I thought I would share this...

[cathmom]

I went to a high school that was supposedly in the best district in NJ. I didn't learn very much, I hated it, and I went to college early. Then we found out that I have an allergy to fluorescent lights, which almost certainly contributed to my problems, but wasn't the cause of all of them.

 

Now I teach part-time at a wonderful charter school. This year they are doing a schedule where you have all classes M/F for 50 minutes, but then T/W/Th you don't have 2 of your classes and they are 70 minutes long. When we have early dismissal, classes are 35 minutes long, and on assembly days, they are 40 minutes long.

 

As a teacher I can see that 40 minutes is hardly long enough to do anything. You practically just get started and you have to stop!

 

The light dawned - at my high school classes were only 42 minutes long. Anything special happening made them even shorter. On top of that, if you took a foreign language instead of lunch, you were allowed to eat lunch in the FL class. So, no wonder I didn't learn anything in French 3H!

 

Maybe what all these years I've been considering a flaw of school was actually a flaw of scheduling!

 

I know that in college, I always tried to avoid taking the M/W/F one hour classes. I preferred T/TH, or if at all possible, a 3 hour class once a week. One of my issues with homeschooling so many dc is all the transitions from child to child and subject to subject.

 

I had thought that the 70 minute period with my Spanish 1 class might seem really long, or that we might need a break halfway through, or that their attention would wane, but actually, they seem pretty into it the entire period. So I don't think it's just my experience.

 

Any comments? :bigear:

[Julie in MN]

I think there's a big difference between spending 42 minutes doing hardly anything, and spending 42 minutes working hard and learning.

 

I personally don't think folks can really absorb 70 solid minutes of information all that often. One of the college prep videos we've watched claimed to have studies that show we only remember the first and last things in a long study session. Mileage will vary, of course.

 

But on the other hand, if 70 minutes gives you time to get busywork done, draw the class into the lesson, and then delve deeply for some shorter amount of time, then that makes sense to me.

 

Julie

[dirty ethel rackham]

I think there's a big difference between spending 42 minutes doing hardly anything, and spending 42 minutes working hard and learning.

 

I personally don't think folks can really absorb 70 solid minutes of information all that often. One of the college prep videos we've watched claimed to have studies that show we only remember the first and last things in a long study session. Mileage will vary, of course.

 

But on the other hand, if 70 minutes gives you time to get busywork done, draw the class into the lesson, and then delve deeply for some shorter amount of time, then that makes sense to me.

 

Julie

 

I can't imagine doing Calculus or Differential Equations for 3 hours. A homework set? Maybe, but not a lecture. My head would explode. Ds has 70 minute classes at our local LAC. He finds that to be a good length of time. Next term he will have a Tu/Th class of 140 minutes. He is not looking forward to it.

[creekland]

I went to a really good high school in NY. We had classes (8 each year) for 42 minutes each. We also only had 7 per day (rotating schedule) meaning we only really had each class for 150 days. My school regularly sent kids on to top of the top schools. Since I left they switched to 7 classes per year and having every class every day. I'm not up on whether or not they are still a top high school since I left the area.

 

The school I work at has block scheduling (8 classes per year - 4 per semester). Each class is roughly 85 minutes long. We hardly ever send a kid to a top of the top school. We hardly ever send a kid to the next level down from top of the top. We have not seen an increase in our scores since switching to block scheduling.

 

I don't think time matters... I think what is taught and what is expected of students makes the difference.

 

I hated the T/Th classes at college far preferring the MWF classes. I would schedule 4 for MWF and 1 + labs for TTh.

 

At school with block scheduling I often notice the kids waning the last 20 minutes or so.

