Scheduling for what Matters

Curriculum driven Schedule
Our students need a broad education that will prepare them for a wide array of future interests.  Time is a finite resource and therefore scheduling is the allotment of resources based on a variety of factors.  Below is a framework of factors such as research based effect sizes, state accountability, important curriculum areas outside of the state accountability system, support systems, and a variety of logistical factors.




Hattie's Effect Size-
These items are research based, can be addressed in a schedule, and are said to have the greatest impact on
student learning.  

• Adapt Schedule for student's prior cognitive ability (HAL and Sped)
• Instructional Quantity
• Create a schedule that allows acceleration
• Schedule programming to consider home factors (Homework like TSP)
• Bilingual programs
• Peer Tutoring program (homeroom)
• Allow adequate teacher in-service education
• Parent involvement
• Schedule to allow remediation and mastery learning (Enrichment and Intervention)

Nebraska State Accountability
Areas of greatest emphasis

• Reading
• Math

Other Areas of Emphasis

• Science
• Writing

Curriculum Outside of the Nebraska Accountability System
Social Studies, Music, Art, PE, Band, and Computers/Media/Technology

Support Curriculum

Character Education, Homeroom, Enrichment and Intervention, Sped and HAL

Logistical Scheduling issues

• Flexibility vs Dictating minutes for each class
• Common Plan Time-Interdisciplinary
• Common Plan Time-Department
• Team composition-3, 4, or 5 teacher teams

The Case for Teaming in the Middle Level

The transition from elementary to middle school can be improved through the use of teams.

A Connected Curriculum
For good reason, the impact on student learning is always a significant component of any discussion in education today.   One of the key components of interdisciplinary teams is the ability to connect learning with real life by not compartmentalizing learning.  Teachers can make significant connections with what is being taught in other subjects.  By reading a book in Language Arts about the Revolutionary War at the same time Social Studies is learning about the Revolutionary War, connections can be made.  Science might incorporate lessons about the medical procedure used at the time or the topography of the land in the colonies or whatever fits the science curriculum.  Math can use examples from the Revolution and story problems that fit with the other subjects.  All of the sudden, the curriculum starts to come to life and the teachers and students can feed off of each other.  This of course is a significant part of teaming, but teaming can also have other positive benefits to a school.  In an elementary school, this can happen as a bi-product of the fact that one teacher has the student for most of the day.  In the middle level, this needs to be coordinated intentionally through teaming.

An opportunity to huddle

On a football team, after each play, the offense huddles up and calls the next play.  Some teams use a no huddle offense so the communication doesn't happen through a huddle but it still happens.  Imagine a football team with no huddle and they didn't call a play at the line of scrimmage.  They'd all just run into each other, some would be going out for passes, the linemen would be blocking down field and other would be in pass protection.  It would be quite a sight to see (Wisconsin fans-no need to bring up last week's Huskers at this point in the blog). Now imagine a group of teachers with one opportunity per month to discuss curriculum and their students.  This team of teachers would be disjointed and unable to really work as a team.  So we give teams an opportunity to "huddle" using common plan time.  Teachers are able to discuss interdisciplinary projects like described above.

Teachers are also able to create and implement plans with individual students.  By solving student problems at the team level, teachers are able to increase instructional quantity, which is the 4th largest influence on achievement according to Hattie's Effect Size.  How are they able to increase quantity of instruction?  By keeping the student in the classroom (and out of the office) and discussing the student during team plan.  Teachers can then discuss the student with the counselor, administrator, parent, etc.

What kind of team?
An argument can be made that the teams should be by department.  This works very well for planning common curriculum among all 5th grade math teachers.  This is essential for the curriculum side of teaching.  However, we don't only teach math, we also teach 5th graders.  Therefore, it is extremely important to have the opportunity to get together with the teachers who teach the same course and it is important to team with others who teach the same students.

Get to know your students
In elementary schools, students are in one class for a large part of the day.  They might leave for PE, Music, Art, etc. In high school, teachers are much more specialized in a subject.  How do we move from one teacher to 8 different teachers in a day without making the student feel that they are left out on an island? Teaming allows teachers to focus on the student.  We are able to transition the student into the future high school model without losing the 9 year old child in the "big school."  We can essentially create a small school within the school.  If you already have a small school, common plan is still important as you are able to discuss the student help them feel as a part of the school.

Teacher Job Satisfaction

School climate matters.  Teachers are in a profession where they see 100-150 people in a day.  However, these people are 9-15 year old.  It leads to a lonely existence.  By being able to have adult conversations, it advances professionalism and helps create an environment where you are not out there all by yourself.

