Opinion
N the Red
Blocking out stress
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erforming arts classes such as orchestra may struggle with a bloc schedule due to the need for repetitive practice Photo used with permission of Tiger Tracks Yearbook.
modified schedule acts as test for future Andrew Haughey
S
haughand000@hsestudents.org
ome students may wonder why the school is running on the schedule it is during the ISTEP testing period for sophomores. A number of problems with the current schedule has forced the school board to adapt by producing new ideas. One of these ideas was shortening the school day and adjusting starting and ending times for all schools in the district in order to reap the benefits of a three tier busing schedule, hich as decided on at a school board meeting on Feb. 12. y changing the schedule for ne t year, the district has shown its willingness to implement new ideas. Another idea that has been circulated relates to the structure of the school day itself: block schedules. eedless to say, the bloc schedule is a big adjustment to make from the normal seven period day for teachers and students ali e, but it comes ith its benefits. According to the National Education ssociation , bloc scheduling can help decrease the amount of information students have to process in a day, pave the ay for individualized learning and give teachers more time to plan lessons. loc and modified schedules allow students to focus on only one subject at a time with few interruptions and transitions. These transitions force students to switch from one class to another ith little time in bet een, causing unnecessary stress. he sho ed that during the school year, the number of students with extreme levels of stress was about 14% higher than during the summer. Schools hope block schedules slow down the day and give students a higher quality of education ith less home or , reducing stress. One of the major concerns brought up frequently is a lack of continuity. The block schedule forces teachers to see their students only three to four times per week depending on the mold the district chooses to adopt. This poses a major problem to educators attempting to teach courses, performing arts, foreign languages and mathematics which all require repetition to master, according to a study on bloc scheduling
conducted by Brown University. This concern has been proven to have no justification. study by the merican ssociation for School Superintendents showed that there as no significant reduction in enrollment or instructional quality of the performing arts hen the bloc schedule allo ed for a year long participation in the course. dditionally, the study stated that longer periods of study in subjects such as foreign languages actually increased student learning and that there as no long term loss of information. A normal school day with this schedule would not have a minute test thro n in every other day for one of its grade levels. nstead, the period in which sophomores take ISTEP would become an open period that functions as a study hall, a time for clubs to meet and a period here students can ask teachers for help. t illcrest igh chool in pringfield, issouri, the schedule has been running on a bloc system since . hree teachers there, obert arnes, oyce traton, and ary ena, all claim that the reason the transition from a traditional seven period day to a block schedule was successful was because the other teachers at the school were cooperative and willing to abandon previous teaching strategies in favor of learning new strategies that worked to keep students active and willing to participate. These strategies revolve around a simple rotation of teacher led activities and student led activities. dditionally, the schedule during one bloc is adjusted to cover different subtopics ithin a subject to hold attention. Although some students may not like it because it is not a real” bloc schedule, there is no other way. If the schedule were to be tested during a ee other than the ee , it may ma e some students feel as if they are wasting their time. lso, the benefits to the bloc schedule make ignoring the opportunity to test it out now a missed opportunity. If the school wants to decrease stress of students and intensify learning at the same time, there is no better option.
raphic by ndrew aughey
