I know that ive only been in the high school for a couple days but the classes seem a litttle long. At the middle school (
http://wms.svrsu.org/) we had shorter classes, they were around 50 minutes. That was much better. You could have more classes in the day. You might not get as much information in if you had a longer class but there would be a smaller amount of kids that are board. If you are sitting in a chair for over an hour you are going to get board, no matter what what your doing. I've heard many students complaining about the time. Maybe you could shorten the classes. That way we could be learning in a bigger range of classes. If students had shorter classes that means there is a better chance that students would pay attention because the class does not drag out. You would have to go through things such as homework or other assignments quicker so there would not be time to goof off. How would this change the school? Well this would allow students to have more classes a day and even a year. That means they would have learned a wider range of classes a day. You could also have more credits every year.
I also have another thing that we could change in our school community is take away computers. They are a huge distraction, even though they help us out a lot they are still a huge distraction. Some students use them to help them work, but then there is a huge amount of students that use these laptops in a wrong way during school and out of school. Students play games, look up stuff the you shouldn't do when your at school. Then when students have a assignment that you have to work on, on your computer there is a lot of kids that play games when you should be working on a assignment. Then when it's due they end up not having it done they end up failing that class or that assignments. I have seen it hundreds of times. So if we take computers out then there wouldn't be as big as a distraction(
http://www.infostormgadget.com/2012/02/27/pros-and-cons-of-using-laptops-in-classrooms/)
Thats the reason why I dont think we need computers in school systems.
I also have another thing that we could change in our school community is take away computers. They are a huge distraction, even though they help us out a lot they are still a huge distraction. Some students use them to help them work, but then there is a huge amount of students that use these laptops in a wrong way during school and out of school. Students play games, look up stuff the you shouldn't do when your at school. Then when students have a assignment that you have to work on, on your computer there is a lot of kids that play games when you should be working on a assignment. Then when it's due they end up not having it done they end up failing that class or that assignments. I have seen it hundreds of times. So if we take computers out then there wouldn't be as big as a distraction(http://www.infostormgadget.com/2012/02/27/pros-and-cons-of-using-laptops-in-classrooms/) 
Bryson, you have some good points here that seem to point in some interesting directions. Kids learn in many different ways and actually very few learn deeply in shorter classes. For the outdated lecture format shorter classes worked well. But for courses that are more dynamic the time needed must exceed 40-50 minutes to allow for student collaboration and deeper student led discussion or problem solving. The issue becomes when you have a longer block with outdated teaching methods....70 minutes is a long time to sit, listen to a lecture and be still! All of this said, schools can have both schedules and more. If a student really needs the close supervision of adults and may have a difficult time in learning certain concepts....shorter teacher driven seminars are probably a good idea. For the rest, I would offer that 70 minute blocks or longer would allow for meaningful interaction with the teacher, major work with peers on learning, or even self driven learning in a facilitated space. Schools will not look like they used to and this is hard for some to stomach. We need to continuously ask what parts of learning need to exist so that regardless of schedule young people have the very best. Look forward to hearing your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteAs for machines, it is time for your generation to call each other out on misuse of machines and conversely to ask for new learning environments where learning with machines makes sense and is dynamic. If you only digitize an old way of teaching, you are making the most painful thing to most kids about school seem more dreary. When we use machines to help you all with finding and proliferating your passion for learning (biology, history, Maths, writing) in ways that make sense to you (recording field science experiments on the coast with iPads, creating museums of the past with images and digital storyboards, making math models, through robotics, or writing analytical pieces about important findings and research) your peers wont use the machines for the ills you are discussing because they will not exist.
I appreciate having you in class and look forward to your thoughts.
Brycson, I agree with you. I liked the shorter classes at the middle school because we always had something to do. Here, I feel like we have extra time in the classes and we could make them shorter. I think kids would and are getting bored with each class being 75 minutes long. I think we are sitting so much that we don't concentrate on what the teacher is saying. Do you agree? I also agree about the laptops. I know that last year, many students got their laptops in lock down because they weren't responsible enough to use them. Some students even got multiple lock downs so I think that they didn't learn their lesson. I think that schools could benefit from taking laptops out of the schools, because people wouldn't get a chance to play games or on on inappropriate sites.
ReplyDeleteThanks you Mr.S and Kennedy for your replys. I still agree with Kennedy about how kids are getting bored with these longer classes. I also agree that when kids get bored they also don't listen to what the teacher is saying.
ReplyDeleteMr.S if you were sitting in class for 70 minutes or longer, wouldn't you get bored?
My brother has recently gone to college and his classes are 50 minutes long and he is still getting a very good education.
I know some people don't like change but when things don't work they should go back to the old way of teaching which is shorter classes and maybe just pencil and paper.