With the spring semester drawing to a close, Aragon High School finds itself looking to the 2012-2013 school year and a radically new schedule, the modified block.
The final schedule will have a traditional schedule on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays the school day beginning at 8 a.m. and ending at 3:15 p.m. Furthermore, Wednesdays, a modified block schedule day, will have a lunch that is immediately followed by 15 minutes of teacher office hours in which students will have the option of asking for help, making up tests or such activities.
Assistant principal Jim Coe notes, “Well there was a lot of work done last year looking at a later start mainly for the sake of students who probably need a little bit more sleep than they do at early morning rising. So what we’re looking to do there, 10 minutes isn’t much. Ideally [we] probably want to begin at 8:15, 8:30. But then that pushes everything into 3:30 and beyond.
“Just with the creation of this particular schedule, there was this 15 minutes of time that needed to be accounted for … So I think it was the math department that looked at it and said it would be a good idea to add it on to that one particular lunch. That way if students need to make up a test or they need to see a teacher about an assignment or if they had some question, that would be an opportunity for them, at least on that one particular day to get to them. And so lunch would officially end at half hour. But there would be that 15 minute where, if students needed to meet with somebody that would be an opportunity.”
Though the final vote approving the schedule was held by the faculty over a month ago, the opinion of the student body and the faculty is marked by ambivalence.
Teacher Perspective
The World Language department has remained open to the new schedule. Spanish teacher Nicole Elenz-Martin says, “I think traditionally a reason why a lot of World Language teachers did like meeting every day was due to a style of teaching that has changed. And I guess to explain that better, the old school style of teaching, kind of out of a textbook and doing grammar drills, vocab memorization and saying things and repeating things isn’t the way a lot of teaching is done in the World Language department.
“The World Language classroom now involves a lot of use of technology with, for example, project-based learning, more instruction on the teacher’s part, being able to record our voices digitally, being able to create animations and comic strips using language or different things that will be able to better infuse the way that we use the language with the reading and the writing and the listening and the speaking.”
Another Spanish teacher, Ben Ho, acknowledges, “I think it has caused a lot of controversy, but I’m willing to adapt my teaching strategy to a block period. I’m not the most experienced with a block schedule, but we all are going to have to adapt to it.”
In regard to changing the curriculum, some in the Math department has expressed concern regarding the implementation of the modified block schedule. Precalculus teacher Lisa Kossiver points out, “The nature of the way math is processed by most kids is that they need to learn it in bits, and so ninety minutes is just too much time. Especially in this ‘small bite’ generation, ninety minutes is too long for kids to concentrate, especially with certain classes.”
Linda Colloran, a school to career coordinator with the San Mateo Union High School District and a current career/technical education teacher at Hillsdale High School offered a unique perspective on the modified block and full block scheduling. She notes, “I teach on a modified block at Hillsdale. And I taught for 15 years on a full block schedule…As a CTE teacher, I taught home ec (economics), and I taught a number of lab-based classes … Its downside was, as a foods teacher, because of block schedule, I felt like I had to cook everyday, which can get very exhausting. And food is an expensive class, so it becomes expensive as well.”
Student Input
Sophomore Katarina Drake, who attended Los Altos High School as a freshman, relates a positive firsthand experience with a modified block schedule. She says, “I liked it a lot because it gave me a break from doing homework from every class every day, and usually, teachers assigned more in depth homework on those days that you needed more time to do. Also there was more time to go in and ask teachers for clarification on certain problems and concepts which was awesome and really helped.
“I definitely like that we have modified block schedule next year, and honestly, the class periods won’t seem that long if teachers really plan the day well. I think it will give more opportunities to do quality group work instead of rushing all the time … I found it really stressful having every class every day and really monotonous, so having block schedule next year will switch it up a little bit, which I think everyone will appreciate.”
Sophomore Rebecca Jain reflects similar sentiments, saying, “I like the fact that we will be getting out early on Thursdays. I will like having two days to complete homework assignments on block days, I will like having time to do more interesting labs in AP Chem next year … I’m pretty pro-block scheduling, now that I think about it!”
However, some students wish that there was a full block instead of a modified block. Junior Addy Eveslage comments that, “I’m not for the modified block, but I would be for a block schedule because at my middle school I had a full block schedule and it was really helpful with assignments and it helped teachers be more productive with the time that they had… it also provided more time to finish assignments and not have the stress of turning in all of the assignments the next day. But with the modified block, you do not get the full benefits of an actual block schedule. Therefore I am against the modified block schedule.”
Some students disapprove so much of the block schedule that they have drafted and signed a petition in opposition to the change. Junior Trevor Lahoz, who was involved in the process of developing the petition, states, “A few weeks ago during second period, me and my friends were talking about [the modified] block schedule, and it appeared to us that there was a large number of students opposed to block schedule. And so we decide to make a petition. As of now, there is only a little over 60 signatures. We have not brought it to administration yet, and whether we do or not depends on how many signatures we are able to get. I don’t know if I cant speak for everyone, but personally I feel that the periods are just too long as many students experienced during STAR testing. I noticed that, during the lengthen periods, the majority of kids in my classes tuned out for the last 15- 20 minutes of class.”
Future Direction
While the faculty will revisit the modified block schedule in January and May of next year, Aragon may see the addition of a tutorial or a comparable period in the future. Describing possible options, Assistant Principal Jim Coe says, “If there is a tutorial period [the year after next], it would be an after school arrangement … we looked at what would the impact be for adding the student support as the second phase. So we would be looking at that piece in more depth in making the decision as a faculty about what type of structure we want, what kind of student support.
Whether we want kind of a study table idea which would have time at the end of the school day … It would kind of be like college office hours where teachers would be expected to be in their rooms from say 2:15 to 3:05 so students could either complete homework, make up tests or meet with teachers if they have any questions.
“That’s one scenario. The other scenario would be some kind of a homeroom idea or advisory period, they’re sometimes called, that would meet a couple of times a week. Students could do several kinds of things without it being in the middle of the day. There’s some different scenarios out. So the Aragon Strategy Committee, which is sort of the experimental arm, the arm that looks at making structural changes in the school, they’ll take a look at that.”
Still, referring to the intention to revisit the schedule next year, US History teacher William Colglazier says, “I think the new schedule will take some getting used to, but I think it’ll be nice to have a different feel to the week. Of course we’ll evaluate it, but I think it is going to be good, so unless there is a severe problem… Not much is going to change in the modified block schedule.”
Thus, while the Aragon Strategy Committee is currently involved in the process of exploring different options for additional student support, the exact future course of events remains unclear. But for now, returning can be certain they will be met with the modified block in the fall.
Additional reporting by Taylor Westmont
