My district made a research-driven decision this year: We flip-flopped the start times of our elementary and secondary schools. Now, for the K-5 set, the bell rings at 8:00am (compared to last year’s 9:00am start) and for the secondary crew class starts around 8:45am (instead of an hour earlier).

Being a high school teacher and a morning person myself, I grudgingly accepted this shift to an almost 9:00am start (the day is practically half over by 9:00am!). I get the research all over the place about later start times for teens. The CDC has a page clearly stating their position, titled “Schools Start Too Early,” the New York Times Opinion page weighed in, and there is apparently a bunch of research supporting the premise that teens need to sleep in later.

Try as I might to find research to pile behind my confirmation bias, all I could seem to find were arguments that kids will “just stay up later” or that earlier start times leave room in the evenings for extracurriculars or jobs. Alas, no research at all that earlier start times can actually benefit kids.

So the problem I face now is the long stretch after lunch, and the reality that the time when kids are tired (from having just eaten) or wired (from having just eaten) is a greater proportion of my and my students’ day than it used to be. Granted, back in the olden days of last year when students had to rise so early for first period, there was the struggle of managing the bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed and the faces-on-the-desks-and-drooling in the same classroom just as I now face the dichotomy of postlunch tired and wired.

This new after-lunch slog just feels different, though. It’s probably me (reminder: morning person) but after-lunch-learning looks a whole lot different than before-lunch-learning.

Early in my career I used to joke that I never had a good 6th period. Not the kids, but the lessons. By that time (which, in the schedule from a long time ago, started at 1:15 and ended at 2:10), I was simply done. Exhausted. My teaching was not at peak. Did I do harm? Probably not… but I’m pretty sure 1st and 2nd period were getting much better product. My ideal schedule in those days was to teach solid the first five periods of the day, then have the last period as my prep period. Actually, my dream schedule would have me start teaching at 6:00am and finish by noon, so I’d have the whole afternoon for planning, grading, all the other work of teaching that there isn’t actually time for in a real teacher’s work day.

But, you’ll certainly remind me, it isn’t about me.

We teach to serve the students, not our own interests. So I’ve had to develop a different bag of tricks for after-lunch-teaching. We do more getting up and walking around. The same direct instruction that students were tuned in for before lunch loses them in mere minutes after lunch… so I shift things around when I can. I try to incorporate more movement. I break things into even smaller chunks than I do in my before-lunch classes. We leave the classroom just for a change of scenery and to get the blood pumping. All this helps the tired kids keep from falling victim to the full-belly-zzzz’s and it gives the wired kids the outlet for their energy. True, movement is good to incorporate any time of the day… but it a necessity after lunch, and I still need to work to incorporate more of it.

I mentioned my personal struggles with teaching-after-lunch to my after-lunch classes this past week, and shockingly, I had a number of students who were on Team Early Bird with me. Many said they’d gladly take 6am or 7am classes, for a variety of reasons. Others (the ones still tired despite it being mid afternoon) groaned disapproval of our wild ideas.

I wonder if perhaps someday our system can evolve to even further meet the needs of students by offering options for start times that match a student’s need and interest. Some of us are just wired to be early risers, early thinkers, early do-ers. Right now the edupendulum has swung away from us early birds… but if I’ve learned anything about trends in education, it won’t be long before the pendulum swings back.

AND… If we’re about research-driven decision-making: I’m all for the afternoon siesta. Maybe we bring back the glorious afternoon nap… There’s research that naps improve learning, too, after all.