The Edutopia Poll

Algebra I - Calculus

Submitted by Mr. F (not verified) on May 21, 2008 - 12:53.

I have read many raves for and against block scheduling. I personally appreciate the fact that we get to build rapport with students as we engage them in activities other than taking notes and filling out worksheets under block scheduling. It seems very beneficial to all subjects-except math.

Block scheduling (BS), let's assume 4x4, logically provides longer prep periods and preparation for only 3 classes at a time. That sounds great, but for the math teacher? BS is the number 1 cause of my career's demise as a former [rookie] teacher. Yes, I only had 3 classes to prepare for, but the preparation involved for each of those classes was overwhelming. I was told by my supervisor that there needs to be learning activities EVERY DAY [to kill time]. That was my downfall. I could not find or had trouble creating activities for MOST topics. I scoured the bookstores and the Internet for activities for long, hopeless hours to salvage my career. There was hardly anything out there for math teachers-only reproducible worksheets that they call "activities", which were no different than the worksheets that my textbooks publish. So I had to be creative, which was so contrary to my "left-brainedness" as a math teacher. Like what engaging activities could you do for simplifying rational expressions by using laws of exponents, for example? How about a "fun" activity for factoring polynomials?

Part of the trouble is, I learned math and student-taught it under the traditional schedule (50 minutes each, 6-7 periods per day). I have no BS role models to follow, and I did not receive training on how to plan and execute for BS. I was a first year teacher and I was only told later that BS is NOT recommended for HS math especially for a rookie teacher who has not yet accumulated all those tricks of the trade and resources.

I am NOT condemning block scheduling just because it ruined my career. I certainly appreciate those who commiserate with me on this. I would very much so appreciate help from math teachers who pulled through and are enjoying BS. I want to know what activities were done for EVERY single topic to both kill time and engage students in learning the material. I also want to know where and how strategies like DR-TA, KWL, SQ3R, Think Pair Share, Jigsaw, etc. fit with which appropriate math topics.

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Possible block schedules with only one 6th, 7th, 8th grade

Submitted by Julie Efffertz (not verified) on April 6, 2008 - 08:32.

Last year, our school began the transition between being a K-5 school to a K-8 school. We added 6th grade last year, 7th grade this year, and will add 8th grade next year. Since we only have one class per grade level, this year I taught all the math and science (my personal specialties) and the other teacher taught all the social studies and language. We both taught our own reading class (which the principal insists on having separately). However the scheduling for next year is an area of growing concern to me. My principal has stated that we will all teach our own reading and language, and we will switch once per day for math, science, and social studies--which I personally think is a ridiculous format. I have argued that the 3rd middle school teacher we hire should be someone who specializes in language/reading--I believe students should have experts in ALL of their content areas rather than the more generalist approach that most elementary schools (and this plan) follow. So I'm earnestly trying to come up with some alternative structures and schedules. Anyone in a small school with only 3 middle school teachers have any ideas? How do you switch? Please email me your schedule and/or comments ASAP.

Thanks for your help!

Julie
julieme@earthlink.net

PS. Students have gym, art, and music for 50 minutes once per week with a specialist.

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Block scheduling

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on March 12, 2008 - 17:42.

Block scheduling with 90-minute classes scheduled every day for a semester is far more productive than classes of 45 minute for a whole year. First, much time is wasted in passing from class to class. Many disciplines have activities that require more than 45 minutes at a time--labs in science, foods, etc. With 45-minute classes, you barely get the gear out and it is time to leave. Much time is wasted with getting ready and then cleaning up. I taught the first 25 years with 45-minute classes and have been using the 90-minute blocks for the past 10 years. Our system made an effort to train us before we started the block schedule. Most teachers in our system do not lecture for the whole block. We vary our activities in order to keep students engaged. This is a high school. Our middle school students have the traditional schedule. It takes 9th graders a while to get use to the 90-minute classes, but they eventually appreciate it. As a parent of a teenager who is an honors student, I know she is able to concentrate better on just four classes a semester. She is also involved in many school activities and volunteer work. Her schedule is hectic. It would be more so if she had 7 classes a day.

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Block Scheduling is Hurting our Children

Submitted by D. King (not verified) on October 12, 2007 - 07:05.

(The author is currently teaching seventh and eighth grade social studies and is a member of his school's Corrective Action committee. He has also taught sixth grade, special education, tenth and twelfth grade social studies and seventh grade math in schools utilizing both traditional scheduling and block scheduling.)

Block scheduling is yet another well-intentioned but misguided attempt at overhauling our nation's troubled education system.

While block scheduling may have esoteric benefits such as more "imagination" time, the hard, scientific data shows students actually learn less, and retain less, in block scheduling than they do in traditional, teacher-centered education models utilizing 45-50 minute periods daily for the entire year.

Is this really surprising? Every major scientific study of this aspect of education concluded that "spaced practices" (shorter periods occuring daily) led to significantly higher rates of retention than "massed practices" (longer periods occuring less often). Just as an example, no language course on earth recommends an hour of study every other day. They recommend twenty to thirty minutes of study daily. This is because the mind picks up on repetition and is most prone to remember the first, and last things heard. All that space in the middle ... that 50+ minutes of "creative" time ... is time that is most often NOT retained. One major scientific study found that students in traditionally scheduled classrooms out-scored students in block scheduled classes on EVERY MEASURE regarding retention AND implementation of learned material.

Lastly, block scheduling forces teachers to abandon parts of the curriculum. The mantras "less is more" and "focus on the essentials" are pure nonsense. Less is more makes as much sense as Orwellian phrases like "war is peace" and "freedom is slavery." There is NO reliable data I've ever seen, other than sheer conjecture that leads me to think "less is more" is anything other than a simplistic slogan.

As for focusing on the essentials, that should be the focus of ANY class, whether traditionally scheduled, or block scheduled. In my opinion, most curriculums are bare-bones essentials as it is. What is there to be trimmed off? The last thing we need as a nation is a further dumbed-down curriculum that encourages our children to hold hands together and learn nothing while the rest of the world marches past us.

Sources:
Productive Use of Time," in Timepiece: Extending and Enhancing Learning Time, ed. L.W. Anderson and H.J. Walberg, National Association of Secondary School Principals, Reston, VA, 1993, p. 6, as cited by M. Czaja and J. McGee in American Secondary Education, 23(4):37-39 (July, 1995)

["Science Achievement in Semester and All-year Courses," Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 27(3): 233-240 (1990)

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More time for creativity

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on July 26, 2007 - 17:15.

I am a fifth grade teacher who firmly belives that 30-45 minutes is not enough time to spend in subjects much like math and science. In fact, if we had more time, we could do more labs and hands on projects to get the students active in the learning process. Afterall, if they are involved in learning they will learn more.

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Block Scheduling

Submitted by J.M.Randall (not verified) on June 26, 2007 - 12:38.

Our middle school has adopted a partial block schedule. We use 80 minute periods for the core classes (Math, Science, Lang. Arts, Soc. Studies). We then split other classes into 40 minutes (advisor/advisee, electives, math skills, etc.
I may only see students every other day for Social Studies, but that 80 minutes still flies by and makes projects run a lot smoother.

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