A Matter of Time

FEATURE | 9

OF TIME

a long standing plan rather than an emergency plan. “Really we’re just gathering input, getting data, and trying to get information to make the best decision at this point in time,” he said.

As a statistics teacher, Wendy Auld wants to see data collected on students’ retention and test scores, before a decision is made only based on how well people liked the schedule this year. “You shouldn’t make big decisions based on people’s education based on a gut feeling. You should make it based on data” she said.

A positive aspect of the schedule that Auld observed was “Kids had much better retention day to day and so I had higher grades in my classes,” she said. However, Auld wonders if students will be able to retain what they have learned in first semester when the day of their AP test comes.

Senior Stephanie Sfeir also sees the struggle with how this schedule affects AP classes. “For 1st term classes, It’s hard because you don’t have that teacher help towards the end of the year closer to the test, but then for the classes that are second term, you don’t have enough time to learn all this stuff,” she explained.

English Teacher Sarah Miles pointed out that the current schedule is helpful for preparing her students in Dual Credit courses since college courses work on a semester system like the 4x4 schedule has been exhibiting. Dual Credit classes

The biggest changes teachers have had to make is adjusting their curriculum and pacing of their courses to account for the shorter, daily class periods. Sarah Miles was skeptical of transitioning to the 4x4 schedule at the beginning of the year, but was soon pleasantly surprised at how well it was working. She loves getting to see her students every day. “From my viewpoint, in my room, all I’ve really seen are the advantages of it,” she said.

Art teacher Ezra Stafford also enjoys seeing his students daily, but he wishes that they had more time in class. “Students need time to process and work through the period.” he said.

In his AP Studio Art class, projects were traditionally completed every 2-3

weeks. However, this year, the students have almost weekly deadlines and will have to finish the rest of their AP Art portfolio at home without the time for working on it structured into the school day. This is an example of how the 4x4 schedule has affected year-long classes.

Stafford thinks that a hybrid schedule which allows students to still have only four classes at a time, yet gives them the option to take a course over a whole school year rather than half the year could be beneficial for the classes that need constant practice.

Department chairs and administration have started discussing what next year might look like, but they are mainly in the data and input collecting phase to weigh if it is practical to implement the same aspects of the schedule next year.

Since the school day has been shortened in response to COVID-19 recommendations, the bell schedule is also a factor to consider when planning next year’s structure. It could be a hard adjusment if the 4x4 schedule were in place along with 90 minuteclass periods.

“In any system that we end up choosing, I think we’ve all agreed that probably more training for our staff is needed just in general.” David Miles said. Teachers will have to rebalance their curriculum to maintain student engagement. There is the possiblity of seeing an increase in disciplinary issues due to students’ fleeting attention spans over the extended class times.

David Miles believes that science supports learning material in shorter segments day to day is more beneficial for retention. Taking all these things into consideration and finding a balance is easier said than done.

Lake Ponderay School District Superintendent Tom Albertson said that everyone is trying to figure out how to incorporate the positive aspects of the 4x4 schedule into a somewhat regular schedule. However, finding a perfect balance amoung all the contributing factors is easier said than done. “To me it’s just going to take a little more brain power, a little more creativity, a little more problem solving to work through it,” Albertson said.

SCHEDULE OPTIONS FOR NEXT YEAR :

4X4 or 5x5

Classes are split in half and attended every day for a quarter or semester.

A/B BLOCK

Classes are split in half and attended on alternating days

TRADITIONAL NON- BLOCK

Same classes every day all year (dependent on how many courses a student takes)

HYBRID BLOCK

Some classes are semester-long and some are year-long attended only every other day.

STUDENT STUDENT STANCES STANCES

ON THE 4X4 SCHEDULE

Stephanie Sfeir Senior “ “ Even though sometimes it feels like you can’t get in as much information, I feel like it’s easier to obtain the information that is being taught.

I think if we had the 4x4, and it wasn’t a short day like it is now, I think it would be way hard because it’s due the next day instead of having A days and B days to pace yourself.

Sophia Mikat Junior