Kate Hunter, Reporter
@khuntercourant
In the past year, more than twenty faculty members have participated in visits to nearby high schools to explore the possibilities for changing the way time is managed during the school day.
After hearing feedback from these trips, Principal William Egan, said that adjusting the management of time will play a role in reducing student stress. “The biggest reason for us to take a look at any of this is national statistics are clear that students, particularly students from high achieving schools, are stressed,” he said. “So what can we do as a school to make lives better for them, but still realize this is going to be a high achieving school where they are going to do the best they possibly can and how do we maximize their potential, but fit everything into a day?”
Ultimately, we’re trying to have students be emotionally well, yet achieve at high levels.
William Egan, Principal
Anthony Bloss, math teacher and co-department chair, who visited New Milford High School, which has block scheduling, agrees that a switch to longer periods will relieve some of the stress students are under. He said “Pretty much everyone I’ve talked to from a student perspective that involved in it has reported positive ramifications in terms of stress relief,” he said. “I think having an extra day will take some of that immediate stress off.”
Mr. Egan explained that if the high school were to change its schedule, it would not occur for two years. “You’d have next year as a year of preparation for the faculty. So, if we make the decision to change our schedule there are a lot of things we’d have to do,” Mr. Egan said. “We would want to work with the faculty to come up with a schedule, we’d want to present to the Board of Education, and we’d want our faculty to prepare for teaching longer periods in a day”.
When asked if he feels rushed teaching in a 48-minute block, Mr. Bloss agreed. “In some of our math classes, where the curriculum is very full, we have to ensure not only that we are exposing and presenting information to kids, but we also have to give the kids time to process it and to practice to make sure they understand it. There are times when I feel like 48 minutes is not enough time,” he said.
Reflecting on his trip to New Milford High School, Mr. Bloss said, “I actually sat in an AP statistics course for the whole period. I didn’t want to bounce around because I wanted to see how one full 80 minute period worked. So I sat in the entire class and observed that,” Mr. Bloss said.
Mr. Bloss’s daughter goes to Wilton High School, which switched to block scheduling this year. He is a supporter of the potential switch at NCHS as he said, “I think that if implemented properly and if teachers are given enough time to get professional learning in order to develop lessons to allow them to teach to a longer period of time I think it could work great.
“The data suggests that it does help student stress and in talking to teachers that have been in the block scheduling, if done right it actually limits their stress too,” he added. “So as long as we approach it and do it the right way, I think it will benefit everybody involved.”
Emma Babashack, a senior at Wilton, said that block scheduling allows her to focus more on the few classes she has in a day. “Today, for example, I had two classes and that really allows me to focus on my homework and be productive during those long blocks with not having interrupted breaks throughout the day,” she said.
She added that in some classes, like math, there is more homework.”If we go over two sections in a period we have two sections for homework. But the teachers definitely are flexible, and I can usually do it all in one night,” she said.
She also said the amount of work is more manageable under block scheduling due to the prolonged free blocks during the school day. “I really take advantage of all my frees and this year with longer free time I can do more work and that time and be proactive during that entire time,” she said.
At first, she said it was hard to pay attention for the duration of the period. “Once you get used to the time period, it becomes a lot less boring and also if you have a lesson plan, you’re more engaged,” she said.
Any switch from the existing schedule here would be implemented if the faculty concludes that it will improve learning
To Mr. Egan, the students come first. “Ultimately, we’re trying to have students be emotionally well, yet achieve at high levels. So, this is a piece of that,” he said.
