Teaching on the block is not my favorite thing and is something I need to get used to.  One aspect of this longer period is all of the paper work!  Our training suggested having three different activities during a period. So, to me that means having the students do something that they are then responsible for, something that they are turning in for a grade or a mark toward class participation.  Currently, I am drowning!  My head is no where near above water.  I am looking for organized teachers, and/ or teachers who teach on the block to share their secrets to being more successful in this area.

I have now transformed into a circus ring master instead of a teacher.  Running an 84 minute period is nothing short of exhausting.  I keep hearing my former principal in my head saying the teacher shouldn’t do all the work.  Well, that is ALL I am doing.  Our training for block scheduling recommended that we have at least 3 different activities planned during a class.  This is where I feel like a circus ring master.  We were encouraged to get the students up and moving during that time.  When I do that, students moan saying they are too tired, or complain that the new ginormous desks are too heavy to move around in a small group.

Keep in mind that only the English and science department are following a block schedule that meets with students every other day.  It is almost like a double whammy for teachers in these two departments because students dread the fact that they have to sit that long in ONLY those two classes, where as every other class is 48 minutes long.  I would dread it too!  Seeing students every other day is also a challenge for due dates of assignments, especially  for special education students who have extended time on written assignments and projects .  Even if we don’t see that student during the time that they have an extension, is it their responsibility to see me, or turn things in on their own? Yeah, right!  Also, if a student is absent, it is like they have missed two classes!  Missing school is going to be a challenge for some of our students who don’t regularly come to school.  Once they get back and realize how much they missed in science and English, might that lead students to give up?

Not only are we dealing with a new schedule, some of us anyway, we have a new computer program, a new grading program and our rooms are in disarray because construction of new heating units is not yet completed.  Text books, novels, dictionaries are all in boxes in the back of my room.  Where I normally have things placed in my room are displaced.  All of this just makes for a feeling of major confusion and disorganisation. I haven’t talked to any other teachers that have a schedule like ours.  Maybe you are out there.  If you have suggestions as to what I can do to make my class run smoother, I would love to hear them.

This weekend during a very brief moment of relaxation, I picked up the New York Teacher paper.  Inside, I found an article about Dora Fowler who started her sixth decade of teaching.  My first response was one of shock.  How has she survived in the teaching profession for so long?  She offers some really good advice to all of us in the teaching business.  I thought it was only  appropriate to reflect on her advice as another school year begins.  Ms. Fowler advises:

• Be a teacher first.  Students need someone to look up to, not a friend.
• Meet the parents.  Open House is just not good enough to meet our student’s parents.  They need to be involved and aware of what is going on in their child’s life at school.  This is an area I am sure all schools try to improve on.
• You can’t reach everyone.  Fowler states, that no matter how hard we may try, every student may not be reached.  She comments that we all should be proud of the students we do help.
• Don’t fear failure.  Fowler’s repeated phrase seems to be: “Get over it!”  We all make mistakes, lesson plans may not always go as planned, and trying different approaches in the classroom can be scary. “Get over it!”
• Mind your appearance.  Going to school dressed professionally is not just old fashioned but according to Fowler, it fosters respect.
• Learn to laugh.  In order to make it this long, Fowler says her sense of humor and the ability to laugh at herself and then move on  has been paramount.

Whew!  I made it!  I have read several blogs of teachers and their first day/week.  I am glad to know that teachers everywhere experience the same chaos that I have.  The weather here for my first two days was 90!  I am on the second floor of my building where the sun shines for the first five hours of the day!  Can you say sticky? 

The jury is still out on this block scheduling thing.  Our students are concerned about retention, bordom, limited passing time and packed lunch periods!  Block scheduling affects all of these areas.  My former principal always said that the students are the ones who should be working hard, not the teacher.  Well, this week facilitating 3 different activites per block period,  I was exhausted!  I know I worked harder. The students were clear about the fact that they were sure these 80 minute classes would be soooo boring.  However, get this, when I actually asked them to physically move, I heard groans!  I can’t win.

The block is superb for my Honors class and for my college senior class.  Both classes met and enjoyed discussing, looking deeper into litereature and working in groups.  For these students the 80 minutes works beautifully.

The two day week I had was certainly an eye opener.  I can only hope that as they days move along the students and I will all get used to lengthened classes.

Thank you Dana and HappyChyck!  Great Ideas!

As the days wind down to the first day of school, my mind is spinning with what to do with 84 minute class periods.  We had a day of training and something that came up was warm up activities or sponge activities.  As I have done in the past I look to all the fantastic educators who read and write for blogs for help and guidance. 

I searched the Internet for both words and from what I can gather, these activities are to start the class right away, get the students thinking.  I get that part.  Now, does the activity ALWAYS have to relate to what we are doing or have done in class? Should it be class subject related?  And, my biggest question, what do I do with it?!  Is it something that I collect, grade, discuss after, do I give a time limit?  I need all the help I can get in order to fill this time, especially in September as the students and I will be adjusting to the new schedule.  Please help!

