Block scheduling in middle school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Swanson parents went batshit crazy when blocks were proposed a few years back. (My eldest was there at the time.) The cited reason was music. I had no opinion at the time. I can report that DC1 went on to have blocks in high school at W-L, and he much preferred it to regular scheduling. DC2 is in middle school now (not at Williamsburg), and I still have no opinion on block scheduling for middle schoolers. I suspect there are pros and cons to both and no clear winner for students, so who cares? I would not fight this, personally.

One thought: Doesn't block scheduling mean teachers teach more periods? kids have 8 periods instead of 7, that means someone must be teaching that 8th class. The cynic in me suspects that the reason administrators like block scheduling so much is that it somehow gets more work out of teachers without costing any more money.

No. Not where I work. Still 7 periods, just split up differently. First period meets 45 minutes every day. After that comes 2, 4, 6 on one day and 3, 5, 7 on the other.

My kids' high school has 4 blocks each day, 8 total periods.

What are the extra the periods (beyond for cores and pe). Is your kid's school offering three electives instead of two? Or is the 8th period a return period (study hall, intervention, etc)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Qualifier: I am an elementary General Music Teacher in FCPS, so the music focus came naturally to me.

My son, who is now in 9th grade, had block scheduling in MS. For him, it 100% killed Band for him. He was doing great up until 7th. He even got put in the 8th grade band as a 7th grader. 90 minutes of Band was ROUGH. He said behavior was awful after 45 minutes or so, so the teacher had to spend too much time on redirecting, yelling, etc. As a music teacher, I think 90 minutes is a long time for young musicians to play and stay focused.

Now, in his second year, he took Drama instead. The Block schedule 90 minute class allowed them to do really cool things, and he LOVED that class. Now as a freshman, he is taking Chorus, and it seems his chorus teacher is very creative about really teaching them sight-reading, diction, phonetics, etc. so that they are not just straight singing the whole 90 minutes. I have heard no complaints that it is too long like he complained about Band.

We may just have had a boy who was losing interest anyway, but with all classes, teachers can be really creative about the longer classes. If they are not, 90 minutes can seem like a lifetime to Middle Schoolers.

He did really like having 2 days to get homework done, and not having every subject to do every day. That is probably his favorite part of Block Scheduling.

I would think it is easier to have a longer class for band and orchestra since a 45 minute class would have to build in the same amount of time for set up, tuning and clean up ad the block class. That would give more time for practice or time for sectionals and other things like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:H-B Woodlawn has block for middle school and its great, and I'm comparing directly to experience in another APS middle school. They have each class 4x a week. My eighth grader is in foreign language, band, and an elective which could not be fit into the schedule at the neighborhood school. Overall test scores at HB are fine compared to other schools.

Even though HB calls each period a "block", I don't believe they have "block scheduling". Block scheduling implies double periods/ time slots no? The only double time slots at HB are for AP bio, Chem and physics.

I had one kid at HB and another at a different high school with true block scheduling. Their timetables were very different

[Anonymous]

As to how block scheduling wprks. I have one kid at TJ. They use blocks for an 8th, "across tivity" period, since the kids come from all over. In their case it is awesome. But it is added time to the school day, which lasts from about 8:30-4:00.

My MS student's school just started block this year. Monday is "anchor day" and they go to all 7 classes. The othe 4 days are block. They have 3 block classes a day (so 6 over the course of 2 days). Their 3rd period class meets every day for a standard period, rather than a standard period on Monday and double period TU/TH or W/F. She does orchestra, and says she has no problem at all with the longer class period. It certainly does not make her want to drop orchestra, and he private teacher feels she is making good progress. She does like that she does not have to take her instrument every day. I like that (unlike her brother) she will not have to figure out how to make block scheduling work while adjusting to high school.

MS block schedules vs standard schedules. I don't see the big deal either way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Qualifier: I am an elementary General Music Teacher in FCPS, so the music focus came naturally to me.