Accountability
A teacher is accountable for a group of students.  The social studies teacher is now connected to the reading,  writing, math, and science results for a student.  The students belong to the teacher.  The teachers work for a common goal when teaming is done right.

Teaming as a Luxury or Necessity?
Teaming is good for teachers and students.  It is not a luxury.  Our students need us in this time of their life more than ever.  Graduation rates are effected more by middle level educators than any other grade level.  Understand that they are not just a cog in the educational factory. They are at a time when they need someone looking out for them.  Someone to be their advocate.  Someone to love them at their most unlovable.  Teaming allows for positive and proactive measures to assist students in this time of need. Teaming allows for a group of adults, not an individual (hope you got a good one) teacher looking out for the child.

Active and Purposeful Learning

The Association of Middle Level Educators identifies "active learning" as one of the 16 characteristics of a successful school for young adolescents.  To be successful, teachers and students must be actively engaged in learning.  Standardized testing is how we are held accountable but for learning to happen, students must be engaged individually, not a one size fits all/standard education for all.  So, it is our job as middle level educators to walk the balancing act of doing what is required of us through standardized testing and doing what is right for our students.  I believe that doing what is right for our students will in fact lead to better learners and therefore better test results as well.

• Create authentic learning opportunities-Meet students where they are.  Discussions have long been a way to engage students in authentic/active learning.  Recently, I have watched teachers use Edmodo or Moodle as a tool to get students to engage deeper in discussions.  Students can be assigned to participate in a discussion outside of class and then these discussions spill over into class where the teacher is able to actively participate and help students engage with the material.
• Involve students with extracurriculars-Recently our students completed the science fair.  This is a traditional but powerful way to engage students in science.  The learning that happens in these projects far exceeds the day to day learning that may happen through notes and lectures.  Students can also participate in National History Day, Math Counts, Quiz Bowl, and other such academic activities.  Another such activity that I was not familiar with until the last couple of years was Future Cities. Our students actively engage in creating a future city and have to use all kinds of academic skills to create these cities.
• Develop interdisciplinary projects-Our Middle School teachers regularly engage in interdisciplinary units.  These projects help our students see the application of each curriculum area outside of that classroom.  It is always nice to see students apply knowledge from one class in another curriculum area.
• Individualize for all students-It is normal to have IEP's for special education students.  What about your other students.  I am yet to meet "the normal student."  All students have strengths and we should be sure to focus on those strengths.  Often as we look at how to make all students proficient, it is easy to focus on weaknesses.  To become proficient is how a school is graded.  However, the student will not work as an adult in the area they are weakest.  In the adult world, we can hide our weaknesses and work within our areas of strength.  Let's prepare students for the real "real world" where strengths matter.
• Exploratory classes matter-Along the same line, don't forget about the non core classes.  Students learn a great deal from Music, PE, Humanities, Exploring Technology, Multimedia classes, etc.  These areas must be given attention.  If we believe that creating an education for the whole student makes for better learning, then don't narrow the focus just for the sake of doing well on a reading or math test.  Math and Reading are no doubt fundamental to students education.  To go from good to great, students must go beyond the fundamentals.  

These are just a few broad ideas of what is important to create active learning.  What do your schools/classrooms do to create an environment of "active learning" and "purposeful learning?"  I'd love to find out from you what you do to create a purposeful environment for your students that take your kids beyond the test. 

Academic Labs-Failure is Not an Option

The creation of academic labs benefit our students by giving them an additional opportunity to learn in the core areas. In 2010-2011, we experimented with what we have called labs.  During periods 2-6, all 7th and 8th grade students have TA (homeroom), Math, English, Social Studies, and Science.  All 7th graders are in Math/Science and all 8th graders are in English/Social Studies at the same time.  Then we had Academic Labs followed by the other half of the core classes where 7th and 8th graders took the other 2 core classes.  These Academic labs were created for enrichment and remediation. Students would rotate through the academic labs with their homeroom classmates.

10-11 Labs (over 4 days, all students would go to each lab)

• Reading
• Writing
• Science
• Math

In 11-12, we modified our labs.  Labs are now right after TA.  Students are assigned a guided study hall or a lab depending on their academic need.  The High Ability Learners have an afternoon class that is designed to push them academically.  The labs now focus on enrichment and all students are invited to come to these labs but some students are assigned the lab.  Focus on math, reading, and writing is because our belief is that these are fundamental skills that students need to master to have a better understanding in all classes.  Students not assigned to labs are put in a guided study hall. These students do take advantage of the labs as needed based on either teachers recommendation or their own desire to get better at a  certain skill.

