Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Yup. I would love to really challenge my classes but I would be drawn and quartered before I was fired. Laws and the way they measure school performance are forcing us to focus on the bottom of the class. Nobody complains if you don't meet the needs of the top of the class. They SCREAM if you don't cater to the bottom. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
These laws need to be changed. Not only are we not making significant progress amongst these populations (in "closing the gap"), but it has become incredibly costly.
Not sure how it is where you are. MWF or TTh? How will they get their classes in? Our district high school operates on a 4 days rotating schedule. Six 57 minutes class time a day and a community lunch and learn.
Just like a typical college schedule -- instead of the same class at the same time 5 days a week, you would have different classes on different days. Say math MWF at 8. English TTh at 9 and so forth. Less classroom hours per day, but more time to actually learn. The brain can only absorb so much at a time and the 7 hour days is half wasted.
[quote=Ivorytickler;46373864]
Quote:
Originally Posted by aliss2
Yup. I would love to really challenge my classes but I would be drawn and quartered before I was fired. Laws and the way they measure school performance are forcing us to focus on the bottom of the class. Nobody complains if you don't meet the needs of the top of the class. They SCREAM if you don't cater to the bottom. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
I know a LOT of people are screaming about ignoring the top students. The education establishment is just not LISTENING.
My parents back then and my relatives now are in school 6 days a week in India.
That probably explains why my cousin was doing college-level o-chem in the 10th grade.
School 6 days a week is ridiculous!
Our elementary school hours are 8-2:40. Middle school is 8:55-3:40. High School is 7:15-2:10. Monday through Friday. They are off May 30th to August 15th for summer break. One week in March for spring break. Two days in the fall for spring break and 2 weeks off during Christmas and New Years. They have various days off for some holidays. I have heard of some states having year round school with 3 weeks off after every couple of months. I actually wouldn't mind that!
My students are in school for 6 hours and 40 minutes. Of course not all of it is time in core classes, but that's ok. The problem I see is that as the teacher I am just spread too thin. I teach a primary elementary grade and the student:teacher ratio is 30:1. There is also a wide range of abilities in one class.
School begins between 7:30 and 8:15 and can finish as early as noon. This is usually the case with the lower grades. In the higher grades, classes can continue up until 6:00, depending on the school. Each period is 45 minutes long, with five-minute breaks in between.
Although most Germans claim to be against elitism and favoring any social class, their entire educational system is basically a three-class system that divides students into three different tracks: (1) Gymnasium for bright students headed for college, (2) Realschule for the next step down, kids headed for average or better white-collar positions, and (3) Hauptschule for the bottom tier, generally aimed at the trades and blue-collar jobs. By the age of 10 most pupils in Germany have been put on one of these three educational tracks. Although it is possible to switch tracks, this is not very common.
Efforts over the past several decades to reform this system, with its emphasis on tracking, have largely been unsuccessful. Essentially the same tracking system also exists in neighboring Austria and Switzerland, which have also resisted educational reforms. Citizens of the German-speaking countries seem to feel that the current system produces good results – despite a poor showing in recent PISA rankings and other educational studies that indicate German schools don’t always produce the best educated students.
School begins between 7:30 and 8:15 and can finish as early as noon. This is usually the case with the lower grades. In the higher grades, classes can continue up until 6:00, depending on the school. Each period is 45 minutes long, with five-minute breaks in between.
Not sure how it is where you are. MWF or TTh? How will they get their classes in? Our district high school operates on a 4 days rotating schedule. Six 57 minutes class time a day and a community lunch and learn.
It's called block scheduling, and some of the high schools in my area use it.
My own kids' high school runs from 7-3 divided into eight periods with an optional zero hour beginning at six. (There are just a couple of courses offered at this time, and they are not required.) The students schedule their own classes with one hour in the middle of the day (either 4th, 5th, or 6th period) reserved for lunch. To graduate on time, students usually need to take at least five classes per semester, unless they have completed coursework during the summer.
Freshman must take six classes their first year, leaving one period a day open in addition to lunch. Older students schedule their classes as needed. My senior has five courses this semester, meaning that she has two periods off in addition to lunch. She usually studies in the library during those hours, but students may also leave campus as they see fit to eat or run errands or go home for a nap.
The freedom these teenagers have took me aback at first, but I really love it. The students are treated like adults, and most rise to the occasion. I think it prepares them very well for the autonomy they'll experience in college.
Last edited by randomparent; 12-05-2016 at 10:34 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Yup. I would love to really challenge my classes but I would be drawn and quartered before I was fired. Laws and the way they measure school performance are forcing us to focus on the bottom of the class. Nobody complains if you don't meet the needs of the top of the class. They SCREAM if you don't cater to the bottom. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