My seniors next year will be a class that is split between those students who will be receiving college credit and students who will not.  Oddly, the majority of the students in the class will NOT be obtaining credit from a local community college.  After receiving a positive response of offering the same material to all the students in the class, I also received from the majority of students registered, the summer assignment.  Now, some students have voiced their concern about taking the class while not gaining that ultimate prize of college credit.  I understand where some of these students are coming from.  As juniors, my honors class had some of the best writers I have seen in a while.  The test results shocked me. 

 I just want to stress the importance of one’s senior high school year.  Colleges are interested in seeing the types of classes one takes all through high school.  I get the impression that some students think that their senior year should/could be a “blow-off”.  I feel the opposite is true!  First, the class will be weighted; this is a bonus right?  Second, they can continue on the honors track by staying in a class that will provide a challenge and other students who want to learn, grow and work hard.  All those are bonuses!  Third, all the students will be better prepared for college whether they are receiving upper level credit or not.  And, THAT is a bonus.  As far as I see it, taking the class is a win, win situation for all.  What I don’t think is being considered is their other option.  Have they thought about what that will be like?

I want to encourage everyone to work hard, be challenged and not to be tempted by the “easy way out”.  Ultimately, as young adults, each needs to make their own decision based on what is right for them.  I hope that once classes start and we all get into a routine, the positives will far out weight the negatives.

The school district where I work offers a college English class to our students and they can earn up to 6 college credits from a local community college.  In June, I had 20 interested students.  In order to get into this class, students had to  pass the college entrance exam.  Much to my amazement as well as the students, only a handful of them passed the college entrance exam!  The juniors in my honors English class are some of the best writers I have seen in a while and not all of them passed.  I couldn’t throw these students back into a “regular” English class. So with my principal’s approval I was able to offer many of these students the college level class without the local community college credit.  To my surprise, everyone I approached was interested in being in the class regardless of obtaining upper level credits or not.  That was not the only bridge they had to cross.  I assigned them One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and an essay to be e-mailed to me by July 23rd.  I was very thrilled to receive 17 papers from the 20 students who signed up for the course.  This is not an easy novel, it covers many different themes and issues that I look forward to discussing with them on the first day of school.  The second week of school my class has been assigned reading cards and a creative project.  Some students have already e-mailed me to get approval for their creative projects.  I am very pleased and proud of my students.  That’s what I call dedication and really wanting to grow and learn! 

Keep it up folks!

Today myself and some of my colleagues sat through six hours of training in regards to block scheduling.  It was a beautiful day after two days of rain.  Doesn’t that figure when I have some place to be all day inside!  I must confess that much of my thoughts have been channeled toward next year and teaching classes for 84 minutes as apposed to 38 minutes!  I couldn’t help but wonder what that kind of class would look like.  I couldn’t quite wrap my mind around it.  However, now, I feel a little bit better.  Our trainer from BOCES gave us several tried and true strategies that we could work with.  The best part was talking among ourselves and figuring out that we CAN do this!  We were able to brainstorm our current ideas and lesson plans and dissect them in order to make them work for a longer class period.  I have heard so many people tell me that I will just LOVE teaching on the block!   I wasn’t that easily sold.  After today, I realize that I am ready for a change and I am excited about changing the entire way that I run my class.  I think it will be kind of exciting!  Learning and change always keeps boredom at bay.

I was later informed that each of our class rooms will have a smart board! Oh, my! More new things!!!  But I understand that this will make learning easier and more interactive with the students.  If anyone has experience with the smart board, please share, because I don’t know anything about it.  I look to my readers to share their knowledge.

Being a high school English teacher grading a New York State Regents Exam takes dedication, diligence and time.  I must admit that our department is able to let lose after hours of intense grading and we giggle and have a few laughs and then it is back to the grind.  It’s not only the Regents Exam, it is plugging in the grade, putting in my own English grades and figuring out a grade distribution form and making copies for guidance and the principal and the department head.  I can’t help but feel envious of teachers who teach something other than English.  These exams require multiple readers and students are responding to multiple tasks all within one essay.  We like to think and hope that we have prepared them for these essays during the year.  We enjoy each victory and literally cheer for each one, big or small.  It is a demanding exam and I congratulate all of my students who took it two times in order to really show their writing abilities by creating a chart before writing, being an active reader and mostly, going back and looking for the multiple choice questions; because they ARE in there!  Each year I teach my students a little ELA song to the tune of “Row, Row, Row your boat”.  It goes like this:

Write, Write, Write we will

For the ELA

Active reader, organizer,

Then the essay!

We have fun singing it when we are practicing in class and especially right before the exam.  My honors class likes to do it in a round!  The last few days I gave extra credit to any student who stood in front of the class and sang alone the ELA song.  Now, that was fun!  I am hoping to have that song stick in their minds when they go off to college or even off to English in their senior year.  Everyone likes music right?