From: Andy Coblentz (acsl@sirius.com)
Date: Sun Sep 12 1999 - 08:07:02 PDT
Message-ID: <001001befd30$7898f420$bb29fea9@acsl> From: "Andy Coblentz" <acsl@sirius.com> Subject: Re: Pinhole Digest #237 - 09/12/99 Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 08:07:02 -0700
I subbed in French and Spanish classes in a block scheduled high school, and
I found that the time blocks were far too long to accommodate effective
instruction. I have found that effective language instruction comes from
repeated, small doses, rather than less frequent, longer blocks of time.
Andy Coblentz
acsl@sirius.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Pinhole Listserv <pinhole@exploratorium.edu>
To: Pinhole Listserv <pinhole@exploratorium.edu>
Sent: Sunday, September 12, 1999 1:20 AM
Subject: Pinhole Digest #237 - 09/12/99
> Pinhole Digest #237 - Sunday, September 12, 1999
>
> Re: pinhole block scheduling
> by "Marc Afifi" <mafifi@redshift.com>
> Re: pinhole block scheduling
> by <Anthea1228@aol.com>
> Re: pinhole block scheduling
> by "Denise Dreyer" <dreyerd@pacbell.net>
> Re: Pinhole Digest #236 - 09/11/99
> by "Sally Seebode" <sseebode@earthlink.net>
> Re: Pinhole block scheduling
> by <RoyMayeda@aol.com>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Subject: Re: pinhole block scheduling
> From: "Marc Afifi" <mafifi@redshift.com>
> Date: Sat, 11 Sep 1999 10:38:01 +0000
>
> My $0.02 worth...
>
> I don't teach at a middle school but I have been teaching in a block
> schedule for the past five years. I came to this school from a
> traditional schedule where we never seemed to have enough time to finish
> lab activities so I was delighted to come to a school using the block
> schedule. We see all six classes on Monday, and T/TH we see periods
> 2,4,6 and W/F we see periods 3,5,7. Monday classes are 50 minutes long,
> block day classes are 105 minutes long. Here's what I have found from my
> experience teaching math, physics, chemistry, and marine science:
>
> There is now enough time to finish the experiments and discuss results.
> This is great on the day we do an experiment.
>
> There is too much time on days we don't do an experiment. This is bad.
>
> The students do not do their homework the night it is assigned. This is
> bad.
>
> There are fewer passing periods so the administrators are happy.
>
> The math students really suffer and not one math teacher at our school
> likes the block schedule. There is a saturation point and students need
> to practice concepts prior to taking in new information, so time is
> spent in class doing homework and consequently less material is covered
> over the course of the year. Some may argue that less is more, but the
> math teachers at my school say less is less and I agree with them. If
> you are trying to prepare your best students for the AP exams you must
> cover the fundamentals in a timely fashion and the block schedule is not
> conducive to this due to the aforementioned saturation point.
>
> All three science teachers say they love the block schedule when they
> are doing an experiment. They also say that experiments really only have
> value when there is appropriate discussion prior to the experiment. We
> agree that the best scenario for us would be three regular Monday
> schedules and then a block schedule on Thursday and Friday.
>
> The social studies teachers love the block schedule.
>
> The English teachers love the block schedule.
>
> The art teacher loves the block schedule.
>
> The French teacher hates the block schedule for much the same reason
> that the math teachers do, but her main complaint is not so much the
> saturation point issue (I think she'd like to see her students all day
> long every day of the week) but the time between classes without
> practice. In fairness, the Spanish teacher raves about the block
> schedule.
>
> It would be interesting to see some quantitative data on the relative
> achievement of students on the block vs a traditional schedule in terms
> of standardized test scores (the efficacy of which is an entirely
> different thread). Does anyone know of such analysis?
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Subject: Re: pinhole block scheduling
> From: <Anthea1228@aol.com>
> Date: Sat, 11 Sep 1999 13:52:18 EDT
>
> Hi again everybody,
>
> I forgot to mention this the last time. I know Berkeley High and some
middle
> schools have an pre-first period. This allows for students in lab science
> classes to come early and have a double period science class while
allowing
> everybody else to have regular 50 minute periods. Of course, there has to
be
> funding to pay the teachers and overhead costs to keep the extra period.
> Maybe a teacher at one of these schools can fill in more details. I've
seen
> some BHS teachers on pinhole.
>
> Marc, I totally agree with you on the saturation point. When we were on a
> strict block schedule for everything, I had to plan several lessons per
> period that were complimentary in a way that wouldn't leave the students
> brain dead after 2 hours. It was a pain. We're progressing much faster
> since we dumped it.
>
> Theresa
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Subject: Re: pinhole block scheduling
> From: "Denise Dreyer" <dreyerd@pacbell.net>
> Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 10:58:43 -0800
>
> I'm at a high school (not a middle school) but we have a modified block
> schedule. We have two days of blocks (we meet with half of our classes
> each day) and the other three days are "regular" (we see all six periods
each
> day.) This was a good compromise. It allows for a lab once a week and
> shorter
> activities the rest of the week. I teach math and computers and really
like
> the
> variety of this schedule. There was concern about it before we
implemented
> but our staff and student survey results are pretty positive now. We had
two
> two-week trial periods the year before we implemented t. That helped get
the
> bugs
> out. We're now in our second or third year. Good luck!
>
> Denise Dreyer
> Mills High School
> Millbrae, CA
>
> Mike Schulist wrote:
>
> > I teach eighth grade science at Miller Creek Middle School in San
Rafael,
> > and we currently have a 45 minute period length. This is too short for
> > science labs, and the science department is pushing to move to block
> > scheduling. Other departments at my school are resisting the idea
however.
> > Does anyone have any experiences in schools that use block scheduling I
> > could share with the faculty? I'd like to know which middle schools use
> > block scheduling so we can have models to go by. The clincher is to
find
> > foreign language and math teachers who enjoy block scheduling. Please
let
> > me know what your middle school block scheduling experience are! Thank
> > you.
> > Mike Schulist
> >
>
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> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Subject: Re: Pinhole Digest #236 - 09/11/99
> From: "Sally Seebode" <sseebode@earthlink.net>
> Date: Sat, 11 Sep 1999 15:25:45 +0000
>
> REgarding block scheduling:
>
> OUr highschool, San Mateo, just went to an AB block. Most people really
> like it -- including our foreign language and math teachers. If you are
> interested, I could find some people who'd be willing to talk to you.
> sally seebode
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Subject: Re: Pinhole block scheduling
> From: <RoyMayeda@aol.com>
> Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 03:01:42 EDT
>
> Hi Mike
> I know that some people love block scheduling, but there are a lot of
> problems to overcome. Our school (Valley HS, Elk Grove USD) just came off
of
> a modified block this year. After 4 years on block scheduling, we found
that
> we covered less material in less depth and retention (especially in math
and
> science) was poor. Different is not always better, it's just different.
> Theresa's suggestion about back-to-back scheduling of math/science and
> language arts/social science sections which lets teachers arrange blocking
> with each other is a system which worked well for me previously. The
> students still have the whole year to catch on to ideas, but we could
arrange
> for a double class whenever the curriculum would be served by it. It
takes a
> bit more cooperation from the counseling department (to coordinate student
> schedules), but it really works. Good luck
> (Be careful what you wish for ... you may get it!)
> Roy
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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