[Nan in Mass]

Well, I'm not a classroom teacher, but I know that I wasted a whole year of homeschooling trying to do short periods. It just doesn't work with my family. 70 minutes is just about right for math for us. By the time we went over the old problems, read the lesson, and worked all the example problems, a bit more than an hour had gone by. Science takes a bit longer because there is more discussion. Then my sons did the odds in the evening on their own. If it is a hard, dry book, 70 minutes is about as long as I want to do great books for, reading and discussing. It takes my son and me 70 minutes to do a textbook history lesson, by the time we look at any writing he did and I make suggestions, we read the chapter and answer all the questions, I add in my two cents worth, and he rewrites his essay or does the suggested research or whatever. If I want to add oral drills to his French grammar, then that takes about 70 minutes to get through as well. But we have always been slow here. I'm always amazed when I hear about people taking an hour a day, total, to get through a subject, including any writing involved. Whenever I want to teach any writing (me teach rather than using a textbook), I have to scrap everything else for the whole morning. I don't know if the problem is me or my children, but things take forever here. I think your school's schedule sounds like a really good mix of long enough frequent enough classes.

Nan

[mcconnellboys]

I have found over the years that whenever I teach a class, even if I'm teaching to younger kids, it needs to be two hours in order for me to cover anything meaningful over the course of the full term. I break up what we're doing in class into smaller portions of time, especially for youngers - I'm not lecturing for a full two hours - but one hour just is not long enough (and I always run over on 1 hour classes)....

[regentrude]

In Germany, where I went to school, all classes are 45 minutes long, and even in high school you had only 6-7 periods per day. We got, and the kids there still get, an excellent education. So, I do not think class length per se is the deciding factor, but rather what is accomplished in those 45 minutes.

 

At home, I let the kids choose how long they want to work. Making my 12 y/o DS work on algebra for longer than 45 minutes increases the number of mistakes due to waning concentration. I can only imagine that for younger kids this is even more pronounced. My 14 y/o DD has no trouble doing two hours of math in one sitting.

 

At the university, the classes I teach are 50 minutes in length. After getting used to it ( my university classes were 85) and planning accordingly, I find that we accomplish a great deal of work in those 50 minutes.

Edited November 10, 2011 by regentrude

[mcconnellboys]

Now that you mention it, my classes with my own children at home are generally Charlotte Masonesque and 20 minutes or less for the elementary years. The only thing we tend to do longer from an early age is read (science, history, geography, literature), because we all love that. I moved to 30 minute classes as we moved into logic stage, and last year began to do hour long blocks of time for things.

 

I wonder if children in Germany are better behaved in class/ less distractable/ more focused?

 

In thinking more about why the outside classes I teach are longer, I guess that I'm attempting to provide a lot of info in only a few meetings. My classes have generally been 8-10 weeks in length. That's not very long to cover any sort of subject with any degree of depth, insure memory of pertinent facts, reinforce, etc.

[memphispeg]

My high school had 50 minute classes. And each class had one 75 min. meeting once a week. We usually did presentations or testing during our long periods. For science, that is when we did our labs. The top 10% all went to competitive colleges. I like the idea of spending about an hour at a time on subjects. Even long-haul study sessions should be broken up by activity, chores, another subject. Keep the mind fresh and flexible.

[creekland]

At home, I let the kids choose how long they want to work. Making my 12 y/o DS work on algebra for longer than 45 minutes increases the number of mistakes due to waning concentration. I can only imagine that for younger kids this is even more pronounced. My 14 y/o DD has no trouble doing two hours of math in one sitting.

 

 

I do the same with my own kids. I dislike set times. We (or they) do until they are at a decent stopping point. It may be 30 minutes. It may be 90 minutes. More than that (unless a project or movie with discussion) seems really unproductive though.

 

That said, one of the things youngest didn't like about homeschooling was our lax schedule. He's a schedule person and prefers set times. Older two loved the lax schedule.

 

Different strokes for different folks.

[Pam L in Mid Tenn]

I'm doing some subbing in a school that block schedules A and B days. Each block is about 75 minutes. I see about half that time being completely wasted. I've subbed for "inclusion aides" and have seen the regular teachers doing the class in the regular way. (as opposed to busy work being assigned with a sub).

The classes are taking 75 minutes to accomplish what we in our home accomplish in about 40 minutes. I don't see how they will come close to finishing books... or come close to getting 75% of materials completed.

