Recently, it was reported that several school districts in
Oklahoma were to attend a summit to discuss shifting from the traditional fivedays a week schedule to a four days a week schedule.Needless
to say that the comments on the move have been split and the discourse has been
rather heated. Some praised the move suggesting that their kids would no longer
have to miss school days for appointments, while others critiqued the idea,
saying that it would make Oklahoma's already low ranking in education even worse.
It seems to me, however, that in order to understand if this is a smart move,
we need to think about this from all perspectives and understand the practical
application of the teaching and learning strategies used by teachers and
students.
One of the three primary perspectives is that of the
parents. Although many parents voiced support for the move, stating that more
family time is valuable and that they could use Fridays for their children's
appointments, others voiced concern at having the students lose a day of class
and at having to pay for daycare.
While the concern of students losing a day of class is
understandable, it stems from a lack of knowledge of education policy and
practices. According to Oklahoma State Law
schools must provide students with at least 1080 hours of instruction. The
current system is set up so that this is achieved through five 6-hour class
days, or a total of 30 class hours a week. The shift to a four day schedule
would result in four 7.5 hour class days. In other words, classes would,
instead of being one hour long, be 80 minutes long. Students would, thus, not
miss any class time.
The other parental concern is that of having to find a day
care for younger children on Fridays. This concern, I think, is one that speaks
more to a parent's philosophy regarding the school's function than as to any
real educational concerns they might have. Schools, I think, are not meant to
be daycare centers. Schools are not, or at least should not be, places where
adults drop their kids off for some
random stranger to look after while the parent goes off to work. Schools are
centers of education where students go to engage with science, math, and
literature, and they should be considered as such. Although I understand the
parents' concern about where the money for daycare will come from (as a parent
of a kid I know that daycare can indeed be expensive), and although I do
understand that some (myself included) don't have the luxury of simply deciding
to not work on a day they're supposed to, I have to emphasize that the issue
here is not one of convenience to the parents, it's one of what's best for the
education process.
The other perspective to be considered is that of the
teacher. Although many will jump to the conclusion that this means that
teachers will simply get Fridays off, this is an incorrect assumption.
Teachers, like every other employee hired on a salary basis, are required to
work a certain number of hours a week - 40 to be specific (although, come on,
we all know that if we include all the work that teachers do at home this is
closer to 80 hours a week). Under the current system, teachers arrive at school
30 minutes before the students and leave school at 4 - 5 PM, depending on the
district. In other words, teachers have 8 hour work days, leading up to 40 hour
work weeks. They spend all the non-lecture time grading, making plans, and
attending meetings. Under the new system, teachers will still have 40 hour work weeks. They will
simply hold all the meetings and do all the grading and planning on Fridays
instead of scattered throughout the week in one hour increments. in other
words, the change of system will have no effect whatsoever on a teacher's work
day. The question, then, is whether teachers' new schedule will be of benefit
to the academic community. I think the updated arrangement would be beneficial
for parents, as parents who work during the morning will be able to meet with
teachers during the afternoons, and those who work afternoon hours will be able
to visit during the morning. The current system allows for meetings to take
place during the teacher's preparation period, which is usually the same hour
on all days. The new system will afford parents more versatility as far as
parental engagement is concerned. Perhaps more importantly, however, are the
benefits for the students.
The way in which the current system is set up, students take
classes that last 50 to 60 minutes depending on the school district. This, I
have found, and I think most teachers and students will agree, is not enough to
fully engage a student with the day's topic. The ideal lesson is one that
consists of an introduction to the topic or concept in the form of a lecture, a
class discussion, a demonstration of the skill, a group activity for team
building, and an individual activity. This allows students to learn the content
both through being exposed to it and by practicing the applied skills. A
grammar class, for example, might begin with a discussion on run-on sentences
followed by an open discussion on when students use them. The teacher will then
explain on the board how to fix a run-on sentence, which is followed by a group
activity in which students have to fix an essay full of run-on sentences. The
individual activity would consist of a similar exercise, but this time
completed individually. A math lesson would begin with the instructor
explaining quadratic equations and follow with some examples on the board. This
would lead to students doing exercises on the board and correcting each other's
work, and conclude with the individual exercises. This model, however, only
works when there is enough time. It is often the case that in a 50 minute class
most of the time will be spent on the lecture and discussion part of the
lesson, thus leaving the applied practice for the following day. When the
following day arrives, however, students often have forgotten (or pretend to
have forgotten) the topic at hand, which forces the teacher to explain yet
again what there is to do. 80 - 90 minute classes, however, do allow for both
the theory and practice elements to be discussed in class. In other words, four
long class sessions are preferable to five short class periods, as the longer
class periods will allow students to thoroughly engage with the topic.
Although the shift to a 4 day plan would be beneficial for
all members of the academic community (meaning students, parents, and
teachers), I can still empathize with the hard working parents who have to toil
for more than 40 hours a week and still would have economic concerns about
Friday daycare for their children. Although the "simple" solution
would be to suggest parents hiring the neighborhood's older teens to take care
of the kids during school hours (I have seen parents in the comments section
say that they have done this at a rate of 15 - 25$ a day), I think a better
solution would be for schools to give students a kind of "Skills Activities
Friday" that is sponsored by the school but does not influence the
students' academic score. These activities could include day long club meetings,
language acquisition courses (who doesn't want to learn a new language during
their free time?) or other kind of skills-based activities. School districts
could partner with universities or community colleges to teach the older kids
about robotics or computer sciences, and the younger ones could participate in
much needed free play activities. These camps could be run by the permanent
substitute teacher hires, or be included as part of the local universities' student
teachers' requirements. These classes would be optional. That way, students and
teachers could participate in the more productive longer 4 days a week classes,
parents wouldn't have to be concerned with daycare money, student teachers gain
experience, and students who opt into the program can learn skills in addition
to those learned in the traditional classroom.
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