APS ending block scheduling?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Block schedules always resulted in wasted time and are terrible for music and language learning

Math too.

[Anonymous]

I just hope the review includes input from teachers who are actually living with the schedules and what they think and prefer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Block schedules always resulted in wasted time and are terrible for music and language learning

\

I am no fan of block scheduling but what makes it bad for music? Orchestras and bands outside of school typically rehearse for more than 90 minutes at a time. When you factor in taking an instrument out and putting it away, 45 min seems like not enough time. I don't think that should be driving the block scheduling decision though! Whether or not kids have orchestra or band for 45 or 90 minutes, they still need to be practicing outside of school so that does not change.

[Anonymous]

I think this review is driven by the - everything is better at HB - crowd. They have 45 minute blocks daily. Nevermind plenty of us don't think everything is better at HB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The other thing that is so different in current era school is having what amounts to an entire study hall built into their schedule daily. We did not have this. My kid really uses the time and gets a lot of homework done. So I don't hate it. But it's a major shift in general philosophy.

There was a homeroom period for high schools back in the 90s but it was a short period so it wasn't really a study hall. Homeroom was phased out nationwide in the 00s if not earlier in some districts. If we go back to 45 minutes periods, we should probably revert back to the former, longer lunch periods and just eliminate this new study hall. Longer lunch periods have overall health and stress level benefits.

[Anonymous]

My junior regularly takes tests that are longer than 45 minutes. The one year he had math in the daily 45 minute block, the tests were spread over 2 days. Which fine, but really opens up even further opportunities for cheating which is already a problem.

For the AP classes that involve writing, it's impossible to do writing tasks as given on the AP test in 45 min. Meaning if your exam is a DBQ or LEQ, when are you ever practicing these or being tested on this? I wonder how HB handles this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The other thing that is so different in current era school is having what amounts to an entire study hall built into their schedule daily. We did not have this. My kid really uses the time and gets a lot of homework done. So I don't hate it. But it's a major shift in general philosophy.

When I was in HS in the 90s, study hall was for the stoners.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems like there should be other options than those they are considering. My high school had slightly longer classes (maybe 55 min?) and each one met 4 times a week. That worked pretty well.

It is also not clear to me how they are going to handle science labs if the classes are all 45 minutes. How does HB handle that now?

Also, I worry if some high school teachers near retirement may just retire instead of completely revamping their classes. I know my kid is taking one class that is never taught during the daily shorter period since the teacher has really designed it for the block schedule. It is going to be a lot of work to restructure that class.

You teach one day, the next day is lab day. 45 min is plenty of lab work — any more kids get careless and bored and things break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in college now and found that the block scheduling prepared them well for the long twice a week classes. Their friends who never had block have more of an adjustment. The 50 minute 3x a week classes actually felt like breeze in college.

Most college classes are 50 to 75. And kids don’t have classes the entire day.

Block schedule is not why those kids aren’t adjusting. They are probably drinking or staying up late or whatever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Block schedules always resulted in wasted time and are terrible for music and language learning

\

I am no fan of block scheduling but what makes it bad for music? Orchestras and bands outside of school typically rehearse for more than 90 minutes at a time. When you factor in taking an instrument out and putting it away, 45 min seems like not enough time. I don't think that should be driving the block scheduling decision though! Whether or not kids have orchestra or band for 45 or 90 minutes, they still need to be practicing outside of school so that does not change.

You need to practice EVERY day. Block you so it only 3 times a week with a day between.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My junior regularly takes tests that are longer than 45 minutes. The one year he had math in the daily 45 minute block, the tests were spread over 2 days. Which fine, but really opens up even further opportunities for cheating which is already a problem.

For the AP classes that involve writing, it's impossible to do writing tasks as given on the AP test in 45 min. Meaning if your exam is a DBQ or LEQ, when are you ever practicing these or being tested on this? I wonder how HB handles this.

My kid has math tests broken over two days. The teachers just splits the test into part 1 and part 2. No big deal. You can't go back to part 1 on day 2 or work ahead on day 1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My junior regularly takes tests that are longer than 45 minutes. The one year he had math in the daily 45 minute block, the tests were spread over 2 days. Which fine, but really opens up even further opportunities for cheating which is already a problem.

For the AP classes that involve writing, it's impossible to do writing tasks as given on the AP test in 45 min. Meaning if your exam is a DBQ or LEQ, when are you ever practicing these or being tested on this? I wonder how HB handles this.

Over 45 min math test? At APS? That’s ridiculous.

Aren’t AP writing tasks not “write all this in 90 minutes in one passage”, but multiple sections? We have had APs for decades, and I’m sure it’s a solvable problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My junior regularly takes tests that are longer than 45 minutes. The one year he had math in the daily 45 minute block, the tests were spread over 2 days. Which fine, but really opens up even further opportunities for cheating which is already a problem.

For the AP classes that involve writing, it's impossible to do writing tasks as given on the AP test in 45 min. Meaning if your exam is a DBQ or LEQ, when are you ever practicing these or being tested on this? I wonder how HB handles this.

Over 45 min math test? At APS? That’s ridiculous.

Aren’t AP writing tasks not “write all this in 90 minutes in one passage”, but multiple sections? We have had APs for decades, and I’m sure it’s a solvable problem.

Ok, I guess your child isn't in the same math classes my kid has been in. He has regularly had over 45 minute math tests in intensified math classes.

DBQ, which are used in all the AP history exams, are 60 minutes. This is also generally considered the hardest component of these exams. So something you want to review and test on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My junior regularly takes tests that are longer than 45 minutes. The one year he had math in the daily 45 minute block, the tests were spread over 2 days. Which fine, but really opens up even further opportunities for cheating which is already a problem.

For the AP classes that involve writing, it's impossible to do writing tasks as given on the AP test in 45 min. Meaning if your exam is a DBQ or LEQ, when are you ever practicing these or being tested on this? I wonder how HB handles this.

Over 45 min math test? At APS? That’s ridiculous.

Aren’t AP writing tasks not “write all this in 90 minutes in one passage”, but multiple sections? We have had APs for decades, and I’m sure it’s a solvable problem.

Comments like these are so puzzling to me. It's like the no one has homework and everyone gets an A posters. Do you even have kids in high school taking most rigorous classes?

[Anonymous]

Regarding tests spread over two days, my guess is that teachers are using the same test for the class that meets every day and the other classes. if all classes were short, then the tests would adapt (maybe there would be more, shorter tests).

Regarding practicing for AP exams, I wonder if more of that will shift to practice at home. of course that leads to opportunity to cheat on the practice, which is not great.