Abstract
This chapter does a great job of describing the transition to 80-minute blocks from 50-minute periods. 80-minute classes meet every other day. Some schools have Friday as a traditional day with 50-minute periods so that each class gets a chance to meet. In this chapter, Wormeli puts us in the hands of Joe Goodteacher as he creates a lesson on sales tax and interest for his math class. We have the opportunity to see his thinking process in each step of creating the lesson. It poses questions that are worth considering when planning 80-minute lessons and it also shows us the lesson itself. Once Joe has had his say, Wormeli takes the stage and provides us with some more helpful tips when it comes to planning extended lessons.
Reflection
It is interesting how this chapter prepares us for the change from 50 to 80 minute blocks. But in reality, that is all I'm really used to, as both a teacher and a student. Unfortunately, my middle school was set up with 50-minute periods every day. But once I got to high school we had 80-minute blocks every other day. After four years of that, it is hard to imagine being in a class for only 50 minutes. Thankfully, I was glad to see that Mt Blue Middle School was set up with 80-minute blocks every other day. It made it much easier to get to know the kids and provided enough time to actually accomplish something worthwhile. Though this chapter was extremely helpful and I'm sure I will refer to it in the future, I don't have any fears about teaching for 80-minute blocks.
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