It’s easy for the time in a group to appear to evaporate. Just as you finally get to the lesson/activity, your time ends. There are ways to prevent that. Mostly it’s planning and sticking to your time limits. Let’s assume you have all your materials gathered, you know your lesson/activity, and that you know how to keep your group focused. Look at your total allotment of time. In a 40 minute session these ideas will take out 14-18 minutes. For really short work sessions, cut down the time you spend on each part.
introduce the lesson: 5 minutes
After 5 minutes of work, stop and do a check-up: 2 minutes
As the work session ends, give a five minute warning: 1 minute
Clean-up: 3-5 minutes
Closure: 3-5 minutes
It sounds like a lot of time is being taken away from the task, but each IS part of making the task work. Each gives the students structure, clues and develops their responsibility