by Brian
I love my job, but I really hate having to eat lunch in thirty minutes. It must be nice to be able to meet friends away from work and sit down for a leisurely hour. But 30 minutes for lunch is just a synecdoche for the larger problem: the traditional 6 period day used in most of our high schools. It's not only hectic, it's inefficient. Think of the organizational skills that our students must have to keep track of 6 different subjects every day. And with 125 to 150 students per day, even if I had common planning time with my colleagues in the math department, which I don't, how could I collaborate with them when my time is devoured by my own classroom responsibilities. The schedule creates isolation, even for brand new teachers who would benefit the most from collaboration. So why do we keep using it? And what does it have to do with teacher quality?
Why we keep using it is easy: inertia. We do what we do because that's what we do. A body in motion will keep moving in a straight line unless acted upon by a force. And to effect a change in educational practice takes a huge force. But events may be coming together to provide the necessary force. First, Secretary Duncan's Race to the Top has provided an immense impetus for change. Our state is doing everything it can to be competitive in the process, and that requires thinking outside the box. Second, the baby boomers are aging, and a lot of them are teachers. Within the next decade there will be a spate of retirements, and a commensurate hiring of new, and younger teachers. It can be argued that paradigms shift when new ideas prevail by evidence over old ideas. Like the theory of plate tectonics. It can also be argued that paradigms shift when the people who hold the old ideas retire.
And teacher quality? I was heartened to read an article in Education Sector Reports by Elena Silva about Furman Brown and his Generation Schools. The course work is basically organized into three groups of courses: Foundations (English, math, science, and social studies); Studios (electives like art, music, foreign language); and Intensives (career and college planning units). Almost all teachers teach Foundation and Studio classes, usually two 90 minute Foundations courses before lunch, and a 60 minute Studio in the afternoon. They work together on a number of teams based on grade level, subject, and course type. After teaching the Studio all teachers have two(!) hours of common planning time. The school day starts at 9:00am and ends at 4:00pm, and yes they get an hour for lunch. The students have a 200 day year, but the teachers have staggered schedules with two 4 week breaks when the students are engaged in month long Intensives like career based trips, internships, and college application training. By using the staff strategically and time intentionally the quality of teaching in the Generation School is greatly enhanced.
With all of the issues we are dealing with in reforming education, maybe redesigning how we go about our work should be high on the list. And I'd really like an hour for lunch.
I barely get past saying hello to the two teachers next door. I spend the rest of my day (including lunch) with a wonderful group of eight year olds. But adult interaction? Team planning? forgetaboutit.
Mark, in nations who are members of the OECD the number of teaching hours in public schools averages 812 per year for primary and 667 for secondary. The range is from less than 600 in Korean primary schools and 400 in Danish secondary schools to 1080 hours for both in the United States. I haven’t seen hours just for planning and preparation, but it would seem reasonable that the workday would be about the same length, so the average planning time must be far greater than ours.
Even more than an hour at lunch, I’d like to see more time built into our schedules for planning, grading, and collaboration. I get so little accomplished during my plan period that I’d seriously consider “selling it” and take on another class if we had the FTE need. It’s a joke to even be called a plan period, it ought to be called a “returning parent email and phone call or cursing at the copy machine or filling out forms and paperwork period.”
I heard a rumor that teachers in other countries have double or triple the planning and assessment time that we do in the US…anyone know if that is really true?
My favorite line on the generation schools site is “When good teachers have more time with much smaller classes, students achieve.”
What a concept. I don’t know if I want a longer lunch, though. As a working mom with two tiny daughters, I’d go without lunch if it meant getting home to my family thirty minutes sooner. I love the idea of the foundations classes and the studios. Our scramble of 6 periods and ticking off credits by the .5 is inefficient, confusing, and senseless. Students spend 35 minutes a day in transit from one place to the next. Even shifting to three 2-hour blocks a day and sharing one block to fit in a prep period makes more sense than 150 students and 5 periods.