 

Last year they used Saxon Math. And I heard a story from another sub that the class was on about lesson 60 of the book.... I think it was Algebra 1...in April. Those students got a full credit and were passed on to the next math class! (I think they could choose Geometry or Algebra 2.):001_huh:

[Jilly]

My daughter just started junior high at a school of the arts this year. They use block scheduling, and I am so impressed with the schedule and how she is thriving in it. The school has three blocks a day, and each block is for ninety minutes, so the kids are in the class for a substantial time, and they seem to get a good deal of work done everyday. The other thing I like is that if you are in pre-algebra, which many of the seventh graders are, you have that class everyday, so the kids are getting math 5 days a week for ninety minutes. My daughter, who usually struggles in math, is getting an A, and I am sure one of the reasons for this is the block scheduling.

[Deb in NZ]

Ds#2's highschool has five 60 minute classes each day. They work on a 6 day rotating timetable in which students study 6-8 subjects (3-4 times each in the 6 day timetable) They have two classes, then a 30 minute break outside, two more classes, then 55 minutes for lunch outside, then one more class. Once a fortnight schoolwide assembly replaces one class. I thought not having each subject daily would work against learning, but it really seems to work for the boys. Classes are different periods on different days as well & it works well.

[MyThreeSons]

Our local public school uses the block scheduling where they do only four courses per semester. My tutoring experience indicates that the average math student simply needs more time to digest the information and really work with the concepts before moving on. The number of instructional hours is supposed to be the same either way, but most students who have a full year to work through Algebra 1 seem to do better than those who do it in one semester. I think the same applies to Foreign Languages.

 

Some courses, such as History or Literature, it doesn't seem to matter as much. And Science can be a mixed bag -- the longer periods are great for labs, but they still need time to chew on the material.

 

My niece's school in CA did a modified block schedule, where they had longer class periods, but alternated days. It seemed to work well for her.

[creekland]

I'm doing some subbing in a school that block schedules A and B days. Each block is about 75 minutes. I see about half that time being completely wasted. I've subbed for "inclusion aides" and have seen the regular teachers doing the class in the regular way. (as opposed to busy work being assigned with a sub).

The classes are taking 75 minutes to accomplish what we in our home accomplish in about 40 minutes. I don't see how they will come close to finishing books... or come close to getting 75% of materials completed.

 

Last year they used Saxon Math. And I heard a story from another sub that the class was on about lesson 60 of the book.... I think it was Algebra 1...in April. Those students got a full credit and were passed on to the next math class! (I think they could choose Geometry or Algebra 2.):001_huh:

 

When our school switched to block scheduling many science/math teachers had to cut 1/3 of the material off their final exam as they never got that far. The students still get a full credit for the class.

 

Last year we had to start the policy that ALL students need two blocks worth of Alg 1 (supposedly two years worth) because teachers weren't able to cover enough material and kids were being passed on with only 7 chapters of a 12 (or maybe 14) chapter book. This included skipping portions of the 7 chapters. I've never seen a top math student need to spend two years on Alg 1... but with block scheduling they do (at our school).

 

Then, we only get through part of Geometry, Alg 2, and Pre-Calc too, but students get a full credit.

 

Science has had to eliminate whole sections.

 

I'm not familiar with other subjects as I hang out with the math/science folks.

 

Everyone loves block scheduling as it's easier, but it sure doesn't seem to do much for the actual education IMO.

[chepyl]

My high school had 45 minute periods, 7 per day. We accomplished a lot in those classes. 99% of students went on to college, over half applied to and were accepted to top level private schools. We had no wasted time in class.

 

I had dance students in a block scheduling school, they had 8 classes rotating 4 every other day for 90 minutes. They received the same 45 minutes of instruction, 45 minutes of homework time. They liked the schedule because thwy had less homework at night. Most of the .kids who went to college went to the small state school in town or the community college 30 minutes away. They covered less material in a year than I did in college and many kids struggled with math for this reason.

[Mom22ns]

Interesting discussion. I can see that so much depends on the teacher and the student. My high school had 55 min periods. When I went to college, I avoided T/Th classes and hated 3 hour once/wk classes. I just couldn't maintain focus that long and missed too much. I did by far the best in classes that were 60 min, except labs which were always 2 hours and flew by!

