Reply to Middle School Intensified vs Regular Subjects

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Reply to "Middle School Intensified vs Regular Subjects - Worth It?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have a 6th grader so I haven’t fully experienced “intensified” classes, but we put our kid in all intensified classes along with pre-algebra. There are only so many ways to scramble schedules, so doing all intensified classes is a way to minimize exposure to problem behavior and get your kid placed in a homeroom where most of the other kids are also in all intensified classes. Since gifted services in APS are basically a joke, I looked at intensified classes as a way to screen my kid’s peer group somewhat. Intensified classes are open to all kids, but choosing them is a decent indicator that the parents are engaged with what is going on at school.

A friend whose son has some learning disabilities said that he used his homeroom time to goof off and watch YouTube on the school iPad and that it was common in his class. Friends whose older kids took all intensified classes said their kids used their homeroom time effectively and rarely brought homework home until 7th grade. [/quote]
Ha.  Those 90 minute periods are so long that kids get bored and start causing trouble, especially the smart but immature 6th grade boys.  They are bored and have lots of time on their hands.  Last year they came up with so many obnoxious things from games where everyone would drop something when the teacher said a certain word, to elaborate abuses of the bathroom pass, to hiding things of the teacher and others, to illicitly taking bad cell phone pictures of the teacher.  There was a new shtick nearly every day in the classes with the less engaging teachers.  And yes, this was in intensified classes.[/quote]

Teachers have to be really engaged and creative to make use of 90 minutes. Most just give the same lecture they would give in a 50 minute period, and then let the kids work on classwork/homework for the remaining 40 minutes.

They have gone to blocks again as a teacher retention tool — teachers have to deal with 3 less classes per day, and then do planning or chill for the last bit of every block.

NOTE OP: one more huge plus of HBW, is they still have 50 minute periods, no huge meandering 90 minute blocks.

https://hbwoodlawn.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2024/06/The-Underground-Student-Handbook_-2024-Google-Docs-1.pdf[/quote]

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