After about five months into the school year, many students and faculty have fully recognized the effects of the schedule change. Although there are some clear benefits, faculty members have noticed disadvantages as well.
Dr. Selena Gell, a Biology teacher, shared her opinion: “Overall, I really like the new schedule. I think the long blocks allow for a lot of flexibility, so you can introduce new material, practice it, and do a bunch of different things in one class period.” Dr. Gell also commented, “The other thing I like is that it makes it much more possible to do labs any day, and particularly for my advanced science courses, the flexibility of being able to do labs all the time rather than once a week is great.”
Although the schedule change has some positive outcomes, Dr. Gell added that “there are some activities for which the long lab block is really necessary.” In previous years, science teachers had two short periods available to them, creating the “long lab block” that Dr. Gell referred to. For instance, Dr. Gell wanted to incorporate a specific lab into her Cell and Molecular Biology class but had to split it between two class days. As a result, the lab turned out to be unsuccessful.
Moreover, Dr. Gell feels that adjusting homework assignments has proven difficult. She commented, “I’ve struggled with how to keep up having appropriate practice for big ideas, with only having three assignments per week, and trying hard not to just make three longer assignments out of what was once four.” Additionally, Dr. Gell feels that in her honors biology class, she is covering slightly less material this year. However, Dr. Gell believes that this is only a result of adjusting to the new schedule and is nothing permanent.
Dr. Gell concluded, “I’m overall a fan of the new longer blocks, but I think there are still some kinks that need to get worked out.”
Meanwhile, the language department has seen other effects. Mr. Oliver Morris, a Latin teacher, said, “I think it’s still impacting my teaching in ways that I don’t yet know about. I am still trying to figure out the best way to handle changes.” For example, Mr. Morris explained that although there is less homework time, there is still more time in class. Because of this, as a teacher of high levels of Latin, Mr. Morris suspected that he’d still cover the same amount of Latin translation. However, he found that his students aren’t necessarily doing the same amount of work as in previous years. Rather than completing more translation for homework — where students are expected to translate the entire text themselves — students are doing more translation in class, with assistance from their teacher and classmates. Therefore, students are receiving less practice and are less prepared for assessments. Mr Morris added, “The question becomes how do I figure out how to make sure you’re doing the same amount of practice or enough practice.”
Mr. Morris has also seen the impacts of the new schedule on students: “I’ve noticed that some of my advisees who are taking six courses, particularly in the fall, really were having a hard time, particularly coming out of long weekend and when teachers hadn’t really accurately gaged how much time they had left.” He explained, “[Students] got really overtaxed in that period of time because of six courses.” Mr. Morris felt that the workload for many students piled on later in the term as teachers were still unfamiliar with the schedule change.
On the contrary, Mr. Morris discussed that there are some benefits of the new schedule, as he has more time to do projects and other large assignments. He also added, “I feel more relaxed everyday,” as he doesn’t have to rush to complete a lesson, which was a potential issue in last year’s 45-minute blocks.
Overall, Mr. Morris asserted that “the reduction in homework, I think, is a bad thing.” Mr. Morris also explained that although there is more class time, the lack of frequent class meetings may be harmful to students.
A final downside is that there is an increased impact of missing a class day with the new schedule. If there is a special schedule or if a student has an illness, and a student has to miss class, he or she is missing a significant amount of class time.
In similar circumstances, Ms. Patricia Antúnez, a Spanish teacher discussed her opinion: “It has been good to have a mix of activities with the longer periods, and also some time for group work during class time. It has increased my attention to include more of a variety of activities, and I feel I am reaching more use of the four skills most days.” With more time in class, Ms. Antúnez feels that her students can practice speaking, writing, listening, and reading — the four skills that Ms. Antúnez referred to.
In addition, as Ms. Antúnez teaches beginning levels of Spanish. Regarding those sections, she said, “It does take time to assimilate the material, and three meetings makes it a bit challenging for the beginning level.” Ms. Antúnez feels that the lack of frequent class time prohibits students from using vocabulary or grammar concepts regularly, putting them at a disadvantage.
Ms. Brooke Fichera, an English teacher, discussed her thoughts as well: “The new schedule allows me to have a little bit more flexibility.” She explained, “I can kind of piece it out differently than I was able to with the shorter periods.” In her class, Ms. Fichera feels that there is more time for discussion and in-class work time. The latter permits students to ask questions about assignments and to work ahead.
Ms. Fichera commented, “I think ultimately if we all kind of maximize the way it can be used, it will help students a lot.”
Similar to other teachers, though Ms. Fichera feels that there are benefits, there are still some disadvantages: “In some ways, it’s harder with only three nights of homework and the homework limitations that we have because it’s hard to get a lot of reading in.” In addition, Ms. Fichera explained that if she wants her students to read a novel, it’s difficult to incorporate writing assignments as well, without assigning too much homework. Ms. Fichera concluded, “I think everybody needs to remember that there’s going to be an adjustment period, for everyone.”
Ms. Andrea Sorrells, a math teacher, also understands the advantages and disadvantages of the new schedule. Because of the new class schedule, she spends a lot more time prepping for classes, as all the previous notes and homework assignments have to be redone. However, the additional class time allows for more fun activities and interesting problems. Ms. Sorrells said, “I love learning and finding new ways to teach math that are engaging, valuable, and rewarding.”
Several students were also willing to share their opinions on the new schedule. Piper Connelly ’19 explained her thoughts and highlighted the increased impact of missing class, especially in the midst of widespread illnesses on campus: “I’m kind of used to it by now, just because it’s been about five months, but with the flu epidemic I got really scared to miss even one class because so much material needs to be crammed into one period due to blocks only meeting three times a week.”
Another student, Lily Bar ’19, explained, “The lunch blocks are a little tricky though just because there’s not really enough time to eat.” In addition, Taylor John-Lewis ’19 commented, “It’s seems like a good change except for the shortened lunch periods. It comes in handy for doing work uninterrupted or taking naps during free periods.”
Overall, the schedule change poses advantages and disadvantages for students and faculty alike. Although many feel that they have fully adjusted to the longer periods and less homework time, it is undeniable that the schedule change will continue to have lasting effects.