 

In our homeschool, anything the kids do with me (math, science, history, and some LA) we plan 60 min. Sometimes we finish a little early, sometimes we run a little late. I find my kids, just like me, lose focus at about an hour and after an hour the amount of learning for each minute spent working declines. This can be extended by changing activities (ie reading, discussion, problem sets) but unless it is something they are just really intensely interested in (like writing for NaNoWriMo) I keep a max time of about 70 min with a preferred lesson length of 1 hour. If they really need to work more on something, they take a break and do a different subject then go back to it.

[Lolly]

I prefer the shorter classes more days a week. I know my kids glaze over after an hour of a subject. The brain seems to want to only absorb a certain amount of subject matter on a given subject before being allowed to refreshen. I think block scheduling for math and foreign languages in high school should be illegal everywhere. For science, it isn't the best idea but doesn't hurt as much. English, no problem. History, eh, can be done.

[Ester Maria]

[RANT:rant:]

 

It may be my little personal obsession, but I do not get WHY on Earth would one have a 42 minute period. It seems so random to me. I get a 40 minute period. I get a 45 minute period. But what is up with these "little numbers"? Likewise, I get 5, 10, 15, etc. minute breaks or recess, but the school I know of has - 7 minute ones.

In my more OCD-ish moments I just get the urge to round all these crazy numbers and make everything be -0 and -5 numbers.

When you agree to meet with somebody, do you EVER agree to meet at something like 5:04, 6:18, 7:37, etc.? It just seems so pointless to me. I get that not everything can be calculated in nice and lovely 10 minute blocks, but 5 minute blocks are absolutely the smallest ones I can comprehend.

 

[ / RANT]

 

 

 

I think this is VERY individual, but as a general rule of the thumb, I like to stick with about half hour blocks with the little ones (I am not convinced it would work so well in the institutional setting, they often need additional 10-15 minutes for classroom management issues) and hour blocks for high school students, with the middle school being somewhat of a transition stage. Though if you have quick learners, what happens in practice is that you allot 60 minutes, but they end up doing it in 40ish, so in the end you do end up with something like a standard school hour (40, 45, 50 minutes, depending on the school) more than with a neat full hour.

At the university level, I think that the most handy solution are multiple consecutive hours, but with internal flexibility - i.e. a two-three hour block, but with a pause which can be inserted anywhere, depending on the dynamic of the group and the particular day. This allows for a good discussion, even for a good lecture period and then a separate discussion, without boxing people too much.

[ks-sunflower]

Found this book in the library How the Brain Learns by David A. Sousa which has been helpful in understanding how to teach and optimize learning.

[Capt_Uhura]

Well, I'm not a classroom teacher, but I know that I wasted a whole year of homeschooling trying to do short periods. It just doesn't work with my family. 70 minutes is just about right for math for us. By the time we went over the old problems, read the lesson, and worked all the example problems, a bit more than an hour had gone by. Science takes a bit longer because there is more discussion. Then my sons did the odds in the evening on their own. If it is a hard, dry book, 70 minutes is about as long as I want to do great books for, reading and discussing. It takes my son and me 70 minutes to do a textbook history lesson, by the time we look at any writing he did and I make suggestions, we read the chapter and answer all the questions, I add in my two cents worth, and he rewrites his essay or does the suggested research or whatever. If I want to add oral drills to his French grammar, then that takes about 70 minutes to get through as well. But we have always been slow here. I'm always amazed when I hear about people taking an hour a day, total, to get through a subject, including any writing involved. Whenever I want to teach any writing (me teach rather than using a textbook), I have to scrap everything else for the whole morning. I don't know if the problem is me or my children, but things take forever here. I think your school's schedule sounds like a really good mix of long enough frequent enough classes.

Nan

 

Nan, I'm right there with you. The issue I'm having is that my 3rd grader is doing several subjects along with my 6th grader. My 3rd grader is done in half the usually and doesn't need me sitting next to him to get it done. But my 3rd grader is on full-speed unless he is asleep. My 6th grader is always on slow, contemplative mode.....it's frustrating.

