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.
My kids reported the same problem even though their high school was around 1000. It was almost a sprint through crowded halls to get from one end of the building to the other. No time to go to their lockers to change books or hit the head. Might be simpler to just extend the amount of time to 15 minutes.
Fifteen minutes is too long. Too much stuff can happen in that time. Then you run into seat time requirements, having fifteen minutes for class change would add an hour, minimum, to most school days.
I'll grant that in schools that are large it's a struggle to transition, especially when there's a high population issue.
Fifteen minutes is too long. Too much stuff can happen in that time. Then you run into seat time requirements, having fifteen minutes for class change would add an hour, minimum, to most school days.
I'll grant that in schools that are large it's a struggle to transition, especially when there's a high population issue.
I think part of the issue is not just the number of students but the layout of schools. I’m from FL and there, the trend in newer schools is the prison layout with one long, basically continuous row of two floors of classrooms with a relatively narrow corridor in front of both sides of the “cells”. Apparently this is a preferred design because it keeps unknown assailants from coming into the school due to the few entry/exit points. Unfortunately it takes the kid a long time to get from one end of campus to another, especially since the kids have only the one route to take to get anywhere. It also seems to present some problems for kids to get out in the event of an assailant. I went to an older, courtyard based setup and it really didn’t take that long to get from class to class.
Around the turn of the century I think lockers went the way of the dinosaurs in a lot of schools. The powers that be reasoned that that was where drugs and weapons were stashed and they stopped using them (or in new construction, left them out of the design). I've heard that admin really hates that changing of classes because the kids aren't supervised by a particular teacher. I've received "school all" email with a photo attached asking if anybody can ID this kid, who presumably did something that they caught on camera. Kid wouldn't have tried it in a classroom where the teacher knows his name.
This came up on yahoo about the dystopia we may be heading for.
PS@RamenAddict yes, they're designing schools with assailants in mind. The school where I just subbed has a long, curving corridor. It limits line of sight for an active shooter, I'm sure but getting from A to B takes a lot longer.
I think part of the issue is not just the number of students but the layout of schools. I’m from FL and there, the trend in newer schools is the prison layout with one long, basically continuous row of two floors of classrooms with a relatively narrow corridor in front of both sides of the “cells”. Apparently this is a preferred design because it keeps unknown assailants from coming into the school due to the few entry/exit points. Unfortunately it takes the kid a long time to get from one end of campus to another, especially since the kids have only the one route to take to get anywhere. It also seems to present some problems for kids to get out in the event of an assailant. I went to an older, courtyard based setup and it really didn’t take that long to get from class to class.
Even though it was built in the 50s, my kid's school was essentially that set up, a long, narrow hallway. Just for giggles I went on Google maps and measured. It's roughly 2 1/2 football fields from end to end. Which may not seem like it should take long until you fill it with a thousand kids each trying to get to the opposite end of the building. I can't imagine getting twice that many kids down that hallway.
Here's a funny side note. Ok, yes, this was some years ago and things have changed. But that's what I think is funny about it -- how much has changed. Several folks here have mentioned the need to "watch" the kids. When I was in school, the teachers weren't watching the kids during changeover. They were all crowded down the hall smoking in the teachers' lounge and bathroom. There were many times we'd all be in our desks in the classroom waiting for the teacher to come in and chatting. The teacher would come in late still putting away their pack of cigarettes and we'd get fussed at for chatting while the teacher was smoking. And if anyone remembers the smell of mimeograph paper, the teacher's lounge was where the machine was so we'd get sent down there to make copies for the teacher.
My high school was so overcrowded that we had to change classes in shifts. The even- and odd-numbered classrooms would each have three minutes to change classes. The halls were packed like Bourbon Street on Mardi Gras.
My high school was so overcrowded that we had to change classes in shifts. The even- and odd-numbered classrooms would each have three minutes to change classes. The halls were packed like Bourbon Street on Mardi Gras.
,
That's really becoming a thing. Some schools are already too small when they're completed. I taught at a school where students thought like drivers, sticking to the right side like a car. I also taught at a school where the halls were just right when we opened. A couple years later they increased the enrollment and the halls weren't wide enough. Some schools could "find" space if they tear out lockers.
