Will we ever move away from block scheduling?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids loved block scheduling. They went to a secondary school so they had block from 7-12. They enjoyed not having homework in every class every day, enjoyed only focusing on a few classes a day, and having more days between classes to finish assignments.

Right? And they like dessert with every meal too.

We don't do things because kids like them, or because they are convenient for adults, we do them because they are best for kids. Or at least, we should.

How on earth is block scheduling where there is more time to focus on the subject every other day remotely equivalent to dessert, which is an extra treat? Many teachers strongly prefer teaching in the block models and feel it’s better for students.

Obviously many educators prefer block scheduling, that's why FCPS has it. That doesn't mean it's the best way for students to learn.

Prove this.

It's much more proven that outsourcing the teaching of grammar to Lexia for elementary kids is harmful. Can we change that first since it's shown in study after study?

Consider when your child (or you) learns something - swimming lessons, riding a bike, music lessons, a foreign language, anything. Taking a lesson once a week is a very slow way to learn a skill. Taking two or three lessons a week is better, but often children need to swim every day before they actually learn to swim. The music instructor will tell parents that it's better to practice for 5-10 minutes 5 times a week rather than for an hour on the weekend. Daily sports practice is what the best athletes do. Etc. Our brains learn best by doing something every day, not two or three times a week. This is intuitive when we think of skills. Why is it hard to believe about school?

My kid takes pitching lessons. She has a lesson every other week. She practices >4x/week (out of season and in). In traditional schooling models class is a lesson and homework is the practice. Or at least this is true in MS/HS - less so in ES, but even then it can work in the upper ES grades.

Uh, kids with block scheduling are not doing math homework every night. They do it every other night. That's exactly the problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids loved block scheduling. They went to a secondary school so they had block from 7-12. They enjoyed not having homework in every class every day, enjoyed only focusing on a few classes a day, and having more days between classes to finish assignments.

Right? And they like dessert with every meal too.

We don't do things because kids like them, or because they are convenient for adults, we do them because they are best for kids. Or at least, we should.

How on earth is block scheduling where there is more time to focus on the subject every other day remotely equivalent to dessert, which is an extra treat? Many teachers strongly prefer teaching in the block models and feel it’s better for students.

Obviously many educators prefer block scheduling, that's why FCPS has it. That doesn't mean it's the best way for students to learn.

Prove this.

It's much more proven that outsourcing the teaching of grammar to Lexia for elementary kids is harmful. Can we change that first since it's shown in study after study?

Consider when your child (or you) learns something - swimming lessons, riding a bike, music lessons, a foreign language, anything. Taking a lesson once a week is a very slow way to learn a skill. Taking two or three lessons a week is better, but often children need to swim every day before they actually learn to swim. The music instructor will tell parents that it's better to practice for 5-10 minutes 5 times a week rather than for an hour on the weekend. Daily sports practice is what the best athletes do. Etc. Our brains learn best by doing something every day, not two or three times a week. This is intuitive when we think of skills. Why is it hard to believe about school?

My kid takes pitching lessons. She has a lesson every other week. She practices >4x/week (out of season and in). In traditional schooling models class is a lesson and homework is the practice. Or at least this is true in MS/HS - less so in ES, but even then it can work in the upper ES grades.

Uh, kids with block scheduling are not doing math homework every night. They do it every other night. That's exactly the problem.

It’s enough work that it can be spread across two nights. I have no issue with it.

[Anonymous]

Block scheduling makes no sense from a learning perspective. A person can only absorb so much information from a lecture - maybe 30 minutes worth at most. In a math class, you could do practice problems for the next hour but you would probably lose focus doing that as well. But in a history class, the rest of the time becomes wasted time. Try it yourself - find an online class that runs for 1.5 hours and see how you manage to concentrate for that long. Even in universities, if the class is meant to be 2 hours long, they have a 10-15 minute break halfway through.

Block learning essentially means your child is learning 1/2 the material that he or she would if there were 45 or 50 minute classes.

For the poster who says her kids backpack is too heavy already, how is that possible since FCPS doesn't use textbooks?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Block scheduling makes no sense from a learning perspective. A person can only absorb so much information from a lecture - maybe 30 minutes worth at most. In a math class, you could do practice problems for the next hour but you would probably lose focus doing that as well. But in a history class, the rest of the time becomes wasted time. Try it yourself - find an online class that runs for 1.5 hours and see how you manage to concentrate for that long. Even in universities, if the class is meant to be 2 hours long, they have a 10-15 minute break halfway through.

Block learning essentially means your child is learning 1/2 the material that he or she would if there were 45 or 50 minute classes.