[laughing lioness]

I'm teaching high shcoolers creative writing- there are only 5 in the class and we have a full hour. I stay on task (meaning the kids do, too) but that hour flies by! It's hard to get enough discussion time in. I've thought about this issue all fall, because if we only had 45 min the class would be solely instruction and homework management- no discussion, no/little in-class writing time. We could seriously go for 2 hours at a shot!

My kids and I also learned YEARS ago that certain curriculum just did not work for us (SL) because they have you read so many pages of this, switch, so many pages of that, switch, etc. We like digging in and reading the book. 4 pages just doesn't cut it, give us a chapter or two at least. Same with math for us. 3 days a week we do marathon math.

[cathmom]

[RANT:rant:]

 

It may be my little personal obsession, but I do not get WHY on Earth would one have a 42 minute period. It seems so random to me. I get a 40 minute period. I get a 45 minute period. But what is up with these "little numbers"? Likewise, I get 5, 10, 15, etc. minute breaks or recess, but the school I know of has - 7 minute ones.

In my more OCD-ish moments I just get the urge to round all these crazy numbers and make everything be -0 and -5 numbers.

 

When you agree to meet with somebody, do you EVER agree to meet at something like 5:04, 6:18, 7:37, etc.? It just seems so pointless to me. I get that not everything can be calculated in nice and lovely 10 minute blocks, but 5 minute blocks are absolutely the smallest ones I can comprehend.

 

[ / RANT]

 

 

 

 

Well, Ester Maria, I looked it up and you'll be happy to know that they no longer have 42 minute periods. They're now 44 minutes. :tongue_smilie:

[Jean in Newcastle]

Well, Ester Maria, I looked it up and you'll be happy to know that they no longer have 42 minute periods. They're now 44 minutes. :tongue_smilie:

 

:lol:

[Ester Maria]

Well, Ester Maria, I looked it up and you'll be happy to know that they no longer have 42 minute periods. They're now 44 minutes. :tongue_smilie:

What is wrong with those people?! :lol: Why would anyone prolong a class for - 2 minutes?! Can 2 minutes possibly make any difference whatsoever? If they felt they needed to prolong it, why not to 50 minutes - that would make more sense.

 

I guess I am just challenged when it comes to the matters of time... :001_huh:

[creekland]

What is wrong with those people?! :lol: Why would anyone prolong a class for - 2 minutes?! Can 2 minutes possibly make any difference whatsoever? If they felt they needed to prolong it, why not to 50 minutes - that would make more sense.

 

I guess I am just challenged when it comes to the matters of time... :001_huh:

 

It has to do with how much time the kids get in the hall to switch classes. Chances are, when classes were 42 minutes long, the kids had 3 minutes to change classrooms - making the total 45 minutes.

 

At my school kids have 5 minutes to change classes, so it at least keeps all times on a 5 minute time. Our first class starts at 7:30 and lasts to 8:50. The next class starts at 8:55, etc.

[Ester Maria]

It has to do with how much time the kids get in the hall to switch classes. Chances are, when classes were 42 minutes long, the kids had 3 minutes to change classrooms - making the total 45 minutes.

 

At my school kids have 5 minutes to change classes, so it at least keeps all times on a 5 minute time. Our first class starts at 7:30 and lasts to 8:50. The next class starts at 8:55, etc.

But why 3 minutes? Why, if a certain number of minutes is needed, why not round it to the nearest -0 or -5, why deal with little numbers? The way it is handled at your school looks fine to me.

Why cannot people share my logic of things? :( :lol:

 

Well, in any case better that than what I know - NO breaks between classes :tongue_smilie:, just some kind of a recess once in a day, and in some schools, they do not even have that. LOL.

[creekland]

But why 3 minutes? Why, if a certain number of minutes is needed, why not round it to the nearest -0 or -5, why deal with little numbers? The way it is handled at your school looks fine to me.

Why cannot people share my logic of things? :( :lol:

 

Well, in any case better that than what I know - NO breaks between classes :tongue_smilie:, just some kind of a recess once in a day, and in some schools, they do not even have that. LOL.