My son, who is now in 9th grade, had block scheduling in MS. For him, it 100% killed Band for him. He was doing great up until 7th. He even got put in the 8th grade band as a 7th grader. 90 minutes of Band was ROUGH. He said behavior was awful after 45 minutes or so, so the teacher had to spend too much time on redirecting, yelling, etc. As a music teacher, I think 90 minutes is a long time for young musicians to play and stay focused.

Now, in his second year, he took Drama instead. The Block schedule 90 minute class allowed them to do really cool things, and he LOVED that class. Now as a freshman, he is taking Chorus, and it seems his chorus teacher is very creative about really teaching them sight-reading, diction, phonetics, etc. so that they are not just straight singing the whole 90 minutes. I have heard no complaints that it is too long like he complained about Band.

We may just have had a boy who was losing interest anyway, but with all classes, teachers can be really creative about the longer classes. If they are not, 90 minutes can seem like a lifetime to Middle Schoolers.

He did really like having 2 days to get homework done, and not having every subject to do every day. That is probably his favorite part of Block Scheduling.

I would think it is easier to have a longer class for band and orchestra since a 45 minute class would have to build in the same amount of time for set up, tuning and clean up ad the block class. That would give more time for practice or time for sectionals and other things like that.

I am the PP who mentioned that block ruined Band for her Middle Schooler a few years back. I think that if a teacher manages the block well, it could be great. In our case, it was not. The first month of school, the teacher did not have music for them. They literally did only scales, because "oh no, my vendor did not get the music to me on time again". It might have been an anomaly.

He still has block for chorus now in 9th, and they do sight-reading, diction/pronunciation practice, part work, and whole group work to mix up the block. This works well for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:H-B Woodlawn has block for middle school and its great, and I'm comparing directly to experience in another APS middle school. They have each class 4x a week. My eighth grader is in foreign language, band, and an elective which could not be fit into the schedule at the neighborhood school. Overall test scores at HB are fine compared to other schools.

Even though HB calls each period a "block", I don't believe they have "block scheduling". Block scheduling implies double periods/ time slots no? The only double time slots at HB are for AP bio, Chem and physics.

I had one kid at HB and another at a different high school with true block scheduling. Their timetables were very different

Spouse of HB high school teacher here. HB does call its periods "blocks," but they are ~45 minutes long. Maybe it's different for middle schoolers there, but I'm pretty sure it's not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Qualifier: I am an elementary General Music Teacher in FCPS, so the music focus came naturally to me.

My son, who is now in 9th grade, had block scheduling in MS. For him, it 100% killed Band for him. He was doing great up until 7th. He even got put in the 8th grade band as a 7th grader. 90 minutes of Band was ROUGH. He said behavior was awful after 45 minutes or so, so the teacher had to spend too much time on redirecting, yelling, etc. As a music teacher, I think 90 minutes is a long time for young musicians to play and stay focused.

Now, in his second year, he took Drama instead. The Block schedule 90 minute class allowed them to do really cool things, and he LOVED that class. Now as a freshman, he is taking Chorus, and it seems his chorus teacher is very creative about really teaching them sight-reading, diction, phonetics, etc. so that they are not just straight singing the whole 90 minutes. I have heard no complaints that it is too long like he complained about Band.

We may just have had a boy who was losing interest anyway, but with all classes, teachers can be really creative about the longer classes. If they are not, 90 minutes can seem like a lifetime to Middle Schoolers.

He did really like having 2 days to get homework done, and not having every subject to do every day. That is probably his favorite part of Block Scheduling.

I would think it is easier to have a longer class for band and orchestra since a 45 minute class would have to build in the same amount of time for set up, tuning and clean up ad the block class. That would give more time for practice or time for sectionals and other things like that.

I am the PP who mentioned that block ruined Band for her Middle Schooler a few years back. I think that if a teacher manages the block well, it could be great. In our case, it was not. The first month of school, the teacher did not have music for them. They literally did only scales, because "oh no, my vendor did not get the music to me on time again". It might have been an anomaly.

