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Whee, I'm back!
So yeah. My schedule is officially dead. Also the school is a fat fail right now. More on that as I continue.
Long story short, got an appointment with the principal for after lunchtime, waited for secretary for 10 minutes, then she got there and remembered I had an appointment, so I waited 10 more minutes for him to get there. Then I spent an extended amount of time speaking to him and essentially advertising myself; he sort of was on my side, patronized me for a bit, and then left to discuss the schedule with some class admin or something.
He came back 20-30 minutes later, and after I used each of the 3 modes of persuasion (lol), transparently stating each of my reasonings, he basically said that there was nothing he could do about it because we only have 1 class and I cannot force out a senior or someone with fewer sciences.
TL;DR and/or conclusion: Gotta wait until the beginning of next school year, write down the other possible periods my teachers teach their classes (i.e. apush teacher teaches period 2, 4, and 6 etc.), wait for any drop-outs, and snipe open AP Chem spots by rearranging schedule. wewt
Even shorter:   ap chem list full fosho, must change around classes after year begins if I want to take it.
Okay. Now the fun part, somewhat related to schedule dilemma. My school runs on a block schedule, meaning we have odd (1, 3, 5) and even (2, 4, 6) on alternating days. Periods last for 100 minutes. The principal is pushing to implement a semi-traditional (6 classes per day for ONE day of each week) in an attempt to increase the number of "contacts" per week, which is a ridiculous idea and will merely mean that on that day, we will lose time, and that day will essentially be wasted. A fully-traditional schedule work because it's 6 periods all the time, but a combination of two is not optimal at all.
SO there's this huge shitstorm going down right now, with virtually the entire student body as well as most of the teachers against the change. Parents are only somewhat involved (i.e. there isn't yet what one could call widespread outrage or anything), and there seems to be a large number of teachers who really are quite neutral on the issue, which is definitely not helping.
Also, after apparently being very impressed by me (obviously he does not understand the student body very well -__-), the principal asked me my opinion on this scheduling issue. I told him what I thought (that it was a bad idea, stated several reasons etc.), though he didn't budge at all--probably was fishing for support...
I hope I'll be able to work out my schedule and ninja in AP Chem come the next school year though...also want to maintain block schedule. I really do not have much issue with traditional schedule, but the fact that it's a combination of block and traditional does not make it the best of both worlds and instead undermines the entire class schedule for everybody.
And that's it!
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/R1CH/Happy2.gif)
Now that THAT'S off my chest, I have to: make up my chem hw (took 90 minutes to discuss all of this, which is ironic considering that I could have missed 2 periods' worth of classes if today were the traditional schedule day), practice my ass off for piano (really behind on that ;__;), and starting to prepare for SAT II subject tests...Math 2, Physics, and probably French.  Ending with some actual random blog content ftw~
Also has anyone noticed that we cannot edit our old posts in our blogs anymore? That sort of sucks considering how immature and sort of stupid I was just a year or so ago...I was just looking back and thinking about deleting my old entries and say no edit function, so apparently it's all recorded for posterity ugh...I'm actually sort of ashamed of my past entries lol.
Have a nice day~
 
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Recording for posterity is great. Those blogs are a reflection of the person you were a year ago. Take it as a positive if you think you have moved on and don't be ashamed of your past entries.
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haha i want to change some of my blog history too cause most of the vented my rage of playing on iccup..
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United States24761 Posts
I don't understand your concern with the proposed schedule. What do you mean the 1-6 day will lose you time? In the end won't you have spent the same amount of time in each class for the semester?
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Yeah, I'll just have to live with my angsty and/or ignorant blog history! hehe
On May 14 2011 08:46 micronesia wrote:
I don't understand your concern with the proposed schedule. What do you mean the 1-6 day will lose you time? In the end won't you have spent the same amount of time in each class for the semester?
Sorry for unclear and/or misleading and/or inaccurate wording. Yeah, we do not actually lose any time--the time for each class remains the same.
What does happen is that the lesson plans of most of the teachers will get destroyed, as the vast majority of our teachers have expressed a preference for what they feel is the better quality of teaching gained from such a long period. AP classes especially are taught at more of a college level, which have longer periods, etc. as far as I know, and the 50 minute periods would severely detract from the quality of instruction.
