T. Kennedy & Principal H. Morningstar

Dr. Michael D. Rettig
Professor Emeritus
James Madison University
rettigmd@jmu.edu
www.schoolschedulingassociates.com
Additional Books by Rettig

Dr. Michael Rettig

Dr. Rettig began with a history lesson that laid the groundwork for where we are going with block scheduling.

Modern American public schools has its roots in 1900s where we had elementary and high schools. Rural schedules varied, especially in high school with different meaning patterns. This variability endured until 1915, when the government set standards for high school credit, aka the Carnegie Credit. All schools began to meet that format thereafter. The standard six-period day with lunch became the norm with classes an hour long. Typical teaching loads were a 5/6, although some places teach 6/6 in some states.

From a student’s perspective, in an academic prep schedule, there was no room for music, art, and other options without postponing or deferring core subjects that colleges seek on a transcript. Possible options were early and/or late bird options, but that didn’t work for athletes. Summer school became the best option to open their schedules so they could attend electives of their choice during the school year.

Thirty years ago, the credits were increased for high school, upping to 22-26 Carnegie units for graduation. Band aids didn’t work, so schools moved to a seven-period day. The day was not lengthened, so periods were shortened. Teaching loads varied by community affluence per pupil allotment, with teachers in a 4/7 schedule. Strong union states have a 5/7 with a duty/prep/lunch schedule. In the South and West, typical teaching load is 6/7. Average class load is 35-37 students, but those numbers can vary depending on location. The highest class load Rettig mentioned was 50 for some parts of the country.

Assistant Principal Bill Dovico

In the East, 8 periods is typical, but again, the periods were shortened. Teaching loads vary based on affluence 5/7 to 6/7, but in poverty pockets, 7/8. In New York state, 180 minutes per week with 10 thirty-six minute periods. Block schools vary in each state because they may set their own, but PA has a Standards-Based System, so PA has removed the credit-based instruction, replacing it with aggregate required hours.

Is there an inequity in the system across America? Does how many minutes you sit in a chair measure learning? What is needed is incredible assessments that truly measure learning. Most common period day length is 7; shortest day is in York City, PA, with 5:55 for a student day. Longest day is 7:45 in south Texas. Typical high school day is just under or on a 7 hours.

Flexible modular scheduling or the Trump Plan (1958) proposed designing a day in modules with meaning patterns that suit individual disciplines, so math might get 3 forty-five minute modules but art might get 2 ninety-minute modules. Modules were negotiable with administrators creating meaning patterns for disciplines, but it was a complicated pattern. Only 15% of the country went modules because of the “holes” for students with “unassigned” modules. Many problems surfaces in the unassigned mods, but Rettig notes that teachers liked it because they got what they needed. But it failed because teachers largely did not change how they taught. There are still some school districts that use the flexible mods, but they are high-powered academic institutions that seem to work beyond the typical high school.

Ian Jukes, in Teaching the Digital Generation: No More Cookie-Cutter High Schools, discusses 10 blended models of learning, and Rettig says he feels this is the coming way, but it will necessitate changing the agreement with parents. Now students are “locked down” and we, the system, know where they are. But European models and blended models change that dynamic.

The second model was semesterizing the timetable to a 4/4 schedules. Four classes for 80-90 minutes in a semester and then second semester same schedule with new classes. The movement came from Canada, but Hatboro-Horsham adopted this schedule early. The alternate day schedule also began to catch on. The movement pattern from the single period schedule to block schedule began in the 90s. In the single period schedule, the movement was from a 6-8 period day to block scheduling.

PM Guided Practice Session

The reason for the changes is Carnegie Credits and Advanced Placement courses. School-based factors: quality of teachers, opportunity to learn: assess formative, summative, remediate, and amount of time. The easiest component to manipulate is time. BTW: the highest failure rate for a course in America is Algebra 1, and the solution was a “double dose.” Second-highest course failure rate nationally is 9th grade English. Third highest rate failure course is Health & PE if they have to dress out and 9th grade science. Over half of the country is in a Single Period 7 A/B day.

Rettig recommends Jukes’ book for examining the blended models that allow for multiple learning modes: online learning, field study, flexible on-site attendance…with teachers changing roles. Khan Academy was on TED Talks and shows how a student who made short videos to help his sister created an online learning academy.

Lesson Design

For a summary of Lesson Design, Chapter 9, click here. In the Three-Part Lesson Design, Explanation takes 20-25 minutes. This phase includes identifying the objective, plan for the day, connections to previous learning, homework review, and teaching new material. In the Application Phase, you have a variety of possibilities for instructional guided practice and implementation and you have the largest chunk of time: 40-45 minutes. In the third part of lesson design, synthesis includes 15-20 minutes and includes assessment, reteaching, establishing connections and relevance, and closure.

Research regarding the general effects of engagement on the student achievement side suggests that the more students are engaged, the better they learn. No surprises here. High energy as a stimulus includes the most important concept of movement. Students need to move around. Lesson pacing is important, especially with smooth transitions. Teacher enthusiasm and intensity are critical to the success of this activity. Missing information is about mystery making learning interesting. Find the mysteries in your discipline in an inquiry-based lesson. Have students make predictions. You yourself can be a form of stimulus. If something is about YOU, you are engaged. Students should be able to make choices, and the material must be relevant and interesting.

