Anybody recall that I’m a teacher? Sure I’m on a sabbatical until next September, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m in love with the idea (or is it ideal?) of teaching. Not to mention the energy and enthusiasm and brutal honesty of the age I teach, junior high. Can’t be beat.
The girl’s a teacher as well. And this morning, trying to drag our asses out of bed prior to 7am (I was up at 6 for eight years, so this is a sleep in for me), a throw–away comment was heard; the teaching week is too long.
.
.
She’s smart, the girl. And she happens to be right.
In four days, I can easily cover my science curriculum – both the subject matter and the labs. Were my kids homeschooled, they could probably get through all the core subject curricula in half that time. Yes, it really is that easy to do.
The reason we take five days to teach the subject matter is largely historical and related to the working week. Most of us have day jobs. And we like it when we can slough our kids off to someone else for a bit.
Why it takes five days is a different story. It takes five days to teach the curricula because there are so many distractions and interuptions during the typical day. We move at a snail’s pace, and in so doing we alienate our strongest students.
I have first hand knowledge of this; one of my kids (I have three), stoopidly brilliant and capable, has dropped out of high school. He will likely complete it through correspondence, and I have no real worries for him. But the fact that kids like these are left behind by the public system is, well, a bit of an annoyance.
The solution? Well, I’ve always said that there are no simple answers to complicated issues. But that approach merely keeps people form committing to any course of reform. My solution is simple – shorten the school week.
Here’s how it would work:
- The program starts at Division III (Grades 7-9)
- All students attend from Monday to Thursday
- Fridays are reserved for the following:
- testing and evaluation
- catch-up for any students who were absent earlier in the week (due to illness, relgious, or family reasons
- remedial time for any students who need it
- corrective time for any students who were twits during the week.
- Teachers, of course, would be in attendance on Fridays
- PD, interview, report card, time–banked days, and the like would fall on Fridays.
Call these talking points. I’m sure someone somewhere will drag this out when I’m running for school trustee and call me a reactionary, pinkoo easterner (of which I’m proud, by the way).
I will attempt to preempt that by simply saying that anyone who does so is a twit. You get to come in on Friday.
But to the rest of you, I say this is an idea.
What happens to kids who need ot be supervised? Well the capable kids (those not attending on Fridays) are typically the more responsible as well. And by 13 or so, they become trustworthy enough to leave unsupervised for a time.
But how a drop–in program to build citizenship, community spirit and public service? Hire education students to run these. Pay for ed students (cheaper than teachers, by far) by eliminating all school fees (Province: your job) and diverting those to Friday programs.
Will this (or any kind of significant educational reform) ever happen? No, of course not. But not for the reason many of you think.
The reason that a significant change like this will never happen is because schools are not about education, they are about social conditioning and normalization. We’re one big, fat social daycare, and the Lords of Cobol help us if that ever changes.
But that is fodder for another topic. Comments and discussion anyone?
So you’re suggesting that ALL testing would take place on Fridays? Quizzes and the like?
The only problem I have with that (and it’s a problem that stems from the insane scheduling in place for Junior High) is that by Friday, the kids are so sleep-deprived that they would bomb the tests.
I will never understand who so brilliantly decided that JH would begin at 7:55am, when it is well known that teenagers cannot fall asleep before 1:00am. They really can’t. Both their circadian rhythms and their sleep stressor trigger are out of sequence with the rest of the world. JH should begin at 10:00.
The reason school starts at 8 am (or thereabouts) for JHS kids has all to do with bussing. And nothing but. The buses do their first rounds for JH then go around again for elementary kids. And between the two, TPTB suppose it’s better that older kids get up earlier.
Yes the research shows that adolescents are pretty unproductive in the mornings. Ther ought to be some compromise about that one, but quite frankly, I loved it as a teacher. Means that if I needed to, I could be back home or in the city by 3:00pm – time enough to do stuff.
All testing on a Friday? Perhaps not all, but it my experience is that it’s a pretty good day. The end of the weekly cycle, subject matter is relatively fresh, etc. Much better than Mondays, which the research clearly shows is not the time to do it. And which a surpising number of teachers continue to do.