That's really becoming a thing. Some schools are already too small when they're completed. I taught at a school where students thought like drivers, sticking to the right side like a car. I also taught at a school where the halls were just right when we opened. A couple years later they increased the enrollment and the halls weren't wide enough. Some schools could "find" space if they tear out lockers.
I feel like the last place I lived had a school that opened up and already had portables due to the rate of growth in the larger planned community. I think it opened sometime during or right after the last recession when a neighborhood had basically stopped growing for several years and had started growing again at a very rapid pace.
Our Son attended large Elementary, Middle, & High Schools....1,200, 1,800, 3,100 students.
He had a heckuva time getting from class to class in th allotted 10 mins in the overcrowded hallways.
Why dont the kids stay in the same classroom all day long, and the teachers change classrooms instead?
My high school had almost 2,000 students. I'm pretty sure we had 4 minutes between classes. We carried a textbook to each class. You had to figure out how many books you would carry before going back to your locker. This was in the days before students carried backpacks.
In 7th grade, we had to walk to a different building that was a block away fore P.E. and swimming class. I remember walking back and forth in rain and snow. We also had to take a shower after each class. We usually didn't make it to our next class by the time the bell rang.
Quote:
Originally Posted by North Beach Person
All three of those schools are way, by a lot, over the recommended student population. "Rats in a trap" is one description. They're one reason why some kids get lost in the crowd.
The main reason why teachers, at least at the middle and high levels, aren't the ones that move comes down to supervision. Who watches the kids while the teachers are moving?
The other reason is that the kids do need to get out and at least move around a bit, not to mention use the restroom.
Changing classes and lunch were my favorite times in school.
Today, students wait until they get to class to go to the restroom. Back when I was in high school, students rarely asked to go to the restroom. Everyone found time to go and some found take to smoke a cigarette between classes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ILTXwhatnext
Around the turn of the century I think lockers went the way of the dinosaurs in a lot of schools. The powers that be reasoned that that was where drugs and weapons were stashed and they stopped using them (or in new construction, left them out of the design). I've heard that admin really hates that changing of classes because the kids aren't supervised by a particular teacher. I've received "school all" email with a photo attached asking if anybody can ID this kid, who presumably did something that they caught on camera. Kid wouldn't have tried it in a classroom where the teacher knows his name.
This came up on yahoo about the dystopia we may be heading for.
PS@RamenAddict yes, they're designing schools with assailants in mind. The school where I just subbed has a long, curving corridor. It limits line of sight for an active shooter, I'm sure but getting from A to B takes a lot longer.
Most schools require teachers to be in the halls between classes. It is true that some students don't use their lockers and don't even know where it is. This is also the reason some students carry backpacks that look like they are going on camping trips. I don't know what they have in their backpacks since most schools do not assign textbooks to each student to carry to class everyday.
Our district went to the A/B block schedule to manage class changes and eliminate lockers. Students only changed classes three times a day and they carried their books as they only had four classes. Many of the major subjects began issuing students a textbook to keep at home and using a class set while at school, cutting down on the need to carry books back and forth and to reduce the number of lost books each year. Most textbook publishers now have online textbooks, but many of our students have only a precarious wi-fi hotspot using their phones or no access to internet at all.
Even with every teacher standing in the middle of the hallway like orange traffic cones, class changes were fraught with peril as students would often bring their beefs from the neighborhood into the school. You had to keep your wits about you.
Likewise, lunches had to be highly supervised with teachers walking their students from class to the lunchroom and sitting with them at assigned tables for the 22-minute lunch. This took place during the instructional time. The office would call you when the lunchroom was ready for you. Then you had to drop everything and just go to keep from holding up the schedule for those after you. During our most crowded years, lunch began at 10:30 and ran until nearly 2. The lunchroom workers had to file suit one year because they were consistently going over the time that they were paid for every day and the district didn't want to pay them for the extra hours they had to work.
In my French classes, we watched a couple of movies that took place in school. My students learned that there the word "class" refers to a group of students who remain in the classroom together while the various teachers change rooms to teach the various classes of students. It's not universal there, though. Sometimes the students change rooms instead. It depends on the school. They do have built-in breaks and a much longer lunch time--usually around 1 1/2 hours. The school day is correspondingly long, But oddly enough, they don't actually go to school more days in the year. They just spread it out more.
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.