For the poster who says her kids backpack is too heavy already, how is that possible since FCPS doesn't use textbooks?

Sorry nope. I teach university and I can tell you with certainty that there is as much downtime in my four day a week classes as there is in my twice a week classes. The nice thing about longer sessions is you get to apply most levels of learning in one session--knowledge and application.

Your assumption here is that students only learn through active lecture instead of lecture followed by analysis and application.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Block scheduling makes no sense from a learning perspective. A person can only absorb so much information from a lecture - maybe 30 minutes worth at most. In a math class, you could do practice problems for the next hour but you would probably lose focus doing that as well. But in a history class, the rest of the time becomes wasted time. Try it yourself - find an online class that runs for 1.5 hours and see how you manage to concentrate for that long. Even in universities, if the class is meant to be 2 hours long, they have a 10-15 minute break halfway through.

Block learning essentially means your child is learning 1/2 the material that he or she would if there were 45 or 50 minute classes.

For the poster who says her kids backpack is too heavy already, how is that possible since FCPS doesn't use textbooks?

I answered this earlier. She has two classes with textbooks and workbooks. So for those alone, there are 4 books. So there ends up being 3 binders and four textbooks on that one day, plus her instrument and lunchbox.

[Anonymous]

Colleges do block scheduling and it seems to work for them. Classes are either M,W,F for 60 minutes or T,Th for 90 min each.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Block scheduling makes no sense from a learning perspective. A person can only absorb so much information from a lecture - maybe 30 minutes worth at most. In a math class, you could do practice problems for the next hour but you would probably lose focus doing that as well. But in a history class, the rest of the time becomes wasted time. Try it yourself - find an online class that runs for 1.5 hours and see how you manage to concentrate for that long. Even in universities, if the class is meant to be 2 hours long, they have a 10-15 minute break halfway through.

Block learning essentially means your child is learning 1/2 the material that he or she would if there were 45 or 50 minute classes.

For the poster who says her kids backpack is too heavy already, how is that possible since FCPS doesn't use textbooks?

Sorry nope. I teach university and I can tell you with certainty that there is as much downtime in my four day a week classes as there is in my twice a week classes. The nice thing about longer sessions is you get to apply most levels of learning in one session--knowledge and application.

Your assumption here is that students only learn through active lecture instead of lecture followed by analysis and application.

Do you have children? Do you really think that high school and middle school students are equivalent to college students and should be treated the same way, that the same should be expected of them?

How bizarre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Block scheduling is the worst.

My kids text me during the day (what happened to the no phone policy???) and I’m always asking why are you texting in the middle of class. They always tell me that they are done with all their work and their teacher told them they can do whatever. This happens too often. There is a good 20-30 minutes at the end of every class where the kids are just playing around. Ask your kids. Ask their friends.

I don’t blame the teachers for this at all. They can’t keep kids focused for that long.

Kids need math every day. They need language every day. Feel free to argue with me, but you won’t convince me otherwise.

By the time they are seniors, it’s possible that they are ready for block scheduling, but up until that point they just aren’t.

Taking short breaks and walking through the halls to switch classes is so beneficial. It clears their heads so they can focus better. It’s also good for their health.

Block scheduling is great for science and labs, but that’s pretty much it.

I’ve never seen any studies on this, but Id think kids retain information better when exposed to it daily.

It isn't that teachers can't keep kids focused that long. We are explicitly told that we are not permitted to do direct instruction for more than 15-20 minutes, and our evaluations reflect that directive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Block scheduling makes no sense from a learning perspective. A person can only absorb so much information from a lecture - maybe 30 minutes worth at most. In a math class, you could do practice problems for the next hour but you would probably lose focus doing that as well. But in a history class, the rest of the time becomes wasted time. Try it yourself - find an online class that runs for 1.5 hours and see how you manage to concentrate for that long. Even in universities, if the class is meant to be 2 hours long, they have a 10-15 minute break halfway through.

Block learning essentially means your child is learning 1/2 the material that he or she would if there were 45 or 50 minute classes.

For the poster who says her kids backpack is too heavy already, how is that possible since FCPS doesn't use textbooks?

Sorry nope. I teach university and I can tell you with certainty that there is as much downtime in my four day a week classes as there is in my twice a week classes. The nice thing about longer sessions is you get to apply most levels of learning in one session--knowledge and application.

Your assumption here is that students only learn through active lecture instead of lecture followed by analysis and application.

Do you have children? Do you really think that high school and middle school students are equivalent to college students and should be treated the same way, that the same should be expected of them?

How bizarre.