 

We used to have 3 minutes - then 4. The number of minutes is based upon how long it should take a student who has to walk the longest distance between classes. Most don't have to walk from one end to the other, but they may want to stop by the restroom or their locker. Our time has lengthened as our school has gotten larger both in physical size and numbers of students in the halls - the latter leads to traffic jams, literally, at intersections.

 

The idea is that you want the most class time you can get. Therefore, if 3 minutes is all it takes, 3 minutes it is. The hallways are the main places where trouble can occur in a school, so it's best if kids aren't hanging out there longer than necessary (in large groups).

[kiana]

Our local public school uses the block scheduling where they do only four courses per semester. My tutoring experience indicates that the average math student simply needs more time to digest the information and really work with the concepts before moving on. The number of instructional hours is supposed to be the same either way, but most students who have a full year to work through Algebra 1 seem to do better than those who do it in one semester. I think the same applies to Foreign Languages.

 

Some courses, such as History or Literature, it doesn't seem to matter as much. And Science can be a mixed bag -- the longer periods are great for labs, but they still need time to chew on the material.

 

My niece's school in CA did a modified block schedule, where they had longer class periods, but alternated days. It seemed to work well for her.

 

I would add that also doing semesters gives far more time to forget the math concepts. Semesters are about my least favourite way to do math/language, especially in high school. (In college many people are either taking one class towards graduation or taking several consecutively so it doesn't bother me).

[LisaKinVA]

In college, I mostly had Tues/Thurs classes. I did this, because I was on a competitive team and I would miss Friday classes every other week. Having the Tues/Thurs classes meant I didn't have to miss any classes. I could better arrange my work schedule (opening vs. closing), and I had an easier time studying and getting things done.

 

In middle school/high school (four different schools) I had 6-7 classes each day for around 40 minutes. It did cut some discussion times short, but nothing horrible. In math, it was just long enough for me to finish the homework assignment, so I didn't have to bring books home. :D

 

I wouldn't know where to begin to be able to schedule high school classes to arrange for a few more lengthy classes during the week, but I think having each class 4-5 days a week would probably work (M-F all classes, Tues/Thurs 5 out of 7... with Math all 5 days). Still sounds like a nightmare to schedule, though!

 

At home, we pretty much do the next thing. I do set timers (more as motivational tools, than anything). My oldest gets 90 minutes for math (instructional video + assignment). My younger son gets 1 hour to complete the assignment. If he needs help, I help. If he finishes early, he's done, and can either move onto the next thing or take a break. My Ker doesn't spend an hour on any one subject. Right now, we do every subject every day. Although in LA we don't do Vocab every day, or Grammar every day... we do some part of LA every day. My oldest is in class from 8am until 3pm (long lunch, and a few breaks... not all spent sitting at the table). My 2nd and 4th graders are in class from 8-11:30, and then have science and art/music after lunch.

[regentrude]

We used to have 3 minutes - then 4. The number of minutes is based upon how long it should take a student who has to walk the longest distance between classes. Most don't have to walk from one end to the other, but they may want to stop by the restroom or their locker. Our time has lengthened as our school has gotten larger both in physical size and numbers of students in the halls - the latter leads to traffic jams, literally, at intersections.

The idea is that you want the most class time you can get. Therefore, if 3 minutes is all it takes, 3 minutes it is. The hallways are the main places where trouble can occur in a school, so it's best if kids aren't hanging out there longer than necessary (in large groups).

 

See, that's a concept that seems so alien to me. A student needs time to go to the bathroom, eat a bit, chat with friends, refresh the mind. Back home in Germany, periods are 45 minutes, and in between you have at least ten minutes and a longer mid-morning break of 15 minutes (so you have time to eat something), to switch classes and attend to your bodily needs. I do not understand why, in the attempt to prevent "trouble", kids have to run like mad through the school. Somehow that whole hustle does not seem to translate into a better education.

[cathmom]

It has to do with how much time the kids get in the hall to switch classes. Chances are, when classes were 42 minutes long, the kids had 3 minutes to change classrooms - making the total 45 minutes.

 

At my school kids have 5 minutes to change classes, so it at least keeps all times on a 5 minute time. Our first class starts at 7:30 and lasts to 8:50. The next class starts at 8:55, etc.