He still has block for chorus now in 9th, and they do sight-reading, diction/pronunciation practice, part work, and whole group work to mix up the block. This works well for him.

That is a teacher problem not a block scheduling problem. They would not have had the music regardless of what type of schedule. Same goes for class management - it takes good class management for both types of schedules for band/orchestra.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is it so objectionable? Our Fairfax County MS does block scheduling two days a week and it's not a big deal. However, I don't have anything to compare it to, so I'm curious about the downsides.

Lots of reasons. A few:

1) Typically guts the band program and languages, where daily repetition/instruction is needed.
2) Middle schoolers don't typically have attention spans capable of doing a single subject for 90 minutes.
3) Kid is absent, kid misses a LOT.
4) Subs don't know how to teach block, so if a teacher is absent, that's a lot waste.

I am agnostic on block scheduling, but this objection comes up every time the subject is discussed, and it's really not correct.

Let's say we have two kids, one with block schedules, the other without.

Larlo has 45 minutes each of science, social studies, PE, Spanish, English, math, and music.

Larla has science, social studies, PE, and Spanish on M-W-F, and English, math, music (and let's give her another elective--art) on T-T. (Next week, the days will switch.)

NOw let's say both kids are out Monday. Larlo misses 45 minutes of every class he takes. Larla misses 90 minutes--effectively 2 days--of science, social studies, PE, and Spanish. But she doesn't miss any English, math, music, or art.

Now let's say both kids are also out on Tuesday. Larlo misses another 45 minutes of all his classes, for a total of 2 days missed in every class. Larla misses 90 minutes of English, math, music, and art, for a total of 2 days missed in every class.

This is a non-issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is it so objectionable? Our Fairfax County MS does block scheduling two days a week and it's not a big deal. However, I don't have anything to compare it to, so I'm curious about the downsides.

Lots of reasons. A few:

1) Typically guts the band program and languages, where daily repetition/instruction is needed.
2) Middle schoolers don't typically have attention spans capable of doing a single subject for 90 minutes.
3) Kid is absent, kid misses a LOT.
4) Subs don't know how to teach block, so if a teacher is absent, that's a lot waste.

I am agnostic on block scheduling, but this objection comes up every time the subject is discussed, and it's really not correct.

Let's say we have two kids, one with block schedules, the other without.

Larlo has 45 minutes each of science, social studies, PE, Spanish, English, math, and music.

Larla has science, social studies, PE, and Spanish on M-W-F, and English, math, music (and let's give her another elective--art) on T-T. (Next week, the days will switch.)

NOw let's say both kids are out Monday. Larlo misses 45 minutes of every class he takes. Larla misses 90 minutes--effectively 2 days--of science, social studies, PE, and Spanish. But she doesn't miss any English, math, music, or art.

Now let's say both kids are also out on Tuesday. Larlo misses another 45 minutes of all his classes, for a total of 2 days missed in every class. Larla misses 90 minutes of English, math, music, and art, for a total of 2 days missed in every class.

This is a non-issue.

Actually, it is an issue. Especially in classes like math or world language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is it so objectionable? Our Fairfax County MS does block scheduling two days a week and it's not a big deal. However, I don't have anything to compare it to, so I'm curious about the downsides.

Lots of reasons. A few:

1) Typically guts the band program and languages, where daily repetition/instruction is needed.
2) Middle schoolers don't typically have attention spans capable of doing a single subject for 90 minutes.
3) Kid is absent, kid misses a LOT.
4) Subs don't know how to teach block, so if a teacher is absent, that's a lot waste.

I am agnostic on block scheduling, but this objection comes up every time the subject is discussed, and it's really not correct.

Let's say we have two kids, one with block schedules, the other without.

Larlo has 45 minutes each of science, social studies, PE, Spanish, English, math, and music.