I know that you're a teacher and you likely understand better than I might/have a refreshing viewpoint on this, so what might your perspective on this be? :o
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As a college student... most of my classes last 50 minutes. XD I have some classes that last three hours (art studios), but every lecture I've ever had has been an hour (you get out 10 minutes early in case you happen to have a class immediately afterwards, which is almost never, lol).
However, I have been in both block period high schools, and 7 period a day high schools. The block periods were infinitely better. It takes about 10 minutes to get class going, and you lose 5-10 minutes at the end of a class as well with packing up. The more times you switch between classes the more overall learning time you lose.
Plus with AP classes like chem or bio where you are trying to do experiments, it's virtually impossible to cram it into a short period like that. For APUSH or English it's not such a big deal, but it's still obnoxious to try to have a discussion that gets cut way short; picking up the next day is just not the same.
As for you class scheduling issues, that really sucks. Remember though, the school can't actually educate you. You have to chose to educate yourself. Just study on your own if it's important to you. A good AP test grade is more important than a class on the transcript. Anyone can take a class and pass just filling out homeworks. You actually have to understand that shit to pass.
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On May 14 2011 09:14 RedJustice wrote:As a college student... most of my classes last 50 minutes. XD I have some classes that last three hours (art studios), but every lecture I've ever had has been an hour (you get out 10 minutes early in case you happen to have a class immediately afterwards, which is almost never, lol). However, I have been in both block period high schools, and 7 period a day high schools. The block periods were infinitely better. It takes about 10 minutes to get class going, and you lose 5-10 minutes at the end of a class as well with packing up. The more times you switch between classes the more overall learning time you lose. Plus with AP classes like chem or bio where you are trying to do experiments, it's virtually impossible to cram it into a short period like that. For APUSH or English it's not such a big deal, but it's still obnoxious to try to have a discussion that gets cut way short; picking up the next day is just not the same. As for you class scheduling issues, that really sucks. Remember though, the school can't actually educate you. You have to chose to educate yourself. Just study on your own if it's important to you. A good AP test grade is more important than a class on the transcript. Anyone can take a class and pass just filling out homeworks. You actually have to understand that shit to pass.
Oh I see, thanks for the moral support ;]
And yeah, that was also a huge part of the reason for maintaining the block schedule. Takes a significant amount of time to get the class going, and to get going yourself after the class ends 
I'm going to ask for ap chem's summer homework and do that too haha ...it would suck immeasurably if I were to forget to do the summer work for the class...
Though I will be occupied with residential summer research and some sort of philanthropic camp over the summer, so all of the summer homework plus piano practice plus calc AB preparation will accompany me everywhere... x__x
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United States24761 Posts
On May 14 2011 09:05 Z3kk wrote:Show nested quote +On May 14 2011 08:46 micronesia wrote:
I don't understand your concern with the proposed schedule. What do you mean the 1-6 day will lose you time? In the end won't you have spent the same amount of time in each class for the semester? Sorry for unclear and/or misleading and/or inaccurate wording. Yeah, we do not actually lose any time--the time for each class remains the same. Okay haha.
What does happen is that the lesson plans of most of the teachers will get destroyed, as the vast majority of our teachers have expressed a preference for what they feel is the better quality of teaching gained from such a long period. AP classes especially are taught at more of a college level, which have longer periods, etc. as far as I know, and the 50 minute periods would severely detract from the quality of instruction. Didn't you say you think a traditional schedule would be okay, but just that a combination schedule wouldn't work? What you have just said does not seem to be consistent with that view.
I know that you're a teacher and you likely understand better than I might/have a refreshing viewpoint on this, so what might your perspective on this be? :o
I won't comment on the combination aspect of your schedule... however let me just talk a bit about the different genres of schedules.
