APS ending block scheduling?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wouldn’t going back to all classes every day mean a longer school day? You have to make up the instruction minutes for all the time you spend changing classes.

No. HB does this now, so there is already one school in APS doing it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

The reason HB has this schedule (8 45 minute blocks) is they have to in order for high school kids to be able to participate in sports at their home high school. It's not some educational choice. They have to build a block into the end of the school day for transportation, basically.

Not true.

Okay then tell us the truth.

There are a lot of factors that go into determining HB's schedule. It's not just driven by sports.

[Anonymous]

HB does not have every class every day. They have every class 4x/week.

[Anonymous]

I have 6 years left after this year but this could push me to early retirement. It’s just too big of a change to make now. Seeing every class every day sounds exhausting but I have only taught with block scheduling. I don’t find it to be wasted time but it’s all I’ve ever known.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if this is an attempt to raise achievement from the bottom with more consistent intervention. Seeing someone every day is better than 2-3 times a week IMO, though I work in an elementary setting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have 6 years left after this year but this could push me to early retirement. It’s just too big of a change to make now. Seeing every class every day sounds exhausting but I have only taught with block scheduling. I don’t find it to be wasted time but it’s all I’ve ever known.

This is what I’m worried about. If schools have to absorb 3 or 5 times the usual rate of retirements, it’s going to be very difficult to fill all those jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have 6 years left after this year but this could push me to early retirement. It’s just too big of a change to make now. Seeing every class every day sounds exhausting but I have only taught with block scheduling. I don’t find it to be wasted time but it’s all I’ve ever known.

This is what I’m worried about. If schools have to absorb 3 or 5 times the usual rate of retirements, it’s going to be very difficult to fill all those jobs.

I am not that worried about retirement for every teacher who would hate this there’s probably one who would love it plus with how many layoffs are happening people are going to turn to teaching or be more cautious about leaving. That will slow the bleed for a few years at least.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HB does not have every class every day. They have every class 4x/week.

True but that's because HB also has one more class period than the other schools. I think if they didn't have 8 class periods, they could have each class each day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have 6 years left after this year but this could push me to early retirement. It’s just too big of a change to make now. Seeing every class every day sounds exhausting but I have only taught with block scheduling. I don’t find it to be wasted time but it’s all I’ve ever known.

what school are you at that has only had block your whole career?

[Anonymous]

but but but getting rid of cell phones was supposed to fix everything! that's why they said!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if this is an attempt to raise achievement from the bottom with more consistent intervention. Seeing someone every day is better than 2-3 times a week IMO, though I work in an elementary setting.

A cheaper more efficient way to raise achievement would be to separate the classes by ability so teachers can focus all their attention on a specific level. Of course, this is obvious. Of course, they don't do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bring back textbooks, 50 classes, and tracking. Life was great in the 70’s and 80’s.

Uh, no. How dumb are you.

Actually hs in the 80s and early 90s was great. The internet and cell phones ruined the entire hs experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

+1. My kids loved block scheduling too. It prepared them well for college and also helped them figure out how to manage their time regarding homework and assignments.

But it’s nothing like college. That’s a fake equivalency. College classes are not as long, you can get up and go the bathroom easily or go get a breath of fresh air, you don’t have 4 classes a day.

Who gets up to go to the bathroom or for fresh air in college outside of an actual break? Is that some new zoomer thing because most of the profs I had would've been a bit peeved with the frequent interruptions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

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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.

Yes, but many kids don't practice much, if at all, outside of class. Wouldn’t be a problem if they didn’t have to perform.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Well how did the high schools handle this before block scheduling? It hasn't always been this way.

1. AP tests have changed.
2. The number of APs offered and typical amount taken by students has dramatically increased.
3. Back in “our day” the classes were often not just 45 minutes which isn’t very long. I know in my high school it was 55 minute periods.

I think 45 is too short and 90 is too long.

At my high school, we only took 6 classes at a time, not 7. So yes, about 55 min per class every day.