I love the idea of block schedules. They’re pretty awesome in the sense that you get a lot done in the one day you’re there, homework can be done over the next two days, and then you see the students again after a day off without them. However, there’s a catch to block schedule, at least at our school, and maybe our district.
I had three classes today. The classes are an hour and fifty-nine minutes. Eight minutes for snack, 31 minutes for lunch. There were so many things going on today that I did not leave my classroom until the end of the day. Kids asked about speeches, essays, late work–I barely finished my lunch. And, yes, I know it’s my time, and some teachers keep students out of their rooms during snack and lunch, but kids are safe in my room (enough written there). Five hours and fifty-seven minutes of classes, no breaks, constant students.
I went to the bathroom when I got home. Don’t care if that’s too much info.
These were our first four days of block schedule, something we do during state testing. We’ll have four more of these days next week. Teachers sometimes complain about how long the classes are–and they are one minute shy of two hours–but something happens in that setting. The students tend to settle in. They might go to the bathroom here and there, but they just kind of hunker down and get things done. I think they run out of steam. It’s almost as if they might want to be bad, but doing anything for that long is just too tiring. And that ends up being pretty nice, except for the gentle nudging of desks to wake kids up.
There’s still the issue of how to fill two hours with viable curriculum. All my classes were claiming that many film festivals are present during this time. Some may find this a bad deal, but Common Core wants us to look at forms of media, and the extra time in class means you don’t have to rush, can pause and discuss–it’s not such a bad thing. Next week, I’ll be watching One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest with my students. We’ll talk about similarities and differences from book to movie, among other things. If kids read the book, we’ll have even more to talk about.
Teachers and students complain about block schedule–“Oh, I have to have my worst class for two hours. Whatever will I do?” You’ll adapt and adjust. You’ll put out a two-hour product. If not, it’s on you, for you did NOT own your rock.
Finally, the time is free. Let May 19th, 2017, go into the record books as a day when all of our dead relatives (for most have passed) can share in the joy that brought us to this day. If there is such a thing as Magical Realism, where the spirit world lives among us in a non-scary, no-big-deal kind of way, I hope every one in our families can raise a glass tonight and understand that, even though we worked our asses off over the years, the time being free didn’t come without your efforts, too. Whatever celebration we have tonight will be shared with you.
Oh, and Hell, Yeah.