Mild stress is a stimulus. There’s a blend between laisse-faire and amped up cortisol stress; good teaching finds the middle ground. Don’t make the controversy too controversial and don’t make the high stakes too high.

The Line-Up

1………………………..5……………………9
Never                                        Always

The line-up is a great ice breaker, team builder, and whole activity.

Our activity issue was identifying our position on the inclusion of special education students into general education classrooms.

In a high school class, the line-up occurs by asking people to arrange by numbers indicating where students stand from 1-9. Provide an area for 1-3, 4-6, 7-9. After finding your area, have students pair with people with whom they are not in accord, so a 1 or 2 with an 8 or 9. Share your three reasons. Go back to seat and think about your partner’s reasons and provide a rebuttal. Pair-share, and then create a mini-/lesson about the content.

The Interview

This activity consisted of 4 people divided into 2 teams (teams were randomly selected), with an 8-minute block. Four minutes for each pair to answer 4 questions. Our guided practice activity was to introduce yourself, share something about your family, career, and a classroom application of the The Line-Up. After the 2 teams share, each team reports out to the other. All this happens within the 8-minute frame with a digital timer running. The timer was created in PowerPoint (with Word Art and a hyperlink). Time pressure works as mild pressure, but you can manipulate time, bumping it up and and down. This activity is sometimes called Unpacking.

Alternate GRE Verbal Exam

This activity consists of 20 sentences that need translating into well-known sayings. It is a great team-building activity, and as is true of all of our guided practice activities, this one translates with a minimum of prep time into any discipline. You can find our activity online here.

Rettig notes that when you structure a team activity, you need to design it so that you do not get the dominant leader, the negligant nodder, the squinter, and the free rider. Carefully plan a team an activity so that everyone on the team is important and has full participation and accountability.

Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning is a class and team formation process that needs team identify and cohesiveness.
Assessing the Alternate GRE Verbal Exam activity, Retting challenged us to redesign how this activity should occur for better engagement. Learning design on this activity could include:

1. think/pair/share so everyone has the answers at the end and we become interdependent
2. worksheet could have jobs or roles; think science class lab with specific jobs
3. more random way of obtaining reporting out
4. individual sheet with teacher roaming, then gather together as a team; this way provides some individual accountablilty and primes the pump
5. break up the sentences and each person gets 5 each or teams of 2 with a 10/10 split
6. teams of 4 without structure enables slacking
7. for reporting out, the teacher can give the number s/he wants, calls it, and then calls a team name and a number of a participant; you get the number of the team members by job description in the activity or preceding activities either earlier in the block or on an earlier day
8. reporting out: mild pressure through questioning

• question, wait time, random selection
• question, wait time, pair
• question, wait time, individual (guarantees accountability).

1, 2, 4 Cooperative Worksheets
Slavin Strategy created by John Strebe

This activity is designed to show stages of cooperative learning using worksheets.

1 mode = individual only in an environment conducive to learning; respect is key word; no talking, no looking at other’s papers; 5 minutes for 10 questions. This activity could not be completed without extensive schema or team members with extensive schema or online research.

2 mode = work with another person; defend is key word. Compare your answers, defend your rationale, and change your answers, if necessary.

3 mode = switch with a person from another team to discuss answers.

Roundtable: see slides 36, 46, 48, 50.

Corners

In the PM session, we began with a Corner Activity. We closed our eyes and made visual representations of 4 birds, then we selected which bird that most represented who we are. The bird is the word. To incorporate movement, we went to our bird corner and shared our choice. Then we were given a number and reporting out differently began. Rettig called a bird + number to share, and then in each subsequent sharing, repetition was involved. The benefit of using this kind of strategy in a classroom included memorization, engagement, the element of surprise, concept and vocabulary acquisition, and mild stress.

In a second Corner Activity, we were give 4 statements and had to choose the one we most agreed with on a topic. We went to the corner of choice, then shared our reason for selection. On a large piece of paper, with a horizontal line drawn across, we listed reasons for our choice. Below the line, we listed the choices we did not make and had to second-guess why the other teams made their choices. When completed, you have a pre-writing activity for a five-paragraph essay, with the fifth paragraph summarizing. We returned to our tables and answered 3 questions, then shared some content-related ways to apply this strategy.

Send-a-Problem Question

This activity was driven by current events and followed the rules listed in the slides. Sub-categories included: international news, national news, state and local news, and potpourri. Because you are in groups, by the end of each team member writing a question, you have 4-5 cards on the sub-topic. You switch your stack with another team and begin asking and answering the questions. This strategy is simple, takes little time, and is great for reviewing content in any discipline.

$200 Pyramid (Taboo) Vocabulary Review

To make this activity work, you need a set of 6 vocabulary words. The moderator defines the words and the person playing the game must guess the vocabulary word from the clues. When the 6 vocabulary clues are used, the person guessing must identify the relationship of the words to the overall category of “Things Related to a(n) _____.” In short, you are guessing the words and the topic. A great activity with “mild stress.”

Recapping the day, I must say it was well-paced, educational, and fun. Dr. Rettig modeled techniques in guided practice activities and the clock flew. Before we knew, the in-service was over.