Larla has science, social studies, PE, and Spanish on M-W-F, and English, math, music (and let's give her another elective--art) on T-T. (Next week, the days will switch.)

NOw let's say both kids are out Monday. Larlo misses 45 minutes of every class he takes. Larla misses 90 minutes--effectively 2 days--of science, social studies, PE, and Spanish. But she doesn't miss any English, math, music, or art.

Now let's say both kids are also out on Tuesday. Larlo misses another 45 minutes of all his classes, for a total of 2 days missed in every class. Larla misses 90 minutes of English, math, music, and art, for a total of 2 days missed in every class.

This is a non-issue.

Actually, it is an issue. Especially in classes like math or world language.

+ 1 School missed is an issue, period. But I'd rather a kid miss one day and miss only 45 minutes which can be easily caught up on the next day than miss one day and miss 90 minutes of instruction which now is twice as much material to be learned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is it so objectionable? Our Fairfax County MS does block scheduling two days a week and it's not a big deal. However, I don't have anything to compare it to, so I'm curious about the downsides.

Lots of reasons. A few:

1) Typically guts the band program and languages, where daily repetition/instruction is needed.
2) Middle schoolers don't typically have attention spans capable of doing a single subject for 90 minutes.
3) Kid is absent, kid misses a LOT.
4) Subs don't know how to teach block, so if a teacher is absent, that's a lot waste.

I am agnostic on block scheduling, but this objection comes up every time the subject is discussed, and it's really not correct.

Let's say we have two kids, one with block schedules, the other without.

Larlo has 45 minutes each of science, social studies, PE, Spanish, English, math, and music.

Larla has science, social studies, PE, and Spanish on M-W-F, and English, math, music (and let's give her another elective--art) on T-T. (Next week, the days will switch.)

NOw let's say both kids are out Monday. Larlo misses 45 minutes of every class he takes. Larla misses 90 minutes--effectively 2 days--of science, social studies, PE, and Spanish. But she doesn't miss any English, math, music, or art.

Now let's say both kids are also out on Tuesday. Larlo misses another 45 minutes of all his classes, for a total of 2 days missed in every class. Larla misses 90 minutes of English, math, music, and art, for a total of 2 days missed in every class.

This is a non-issue.

Actually, it is an issue. Especially in classes like math or world language.

+ 1 School missed is an issue, period. But I'd rather a kid miss one day and miss only 45 minutes which can be easily caught up on the next day than miss one day and miss 90 minutes of instruction which now is twice as much material to be learned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is it so objectionable? Our Fairfax County MS does block scheduling two days a week and it's not a big deal. However, I don't have anything to compare it to, so I'm curious about the downsides.

Lots of reasons. A few:

1) Typically guts the band program and languages, where daily repetition/instruction is needed.
2) Middle schoolers don't typically have attention spans capable of doing a single subject for 90 minutes.
3) Kid is absent, kid misses a LOT.
4) Subs don't know how to teach block, so if a teacher is absent, that's a lot waste.

I am agnostic on block scheduling, but this objection comes up every time the subject is discussed, and it's really not correct.

Let's say we have two kids, one with block schedules, the other without.

Larlo has 45 minutes each of science, social studies, PE, Spanish, English, math, and music.

Larla has science, social studies, PE, and Spanish on M-W-F, and English, math, music (and let's give her another elective--art) on T-T. (Next week, the days will switch.)

NOw let's say both kids are out Monday. Larlo misses 45 minutes of every class he takes. Larla misses 90 minutes--effectively 2 days--of science, social studies, PE, and Spanish. But she doesn't miss any English, math, music, or art.

Now let's say both kids are also out on Tuesday. Larlo misses another 45 minutes of all his classes, for a total of 2 days missed in every class. Larla misses 90 minutes of English, math, music, and art, for a total of 2 days missed in every class.

This is a non-issue.

Actually, it is an issue. Especially in classes like math or world language.

