In preparation for a workshop aimed at helping teachers move into a new block schedule, Peter Pappas of Copy/Paste reflects on his early teaching methods and how he had to redefine his role before feeling comfortable with a longer class period.
He was a social-studies teacher, and his primary method of content delivery was via lecture. He recalls being pleased at one point that his class periods were being shortened by a few minutes, since that meant a few minutes fewer that he had to speak.
And then he woke up:
“I had the realization that I was the hardest working person in my class. I was doing most of the learning — research, analysis, synthesis and preparation of summaries to share with my students. And so I began the long journey of redefining my role as teacher from “teacher as talker” to “teacher as designer of learning environments.”
This redefining was integral to his ability to teach in longer class periods, Pappas says, because moving into a student-centered learning environment naturally causes educators to crave more time with students. The lengthier periods, for example, allow students to expand on the skills they’re learning by teaching each other and evaluating their ability to do so.
At my current school, there’s been discussion about the pros and cons of different schedules among teachers in the halls and the lounge, as well as some e-mail discussion within our department, for the four years I’ve been teaching here. Scheduling surveys have been given out to all teachers at least twice, and our principal has twice now asked me for my personal opinion, which I freely gave.
We’re on a seven-period day now, with class periods of 48 minutes. However, many veteran teachers remember the A-B-days block schedule they used to have. They describe it as confusing and distracting, and it seems to have left them with a very bad taste that they attribute to block scheduling in general.
I’ve taught seven years on a 4×4-block schedule — my first six years in a different district and last year at our school’s annex campus. And overall, I love it. True, I’d prefer a modified-block schedule with ample accommodation for electives, but overall, I love the longer classes.
Longer classes:
- feel less rushed
- entail less settling into and out of class
- allow for more different types of activities within one period
- mean getting new students at semester’s end
- better prepare students for college semester scheduling
I know the list could go on and on. I made a pretty extensive one comparing and contrasting the 90-minute-block schedule to the 48-minute-period schedule a few years ago when asked by my then-department head, but it’s currently packed away somewhere in my new classroom. Suffice it to say, though, longer class periods win out overall every time for me.
I’m still working on becoming more of a “designer of learning environments” and less of a control-freak-dictator-type teacher. :P But at least I’m headed in that direction, slowly but surely.
And, hey, maybe I can talk our admins into paying Mr. Pappas to come do a workshop for us!!
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