My action research project had a
rough start. The first step of my plan
was to verify student data and class placement with the school registrar and verify classroom
schedules with grade level teachers. The week before school started
we had over 150 new students register, and now into the first month of school
our number of new students has risen to over 200. We also have a new registrar this year that has
no previous experience. As we were
adding new teachers and classrooms the first two weeks of school, it was
difficult to verify student data, classroom schedules and be sure that my
originally created classes for the research were left intact. I had to make sure that the classes I used
for my action research were equally weighted in academic ability with equally
qualified teachers to get valid data as to the advantage of block scheduling
versus traditional scheduling. At this
point in my plan I have two classrooms at each grade level (2nd-4th)
that are participating in the research project.
Beginning assessments show the classes to be equally leveled and I have
highly effective teachers in each class.
These classroom teachers will be working closely together to provide
equal instruction to both classes in each grade level. The month of October brings our first
District Benchmark testing and I will be gathering data from the Math and
Reading assessments for my project. I
will also survey teachers as to the advantages and disadvantages they have
noted with the different scheduling types.
Finally, I will document discipline infractions from office referrals
and weekly discipline charts to track student behavior in each classroom.
I have
heard both positive and negative feedback about the block scheduling versus the
traditional scheduling.
Block
Scheduling:
ü
Ability to
cover a great amount of material in depth
ü
Ability to
get to know students on a more personal level
ü
More class
time due to fewer transitions
ü
Works well
with Guided Reading Centers
-
Students are
restless
-
Discipline
issues with students who are not strong in subject area
-
Teachers get
bored with subject matter, tired
Traditional Scheduling:
ü
Students don’t
get bored because subject matter is changing
ü
Teachers
like the change of subject matter, energizing
ü
The students
are used to it, do not have to change
-
Loss of time
due to class or subject transitions