I've taught on block schedules with 90 minutes on alternate days (high school), I've taught daily 39 minute periods, and I've taught 2 hour college lab classes. I've taken classes in college that are 6-7 hours every day for a week or two. I've pretty much seen it all. Most of what I could say is actually common sense:
+ Show Spoiler [short daily meetings] +- Get to work with students every day
- Not as hard to keep students engaged for ~40 minutes as it is for say 90 or 100 minutes
- Slightly more time lost due to inefficiency... beginning of class, end of class, etc
+ Show Spoiler [longer, bi-daily meetings] +- Can do activities that take a longer time without having to split them across multiple days
- Less time lost due to inefficiency
- Can get really boring, be a drag, etc; some kids can't handle this type of environment without lots of breaks etc
Honestly, which one is better can only be determined on a case-by-case position. The type of class it is matters... the type of student(s) matters also. It's really hard to concentrate in a class for a long time, but there are some logistical advantages to meeting less often.
Although, I have a feeling a lot of the resistance some of your school's teachers are showing is not really because they feel shorter periods are pedagogically inferior but rather that they are resistant to change from a schedule they and the kids are used to to a schedule they are not used to. I really don't buy it that their "lesson plans are ruined" or that it prevents activities that take a long time... I mean you are talking about one day a weak being shortened? Just don't do labs or major tests on that day?
Not that I'm saying this proposed plan is necessarily a good idea... I have no way of determining that.
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On May 14 2011 08:23 Z3kk wrote:
Also has anyone noticed that we cannot edit our old posts in our blogs anymore? That sort of sucks considering how immature and sort of stupid I was just a year or so ago...I was just looking back and thinking about deleting my old entries and say no edit function, so apparently it's all recorded for posterity ugh...I'm actually sort of ashamed of my past entries lol. Meh.
Have a nice day~
Perfect way of ensuring no one will go have a look at them after reading this blog.
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@micronesia: Whoa, you really have seen it all, and raise some good points ><
I mostly mean that a full traditional (i.e. 6 periods a day, 5 days a week) is fine, because the number of contacts somewhat mitigates the shortened periods. All or nothing; either full block or full traditional. Obviously I prefer block because it feels as if I have more time to do homework and/or don't necessarily have to worry about as many classes each day, but if we were to have the traditional schedule only, it would not be as bad as combining them.
I say this because I just do not like the idea of having a single day in which the schedule is different. You're likely correct in that they just do not want the sudden change more than anything, but it is true that normally having a block schedule yet placing a single random traditional day into said schedule will somewhat disrupt the teaching patterns. It may not hurt that much, but I cannot see it helping.
The principal's rationale for the decision is merely that we have more contacts with our teachers per semester (apparently this works out to only 4-7 more contacts anyway -__-), and that our teachers can use the day to help struggling students. Unfortunately, I just think our AP or higher-level teachers cannot afford to only have 2 useful period per week during which they may lecture on an entire section/lesson, and it is intended (according to our principal) to assist the struggling students, who likely do not want the help in the first place (and will not reap much of a benefit at all), while most of the students will be left with a 50-minute period during which the lesson will be crammed awkwardly or what have you. Several of my science, math, and language teachers have all asserted that having a 50-minute period would just not help much at all. :/
It needs some more testing and/or evidence to back it up, but at the moment we just see no reason that it will succeed or be beneficial at all. Nothing is black and white, and there is always a gray area, but I personally cannot see much benefits. Thanks for your input! Much appreciated, and I can see what you mean.
On May 14 2011 09:37 Thrill wrote:Show nested quote +On May 14 2011 08:23 Z3kk wrote:
Also has anyone noticed that we cannot edit our old posts in our blogs anymore? That sort of sucks considering how immature and sort of stupid I was just a year or so ago...I was just looking back and thinking about deleting my old entries and say no edit function, so apparently it's all recorded for posterity ugh...I'm actually sort of ashamed of my past entries lol. Meh.
Have a nice day~ Perfect way of ensuring no one will go have a look at them after reading this blog.
Yeah, I'm considering taking that part out because a) it could mean people will go look it up; and by extension it could appear that b) I'm attention-whoring...though honestly I don't really care whether they go look, I suppose. Just something for myself to say, "wtf was I thinking back then? O_O" Every year I feel as if I were extremely stupid last year, haha...not just academically or whatnot, but in almost every way possible, when I look back, I do not like what I see :S
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EPT
