4 Block Schedule Analysis

If an hour and half of school were added every day, students would miss after school activities. Students will miss the fun extracurricular activities. and students won’t get the exercise they need.

Adding just an extra ten minutes to each class, the new schedule would create the potential for students to have more homework time, lab time, learning time, and/or valuable free time to read for pleasure, relax with music, draw, etc. (Hadfield). Especially as students get older and more involved in extracurriculars and rigorous academic courses, the need for any spare moment to get assignments done, study, or even sleep increases. When this time is unavailable or extremely hard to get, students are more likely to fall asleep in class, miss school due to illness, misbehave, cheat, hand in incomplete assignments, or drop out altogether. The same is largely true for teachers. The more homework turned in by students, the more grading has to be done by teachers who are already exhausted from a long, often repetitive day of work. Therefore, it is important to emphasize the fact that this extra time should not be used to cram in larger quantities of learning standards or homework problems, but rather to enhance the quality of the already demanding school regulations that are in schools

What is your least favorite class, the one you dread most? Picture yourself walking into that class, taking a seat, and watching the clock move slowly as you suffer through the next 90 minutes. Yes, you read that correctly. Imagine being stuck in your least favorite class for an hour and a half! This is a reality that many high school students experience every day. It is block scheduling. “Unlike traditional bell schedules - which typically comprise six to eight class periods per day, lasting anywhere from 45 to 60 minutes - block schedules contain just four daily class periods, with each one lasting an average of 90 minutes” (Block Scheduling in Schools 1). Although designed to increase student achievement, block schedules carry a number of disadvantages that make them an inadequate method for offering high school students a successful learning environment. Despite its few benefits, block scheduling works in direct conflict with most human attention spans, creates more scheduling problems than it solves, and lacks any solid evidence of improving student learning. In a world where educational practices come and go, block scheduling is a fad that should never have arrived in the first place.

Sommerfeld, Meg. "More and More Schools Putting Block Scheduling to Test of Time." Education Week. N.p., 02 May 2016. Web. 24 Mar.

Eyes watching the clock, praying it could move faster. The students are full of joy when the bell finally rings. Only to wake up tomorrow to repeat it over again. Some teachers and students want to go to block scheduling for the upcoming school year. Having Advanced Composition in either of the block schedules has its advantages and disadvantages.

Can you imagine getting up on a Friday morning and not having to get up and go to school. This is becoming more than just a really good dream in some places across the country. This is happening as close as Hot Springs School District in Hot Springs, South Dakota. Many school officials around the country are switching to the system because they believe it is better financially and better for the kids. A four day school week will be better for the children and financially because it saves the school money, student and teacher morale are better, and better test scores.

Many schools are now organizing school day schedules to maximize instructional time and minimize non-instructional time, such as recess (Pellegrini & Bohn, 2005). Schools made this shift in response to increased state testing and the associated pressures of funding. Some also believe that the shift to more instructional time and less non-instructional time was worsened with the adoption of Common Core standards in elementary schools. However, this may not be the best move for schools or for long-term student success.

In the article “Schools scrutinize block scheduling” Groves (2015) addresses the effects of block scheduling in Alamance-Burlington School System. He claims that implementing block schedules did not help this school system, and in fact has been detrimental to the students. Groves (2015) argues that before changing student schedules, enough research should be completed to determine whether this change will be helpful. With a traditional schedule, he says, students can slowly learn the information, instead of cram it in all at once. He believes that teachers and students should have a say in which schedule the school adopts. Groves (2015) concludes that block scheduling is an unnatural, ineffective way for students to learn.

School’s Should switch to the year round schedule because it will benefit both teachers and students. This schedule would help students avoid what many call the dreaded brain drain, since there are more frequent short breaks, we will not forget everything from the previous school year and will not have to review previous lessons during the first month of school. Students will feel more prepared after these short breaks because we will have more time to study and catch up on things that we might have missed out on or just didn’t understand. Teachers will be able to catch up on grading papers that they have fallen behind on and can prepare for the next grading period.

Have you ever wanted more time? Have you ever wanted to go to your lockers after every class? Have you ever forgotten anything because you don't have enough time in class? THen you agree with us to change th 8th grade schedule to match it with the rest of FCHS. Think about all the things that would be better, there will be no more sore ankles, more time in class to learn, best of all lockers after every class. The 8th grade schedule will not prepare us for the later years in high school, because we can't go to lockers after every other class. We don't have a lot of time between classes and walking a lot. Finally we don't have enough time in class.

Even though there might be several variations of block scheduling in schools, students who are involved with block scheduling see higher grades, better test results, and an overall better understanding of the material presented. Many school districts have found it challenging to make it through a traditional 6 to 8 periods per day. They claim the system just does not live up to it’s expectations. Many educators agree that there is hardly any time for students’ core classes along with electives. While other schools adapt their schedules, the majority of schools in The United States have adopted block scheduling.

Block scheduling does also come with some disadvantages. We will have more homework because we will have two days to do it. Also, with longer class periods the students can become

I don’t think I can decide whether this would be a good schedule because having just one core class all morning for nine weeks would be really hard on a student’s brain and it would make it hard for the students to focus on that class because it would be so long. I like the idea of the three week breaks in between quarters and having a shorter summer because it would be easier to stay on task in school and keep the comfort of staying in a routine.

What is your least favorite class, the one you dread most? Picture yourself walking into that class, taking a seat, and watching the clock move slowly as you suffer through the next 90 minutes. Yes, you read that correctly. Imagine being stuck in your least favorite class for an hour and a half! This is a reality that many high school students experience everyday. It is called block scheduling. “Unlike traditional bell schedules - which typically comprise six to eight class periods per day, lasting anywhere from 45 to 60 minutes - block schedules contain just four daily class periods, with each one lasting an average of 90 minutes” (Block Scheduling in Schools 1). Although designed to increase student achievement, block schedules carry

Due to inclement weather, it is obvious History 1111's schedule has been set back marginally. It would be nice to know what the schedule could be from here onwards, as I need to make up the class writeup from Dec 16, the team teach, and the replacement quiz that we need to take tomorrow.