I have a junior in high school and obviously, he was at one point in middle school. Of course there are different developmental expectations, but block scheduling isn't one of them. It is bizarre that you think a 12 or 13 year old is somehow incapable of this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Block scheduling makes no sense from a learning perspective. A person can only absorb so much information from a lecture - maybe 30 minutes worth at most. In a math class, you could do practice problems for the next hour but you would probably lose focus doing that as well. But in a history class, the rest of the time becomes wasted time. Try it yourself - find an online class that runs for 1.5 hours and see how you manage to concentrate for that long. Even in universities, if the class is meant to be 2 hours long, they have a 10-15 minute break halfway through.

Block learning essentially means your child is learning 1/2 the material that he or she would if there were 45 or 50 minute classes.

For the poster who says her kids backpack is too heavy already, how is that possible since FCPS doesn't use textbooks?

Sorry nope. I teach university and I can tell you with certainty that there is as much downtime in my four day a week classes as there is in my twice a week classes. The nice thing about longer sessions is you get to apply most levels of learning in one session--knowledge and application.

Your assumption here is that students only learn through active lecture instead of lecture followed by analysis and application.

Do you have children? Do you really think that high school and middle school students are equivalent to college students and should be treated the same way, that the same should be expected of them?

How bizarre.

I have a junior in high school and obviously, he was at one point in middle school. Of course there are different developmental expectations, but block scheduling isn't one of them. It is bizarre that you think a 12 or 13 year old is somehow incapable of this.

Well clearly the students are doing worse across America and FCPS so it's not helping the average student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Block scheduling is the worst.

My kids text me during the day (what happened to the no phone policy???) and I’m always asking why are you texting in the middle of class. They always tell me that they are done with all their work and their teacher told them they can do whatever. This happens too often. There is a good 20-30 minutes at the end of every class where the kids are just playing around. Ask your kids. Ask their friends.

I don’t blame the teachers for this at all. They can’t keep kids focused for that long.

Kids need math every day. They need language every day. Feel free to argue with me, but you won’t convince me otherwise.

By the time they are seniors, it’s possible that they are ready for block scheduling, but up until that point they just aren’t.

Taking short breaks and walking through the halls to switch classes is so beneficial. It clears their heads so they can focus better. It’s also good for their health.

Block scheduling is great for science and labs, but that’s pretty much it.

I’ve never seen any studies on this, but Id think kids retain information better when exposed to it daily.

It isn't that teachers can't keep kids focused that long. We are explicitly told that we are not permitted to do direct instruction for more than 15-20 minutes, and our evaluations reflect that directive.

Class discussion with a smart group of peers was an enjoyable part of class when I was in school.
Our teachers didn’t lecture the entire session.

[Anonymous]

My kids attend a school with a regular, 7 period day, and they are so glad that they don't need to deal with block scheduling. My older kid has ADHD, and the standard schedule in and of itself has been a good accommodation for the ADHD.

They never have more than 2 exams per day, because all of the teachers and departments coordinate their tests. Like, Math and Foreign language always have Wednesdays, Science always has Thursdays, and so on.

Not every class gives homework every night. They do get math homework every night, foreign language homework most nights, and reading assignments for English class when they're doing a novel. The remaining classes often will give them longer projects.

AP length exams are easy. They'll do the multiple choice question part on the first day and then the free response part on the next day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Block scheduling makes no sense from a learning perspective. A person can only absorb so much information from a lecture - maybe 30 minutes worth at most. In a math class, you could do practice problems for the next hour but you would probably lose focus doing that as well. But in a history class, the rest of the time becomes wasted time. Try it yourself - find an online class that runs for 1.5 hours and see how you manage to concentrate for that long. Even in universities, if the class is meant to be 2 hours long, they have a 10-15 minute break halfway through.

Block learning essentially means your child is learning 1/2 the material that he or she would if there were 45 or 50 minute classes.

For the poster who says her kids backpack is too heavy already, how is that possible since FCPS doesn't use textbooks?

Sorry nope. I teach university and I can tell you with certainty that there is as much downtime in my four day a week classes as there is in my twice a week classes. The nice thing about longer sessions is you get to apply most levels of learning in one session--knowledge and application.

Your assumption here is that students only learn through active lecture instead of lecture followed by analysis and application.

Do you have children? Do you really think that high school and middle school students are equivalent to college students and should be treated the same way, that the same should be expected of them?

How bizarre.

So do y’all want schools to prep students for university or not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Colleges do block scheduling and it seems to work for them. Classes are either M,W,F for 60 minutes or T,Th for 90 min each.

My college was 50 mins MWF and 75 mins T/Th

[Anonymous]

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