Dan's+page

Hey, I'm attempting to get on board with the wiki! How's it working? -Dan

Dan, It looks like you are wiking just fine. I am learning to. Schedualing is not a non-vital aspect of middle school. I taught middle school math on planet other than earth. It was called Stanfield Oregon. I taght 7th grade math and precalculus. The periods were 90 minutes per day. The most ardent "block" advocate cannot tell me this made any sense. 12 years later I am at Newberg High School and we have gone from 60 minutes, to 70 minutes to 82 minutes in the past 12 years. It take an enourmouse amount of pedagogical skill to engage them this long. Please pray that I never see 90 minutes again. Your project seems very worthwhile. Please see my page and our journal. - Greg Aldred

Thanks for the note Greg! I have looked fairly close at the block and have been somewhat in favor of it so I am really interested in your experience. I taught at South Medford High School when we went to an 80 minute A/B block. My biggest complaint was the A/B issue of receving instruction every other day, this was not good for the LD students I worked with. You are absolutely correct that the pedagogical strategies are extremely different when working with larger portions of time. What is driving the move toward longer periods of instruction in your district? I ask because we are about to undergo a very serious budget crisis in education across this nation and many instructional programs are influenced by budgetary issues; both positively and negatively.