11-12 Labs

• Guided Study Hall 
• Reading/Writing
• Math

Our focus has been to make sure that we create an environment where all students will succeed.  These labs give students additional support.  In the last 2 years, we have had one student fail one course.  This would have been unheard of prior to the 2010-2011 school year.  This was one of many reforms we have made in our school but I believe it to be an important piece of the puzzle.

Time of Change: Transition to a Middle School

Two years ago, Arlington Jr/Sr High School embraced the "middle school" philosophy.   We are still a 7-12 building but grades 7-8 are treated in what we feel is a more developmentally responsive way.  We wanted to makes some changes that would benefit our students.  We have now completed 3 semesters in this new system.  During this time, we have only had one student fail one course.  Prior to this system, we would regularly have students fail courses. The data is beginning to prove that this system has increased academic achievement.

Challenges of a small 7-12 school
1. Shared staff-We share music, art, PE, K-12.  Of all of the teachers who teach 7th and 8th grade, one teaches only Middle School.  The rest teach at least one high school section.
2. Scheduling-Our staff was completely shared prior to the change to a middle school.  Many classes are offered only once.  This makes a schedule difficult to create.  All of the juniors and seniors that want to take sociology, as an example, have to take it 5th period during the first semester.  This really limits what classes can be taken and offered for all students in grades 7-12.  As we changed to a middle school, our concern was that by blocking off the morning for middle school core classes, this might negatively impact our high school students abilities to get into their chosen classes.
3. Difference in needs of 7th graders and 12th graders-12 year olds are nervous about using lockers for the first time.  The 18 year olds are worried about their cars, varsity sports, and graduation.
4. High School mentality-We hired most of our teachers to teach "high school."  The administration were also called High School Principal and High School Assistant Principal.  The focus can easily be on the upper grades.  Sometimes teachers can get "stuck" teaching middle schoolers and once they get seniority in their department they move "up" to teach high school classes.  For us, the problem was more structural than attitude.  In our structure,we had few opportunities to discuss 7th and 8th grade student needs.

Changes
1. Creation of an Interdisciplinary Team-Our Middle School team meets every day.  Our Middle School core teachers teach both 7th and 8th grade.  We only have 40 students per grade.  Team allows teachers to discuss middle school specific issues.  Here is our schedule of topics: M-Lesson Plans-find out what days others are giving tests/quizzes homework, T-Student issues, W-Interdisciplinary Unit discussion, Th-Professional Development, F-Homeroom Activities and Misc.
2. Creation of the Eagle Success Program-Whenever I present at a conference, this is what always gets the most interest.  I will do a separate blog about this on a different day.  ESP is a system that doesn't allow student to not do their homework.
3. Creation of Academic Labs-Students either go to a guided study hall, Math Lab, or English Lab for 30 minutes.  This is based on academic need assigned by the teachers.  However, we have several students who go to labs on their own.
4. Flexible Scheduling-we block out periods 2-6 for core academic time.  If we need to make a change an have a long period for science to meet, we can simply shorten other classes.  Math-Science meet at the same time and Eng-Soc St meet at the same time so we can make simple changes.  We also can drop homeroom or lab.  We can lengthen either homeroom for a day.
5. Interdisciplinary Units-We have amazing, creative teachers who have done some really neat things.  They create an interest in school by having fun with these units.  We begin these units with videos that the teachers make.  I will write an entire blog on these at a later date.
6. No Zero Policy-zeroes kill a students grade.  The hardest part for some teachers was how will we motivate students to complete work?  After doing this now for 5 years, I can tell you we have less missing work now than before.  Students who struggle in school are not motivated by zeroes.  They tend to be more motivated by social time.  Therefore we created the Eagle Success Program to help students complete their homework.
7. Structure of Administration/Focus on Middle School students-We created a Middle School Coordinator that acts as the administrator in charge of the Middle School.
8. Middle School Lunch-Grades K-4 eat first, then 9-12, then 5-8.  In the old system, we simply had Lower Elementary Lunch and then 2 high school lunches.  We would have 5th graders and Seniors in the same lunch and this was less than ideal.
9. Development of Living Above the Line-this is our discipline system designed for middle school students.

These are some of the changes we have made that have shifted focus to the 7th and 8th graders.  The structure of the buildings don't matter.  With some creativity, positive changes can be made and a middle school philosophy can be implemented anywhere that you have students grades 4-9.