 

Well, actually, we had 5 minutes between classes, so the total was 47 minutes LOL. Our classes had weird start and end times. One year I had "lunch" 3rd period which began at 10:17 AM, I believe. Now this same school has the 44 minutes classes with 4 minutes to change classes.

 

But why 3 minutes? Why, if a certain number of minutes is needed, why not round it to the nearest -0 or -5, why deal with little numbers? The way it is handled at your school looks fine to me.

Why cannot people share my logic of things? :( :lol:

 

 

I agree! There are no weird times at my current school! Everything is to the nearest -0 or -5, as you say, with 5 minute breaks between and a 10 minute morning break after the first 2 periods.

 

See, that's a concept that seems so alien to me. A student needs time to go to the bathroom, eat a bit, chat with friends, refresh the mind. Back home in Germany, periods are 45 minutes, and in between you have at least ten minutes and a longer mid-morning break of 15 minutes (so you have time to eat something), to switch classes and attend to your bodily needs. I do not understand why, in the attempt to prevent "trouble", kids have to run like mad through the school. Somehow that whole hustle does not seem to translate into a better education.

 

I am so with you! When I was a freshman, I had Geometry 5th period with a male teacher. If I had my period, I had to change pads before that class. I didn't have enough time to walk to my class and stop in the bathroom or I might have been late to class. But I didn't want to ask my male teacher 3 or 4 days in a row if I could run to the bathroom - I mean, how obvious can I make it that I have my period?! It was a real dilemma for me and embarrassing as well.

[MBM]

Classes at my son's high school are 40" long with the exception of the first period adviser class which is 25". The kids get 5" in between classes. Works well for my son.

[creekland]

See, that's a concept that seems so alien to me. A student needs time to go to the bathroom, eat a bit, chat with friends, refresh the mind. Back home in Germany, periods are 45 minutes, and in between you have at least ten minutes and a longer mid-morning break of 15 minutes (so you have time to eat something), to switch classes and attend to your bodily needs. I do not understand why, in the attempt to prevent "trouble", kids have to run like mad through the school. Somehow that whole hustle does not seem to translate into a better education.

 

Overall I'd agree with you, but one aspect you miss is that by the grades I generally teach (10 - 12) kids in Germany who didn't want to be in the academic school wouldn't be (according to a German exchange student we hosted for a year). Here, we require them to stay in school studying mostly academic subjects until they are 17 with a parent's signature or 18 when they can legally drop out on their own. A great majority of these kids do not want to be here and are 99% apathetic about learning anything academic. These kids sometimes look for opportunities to "amuse" themselves, which of course, can be at the expense of another student. The hallways are one of the big places this can occur. Therefore, our solution has to be less time in the hallways to spare a bit of bullying.

 

If we were to take solely the academic kids we could do many, many things differently. However, we are not allowed to treat kids differently, so all must follow the rules even if the rules had to be written for a minority.

[delaney]

Here they have block scheduling so my oldest right now is just in Chem, Ecology, Graphic Imaging, and Am History. They change in late Jan. I like that better for him. For me 42 minutes sitting was enough in HS. For the ones that are home I try to stop anything that goes over 45 minutes but then again the oldest home is only 11.

[choirfarm]

See, that's a concept that seems so alien to me. A student needs time to go to the bathroom, eat a bit, chat with friends, refresh the mind. Back home in Germany, periods are 45 minutes, and in between you have at least ten minutes and a longer mid-morning break of 15 minutes (so you have time to eat something), to switch classes and attend to your bodily needs. I do not understand why, in the attempt to prevent "trouble", kids have to run like mad through the school. Somehow that whole hustle does not seem to translate into a better education.

 

Honestly, because German kids are better behaved. Fights started in my school in the hall despite the 5 minutes.

[kiana]

Overall I'd agree with you, but one aspect you miss is that by the grades I generally teach (10 - 12) kids in Germany who didn't want to be in the academic school wouldn't be (according to a German exchange student we hosted for a year). Here, we require them to stay in school studying mostly academic subjects until they are 17 with a parent's signature or 18 when they can legally drop out on their own. A great majority of these kids do not want to be here and are 99% apathetic about learning anything academic. These kids sometimes look for opportunities to "amuse" themselves, which of course, can be at the expense of another student. The hallways are one of the big places this can occur. Therefore, our solution has to be less time in the hallways to spare a bit of bullying.