+ 1 School missed is an issue, period. But I'd rather a kid miss one day and miss only 45 minutes which can be easily caught up on the next day than miss one day and miss 90 minutes of instruction which now is twice as much material to be learned.

One could also argue that with block scheduling a kid only misses half their classes instead of all of them. Particularly, if their schedule works out that they have PE and electives on one day and their core classes on another. We loved block scheduling because we could schedule appointments so that we could work around their lighter classes. Especially for quick appointments like orthodontists so they missed the least amount of instructional time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Actually, it is an issue. Especially in classes like math or world language.

+ 1 School missed is an issue, period. But I'd rather a kid miss one day and miss only 45 minutes which can be easily caught up on the next day than miss one day and miss 90 minutes of instruction which now is twice as much material to be learned.


One could also argue that with block scheduling a kid only misses half their classes instead of all of them. Particularly, if their schedule works out that they have PE and electives on one day and their core classes on another. We loved block scheduling because we could schedule appointments so that we could work around their lighter classes. Especially for quick appointments like orthodontists so they missed the least amount of instructional time.

I think there are a lot more kids who are going to be be hurt by missing 90 minutes of math or world language than are going to benefit from easier-to-schedule orthodontist appointments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:H-B Woodlawn has block for middle school and its great, and I'm comparing directly to experience in another APS middle school. They have each class 4x a week. My eighth grader is in foreign language, band, and an elective which could not be fit into the schedule at the neighborhood school. Overall test scores at HB are fine compared to other schools.

Even though HB calls each period a "block", I don't believe they have "block scheduling". Block scheduling implies double periods/ time slots no? The only double time slots at HB are for AP bio, Chem and physics.

I had one kid at HB and another at a different high school with true block scheduling. Their timetables were very different

You're right. The classes are regular length. However, they don't have every class every day; they have each one 4x a week, so they can have 8 classes instead of 7. So sort of in-between block scheduling and a regular schedule. This also gives them three free periods over the course of the week that they use for clubs and meetings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is it so objectionable? Our Fairfax County MS does block scheduling two days a week and it's not a big deal. However, I don't have anything to compare it to, so I'm curious about the downsides.

Lots of reasons. A few:

1) Typically guts the band program and languages, where daily repetition/instruction is needed.
2) Middle schoolers don't typically have attention spans capable of doing a single subject for 90 minutes.
3) Kid is absent, kid misses a LOT.
4) Subs don't know how to teach block, so if a teacher is absent, that's a lot waste.

I am agnostic on block scheduling, but this objection comes up every time the subject is discussed, and it's really not correct.

Let's say we have two kids, one with block schedules, the other without.

Larlo has 45 minutes each of science, social studies, PE, Spanish, English, math, and music.

Larla has science, social studies, PE, and Spanish on M-W-F, and English, math, music (and let's give her another elective--art) on T-T. (Next week, the days will switch.)

NOw let's say both kids are out Monday. Larlo misses 45 minutes of every class he takes. Larla misses 90 minutes--effectively 2 days--of science, social studies, PE, and Spanish. But she doesn't miss any English, math, music, or art.

Now let's say both kids are also out on Tuesday. Larlo misses another 45 minutes of all his classes, for a total of 2 days missed in every class. Larla misses 90 minutes of English, math, music, and art, for a total of 2 days missed in every class.

This is a non-issue.

Actually, it is an issue. Especially in classes like math or world language.

+ 1 School missed is an issue, period. But I'd rather a kid miss one day and miss only 45 minutes which can be easily caught up on the next day than miss one day and miss 90 minutes of instruction which now is twice as much material to be learned.

Perhaps, but you forgot the part where the student who misses one day with block scheduling also has 4 classes she didn't miss (because they weren't held on that day). So there is no material to make up in those 4 classes. I really don't get how it is harder to make up 90 minutes of 4 missed classes than it is to make up 45 minutes of 7 or 8 classes. Especially when one of those 4 classes is just as likely to be an elective or PE.