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Blocks

 

            A traditional schedule in schools today is a six, seven, or eight period day with each period lasting somewhere between forty and sixty minutes. However, this philosophy has come under fire in recent years and new development has begun to take hold. When students attend as many as eight relatively short classes in different subjects every day, instruction can become fragmented; longer class periods give students more time to think and engage in active learning (Cromwell, 2003). Students in a traditional setting are offered very little time for in-depth study and personalized instruction. Some students and teachers have trouble making connections across subject matter lines. .
             The most popular of the new innovations is block scheduling. Block scheduling takes three forms. First is the alternate day schedule where students go to each class every other day, meeting for twice the amount of time. Next is the 4/4 semester plan where students meet for ninety minutes each day for a ninety day semester. Lastly the trimester plan which consists of two or three courses every sixty days in a trimester plan. This type of scheduling has been or is being considered in over fifty percent of schools today (Cromwell, 2003). .
             The shift in emphasis from traditional scheduling to block scheduling according to Prentice Hall's "How to manage instruction in the block" requires several changes (Fleming, 1998, P. 1):.
             .
             From (Traditional):.
             1. What the teacher does.
             2. Teaching as telling .
             3. Covering the content.
             4. Mastery of facts and skills in isolation.
             5. Absorbing knowledge .
             6. Expecting students to think.
             To (Block):.
             1. What the student can do.
             2. Learning as doing.
             3. Understanding important ideas.
             4. Tasks that call for problem solving, critical thinking, and creativity.
             5. Producing and using knowledge.
             6. Requiring the student to show their thinking.
             What these shifts in emphasis are showing is an attempt to put more responsibility of learning the material on the students.


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