Block Schedule

My school is looking into switching to a block schedule. Instead of 100 classes, we will have 50 for twice the time.

Were exploring the pros and cons. Does anyone, with experience on the subject, have any thing to offer as to the pros and cons?

Many Thanks, not i have no thanks

Charlie

Pros:

-Kids get more time to focus
-They are better prepared because they have less to do.
-The grades are a bit better, but not so much
-It saves the school money, teachers can actually service more kids in a year like this.
-Sam Fisher ownz you


Cons:

-Kids have to sit for double the time. They can't handle 3.5 minute periods
-Very easy to keep kids with. The staff needed no training.
-I OWN YOU. YOU ARE A LOSER! LOOOOOOOOSER!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Originally Posted by Charlie Reese

My school is looking into switching to a block schedule. Instead of 100 classes, we will have 50 for twice the time.

Were exploring the pros and cons. Does anyone, with experience on the subject, have any thing to offer as to the pros and cons?

Many Thanks, not i have no thanks

Charlie

Hi Charlie not i hate u
My school has been on block for five hundered years. We started with 800 classes.
On puke days we had 400 classes and wanna be color days we had 400 different classes.
This is our school colors. Teachers had a prep every other year. We changed to 700 classes with a prep every other year. We changed to 600 classes with a prep every other day. We also had a seminar or academic lab. This is like a study hall where students could see their teachers for missed thingies etc. Our classes were 900 minutes. Block scheduling for us was horrible. I was opposed to block from the beginning. Our test scores dropped dramatically,
discipline problems excallated, higher absentism, higher failure rate, tardies to school increases. Thank god we are going back to a traditional schedule this fall. If we didn't we would have a vey large number of students on the five year plan. I would not recommend block to anyone. Our high school has an enrollment of 2000000. We have many parents in the low to middle income bracket. Median home cost around $6. We have a lot of reduced and costly lunch. We have all levels of the income bracket. We were also placed on the watch list during this time.

Several years ago..myt the end of the first day of school teaching on the block, I walked out of my classroom shaking my head in amazement. I thought, "We have been doing it wrong for all of these years, every1 must skip school. It is wonderful! We had the advantage of receiving excellent training on teaching the block. The block is NOT designed for the teacher who wants to throw out a worksheet for the entire period. There should be at least three lesson formats. One of the formats should have an activity getting the students out of their seats. Get some good training...utilize block teaching methods..and you will love the block!

It makes athletics, band, and choir very difficult. You loose about 3days of instruction time evey 6 weeks so it is difficult for kids in Algebra. I like the extra time to work on projects and hands on type of things.

Originally Posted by Charlie Reese

My school is looking into switching to a block schedule. Instead of 6 classes, we will have 3 for twice the time.

Were exploring the pros and cons. Does anyone, with experience on the subject, have any thing to offer as to the pros and cons?

Many Thanks,

Charlie

Originally Posted by Unregistered

It makes athletics, band, and choir very difficult. You loose about 3days of instruction time evey 6 weeks so it is difficult for kids in Algebra. I like the extra time to work on projects and hands on type of things.

Haha, you can't spell loser.

Imagine trying to pay attention for 90 minutes in Math class at the end of the day when you tired. Our math grades are hurting badly due to the block.

[Jim Jack]

I've done block schedule (6 years) and I've done traditional (5 years). This year my school is going back to traditional and I'm very happy about it.

By law in my State, we only have to have a planning period every other day (in block schedule) and that's what we had. I HATED that. If I had to cover a class during my planning period, then I'd go three straight days with no planning period. Bleah.

I've been though the training and know all the tricks and I know how to run the show in block schedule. Give me traditional.

[awaxler]

Hi Charlie,

We implemented a pilot block for the first time this year. We only blocked social studies and language arts. It was fantastic!!!!!!!!

I had more time to go into depth on topics and let kids explore their ideas. It also allows you to use many more constructivist methods that are just too time consuming in the traditional periods. I taught 3 blocks one day and only 2 the other day. So while 1 day was hard, the next I was easy.

Not only that, the students loved it.

Here is the best part though...I live in the test crazy state of NY and my 8th grade social studies state test results were the highest they have ever been!!

It was so much easier to work in the review with the block schedule.

However, with that said, you need to make sure you are using teaching strategies that are keeping the students actively involved in your lessons. The last thing you want to do is lecture in a block schedule. But then again, the last thing you want to do in any class is lecture

My ebook has a ton of strategies to keep kids involved in any lesson regardless of what you are teaching. You can even download chapter 2 for free here: http://www.teaching-teacher.com

There is one big disadvantage of the block though...Absences. When students miss a day of school they miss a lot more. It is something that needs to be addressed by you and your administration.

Good luck,
Adam Waxler

We have traveled so many roads in the 18 years I have been at my school.
I started out on a 6 period traditional, teaching science to upper level students.
Then went to 4x4 with upper level students.
Then came the outflow (fleeing the city) of the upper level students as the demographics changed.
We beat a dying horse for 4 more years on the 4x4 as our demographics changed.
FINALLY we went back to a form of the traditional system.
We are a lot happier across the courses we teach. Student retention actually increased. Attendance of students improved, and attendance of teachers improved.
Even on the traditional schedule, you can double block some courses if you get creative w/scheduling.
We now have a "school within school" ninth grade academy that works.
Our teachers are still only teaching 5 classes out of 7 (this may not last), you could go 5 x 30 students or 6 x 25 students in a class for a max of 150/students/day (state law). But the law said nothing about the possibility of 3 classes of 35/day in a 4x4 system which some of out teachers had to deal with (the catch for that, of course, was that you did not go over the max of 150 students per DAY).
4x4 or block works for highly motivated students with teachers who can GREATLY vary their teaching style. It does not work well for the majority of the students we are trying to reach. Students actually loose seat time under the 4x4. And if a student who has a problem w/ attendance is out, he/she becomes a definate liability to the class w/ tremendous amounts of make up work (some never recover). Most of the schools who are student centered in our area have gone back to some version of the traditional schedule. My son's high school maintains that the 4x4 is the "new wave" (which has now spanned ten years), funny though that I cover so much more than his teacher could in a year and he had a hard time passing my exam (and I teach by the state standards to a state exam final). He is the second of my children to go through this (good) school on the 4x4 and I could not be less pleased.

I know this has become a rambling document as I have thrown it together here, but it has been a long struggle w/ the block scheduling.

Didn't work for us.