Abstract
This chapter discusses the benefits of block scheduling. The transition from 50 to 80 minutes is an important one because it gives the teacher enough time to teach, provide practice opportunities, assess progress, and answer any questions. The book discussed one way to set up a block schedule. The classes would alternate from Monday-Thursday and then Friday would be a normal day with 50 minute sections so each class could meet. To show us some of the benefits, 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. He gives us a step-by-step process for creating longer lessons. He also tells us how to deal with absent students, like assigning homework buddies or reviewing material at the beginning of each class.
Reflection
As a class, we appear to have differing opinions about block scheduling. Most people feel strongly one way or the other. I think a lot of this is based on our own experiences with block scheduling. If someone didn't like a particular subject, he or she may have struggled with 80 minutes straight of that class. On the other hand, if someone needed the extra time to fully understand a concept, the 80 minutes was extremely helpful. For those of us who dislike block scheduling, it seems to be a matter of homework load, confusion, and boredom. For those of us who are fans, it is all about the understanding and more time for planning. We especially seemed to like the idea of having Monday-Thursday as block days and then using Friday as a full day with all classes.
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