Saturday, December 1, 2012

What kind of schedule best fits today's high school students?

I have often wondered what length of class time is best for high school students.  Lutheran High School has 90 minute periods with 4 classes meeting each day.  I'm struck by the notion that even the best of teachers who prepare epic lessons might be fighting an uphill battle in engaging this "instant-gratification-lack-of-concentration-please-make-it-visual-and-experiential-or-I-will-be-bored-out-of-my-mind-for-half-your-period-and-oh-by-the-way-I-could-probably-find-a-YouTube-video-that-explained-this-better-than-you-do-anyway" generation of kids (said with all due respect because I love this generation of students).

So maybe a better schedule for more effective teaching exists . . . 45 minute periods? 30 minutes? Every class every day? Class four days a week?  What time structure would maximize the strengths and realities of the way these kids think and work!

Then again, maybe it doesn't matter at all - maybe good teachers will excel no matter what and maybe good students will excel in any conditions?

These are things I think about.

3 comments:

  1. How about a schedule that most closely followed college course? A 4 credit hour course typically meant that you will have four 50 min class periods a week. The longest class that I took at Colorado School of Mines was 1 hr and 45 mins. However, I would only have maybe two classes that long in a week. If you structure high school more like college, academically and scheduling speaking, kids would do better in high school.

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    1. By the way, I graduated LHSP in '08. Just graduated this year (2012) from the Colorado School of Mines with a BS in Petroleum Engineering.

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  2. As a mom, I am really interested if it is OK to use online homework help services to keep my kid's performance at a high level. The case is math is too hard for me to help him. =(

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