 

If we were to take solely the academic kids we could do many, many things differently. However, we are not allowed to treat kids differently, so all must follow the rules even if the rules had to be written for a minority.

 

Yep. Extremely sad IMO. Kids who have no desire whatsoever to be in school should be able to get a job earlier and not ruin it for the rest.

[regentrude]

Overall I'd agree with you, but one aspect you miss is that by the grades I generally teach (10 - 12) kids in Germany who didn't want to be in the academic school wouldn't be (according to a German exchange student we hosted for a year). Here, we require them to stay in school studying mostly academic subjects until they are 17 with a parent's signature or 18 when they can legally drop out on their own. A great majority of these kids do not want to be here and are 99% apathetic about learning anything academic. These kids sometimes look for opportunities to "amuse" themselves, which of course, can be at the expense of another student. The hallways are one of the big places this can occur. Therefore, our solution has to be less time in the hallways to spare a bit of bullying.

 

I see your point - but it is the same setup in the earlier grades: no real breaks between periods when a student can eat or go to the bathroom, unless prescribed bathroom breaks where the teacher marches all 6th(!) graders through the hall and has them all wait there (6th grade was my kids' last ps experience here, don't know how much longer they do that).

I remember my son being completely surprised to find out that, in 4th grade in German school, the kids had at least ten minutes between periods and could walk themselves to the bathroom, or eat their snack, or talk and play with the others in the classroom without being micromanaged like 5 year olds. And a teacher can not take away these breaks as a punishment, or forbid a child to eat the food he brought from home.

[Brenda in MA]

But why 3 minutes? Why, if a certain number of minutes is needed, why not round it to the nearest -0 or -5, why deal with little numbers? The way it is handled at your school looks fine to me.

Why cannot people share my logic of things? :( :lol:

 

Well, in any case better that than what I know - NO breaks between classes :tongue_smilie:, just some kind of a recess once in a day, and in some schools, they do not even have that. LOL.

 

Ester,

 

I'm guessing that the reason for the 42 minute or 44 minute periods has to do with meeting state regulations. I know that the public schools in my area play games like this with class periods because they are mandated by the state to have so many minutes per day of "classroom instruction". Time spent by the kids at lunch and in the hallways during class changes doesn't count towards instruction time. So if they can shave down the time spent eating and changing classes, they can get in the required minutes of instruction and still have a relatively "shorter" school day on the whole. I agree that the whole thing doesn't make a lot of sense.

 

Brenda

[Julie in MN]

Overall I'd agree with you, but one aspect you miss is that by the grades I generally teach (10 - 12) kids in Germany who didn't want to be in the academic school wouldn't be (according to a German exchange student we hosted for a year). Here, we require them to stay in school studying mostly academic subjects until they are 17 with a parent's signature or 18 when they can legally drop out on their own. A great majority of these kids do not want to be here and are 99% apathetic about learning anything academic. These kids sometimes look for opportunities to "amuse" themselves, which of course, can be at the expense of another student. The hallways are one of the big places this can occur. Therefore, our solution has to be less time in the hallways to spare a bit of bullying.

 

If we were to take solely the academic kids we could do many, many things differently. However, we are not allowed to treat kids differently, so all must follow the rules even if the rules had to be written for a minority.

 

:iagree:

 

I so agree with this being almost the driving force in American education. Not only do kids have to be in school until at least 16, but they have to be in school even if they are disrupting the entire class, with a very few exceptions. My oldest son was in ps for 13 years, and I can't tell you how many times teachers told me that they couldn't do one thing or another (science experiments, field trips, assignments) because of the group of kids in the class that year. You just can't realistically discuss education in America without taking into account the fact that a teacher may be dealing with not only apathetic kids, but violent kids (even in kindergarten), disabled kids, kids who don't speak English, and thieves who take textbooks or materials from other students or from the teacher (happened to my dd more than once).

 

Julie