.
- Curriculum Coverage Matters - Slowing instruction too much for individual pacing can prevent some students from ever reaching the full curriculum.
- Intervention Is Different From Core Teaching - Teachers can stop, reteach, and intervene for individuals without abandoning whole-class instruction.
- School Should Prepare Students for Real Life - Much of adult life moves at a fixed pace, and students need to learn how to function within that reality.
- Individualized Pacing Has Tradeoffs - When everything is matched to each student’s preferred speed, learning often becomes slower and less complete.
Full Transcript
A lot of people have tried to tell me lately that you can't teach a class all at one pace. That you have to personalize and individualize and differentiate and match each student's pace that they, in particular, need. I don't think that's possible. I think it's only possible to teach a class at one pace, or to not teach the class, to stop teaching the class
and do something else. I think we can interrupt and stop and intervene and, you know, do things for individuals, but I think, really, we can only teach a class at one pace, and that needs to be a pace that can finish the curriculum, that can cover what you're supposed to cover for the year,
because if you slow down for some kids, those kids are simply not going to get the whole curriculum, and that is a big problem. But I have to wonder about this idea that people have, that you have to match the individual pace for every kid.
Like, where else in life does that happen? Like, when you go to the movies, if you are a fast movie comprehender, does the movie go fast for you? Or, like, if you aren't paying very close attention, does the movie slow down and, like, repeat stuff for you?
If you are in a work meeting, does the work meeting slow down for you? Does a college class slow down for you? I think most things in life go at the pace that they go.
And part of our job as educators is to help kids deal with the world as it exists. Now that doesn't mean we need to be, like, cruel or make school Intentionally difficult when it doesn't need to be. But I don't think we should prepare kids for a world that doesn't exist.
I think we should prepare kids for the world that does exist, which moves at its own pace. If you go to a two-hour movie, it is two hours for everybody. And if you tell yourself that it is inevitable that you will get bored
and that you will hate it because you want it to go faster, what do you, what are we doing here?
Like, you're gonna have to learn to live with that as an adult. And I think it's great that kids have to learn with the fact that everybody's brain moves at a different pace, and yet everybody's life gets to move at the same pace.
We're all in the same meeting. It is going to be the same length for all of us, and we all have to find a way to deal with that. Yes, maybe you can read a book faster than someone else. Yes, maybe you can watch a YouTube video on double speed.
But there are a lot of things that you just don't get to set your own pace for. And when it comes to learning in particular, the reason for that has to do with how teaching has to happen in a class setting. And, as I said in other videos, I think students actually learn more.
They're actually taught more when they move at a whole class pace, rather than an individualized pace. Which, remember, is going to be a lot slower, so they're not going to finish the curriculum for a lot of kids. So, let me know what you think about this.
Let me know what you think about this issue of pacing in adult life. You know, we're going to have to tolerate things that are not at our preferred speed. Sometimes stuff is going to go over our heads because we're not paying attention. And sometimes stuff is going to move at a snail's pace because we're ready to move faster. And that is just life. And if school mirrors life, I think that is good preparation.
Let me know what you think.