Students, teachers adjust to block schedule

Students and teachers have quickly grown accustomed to the changes COVID has caused.

“To be able to do e-learning and in-person learning, the best way our district could do that was to go to a block schedule,” Assistant Principal for Curriculum Glenn Webb said.

Webb said making the shift wasn’t easy.

“There’s a number of differences between the traditional schedule and the block schedule we brought,” Webb said. “Traditionally, we had 47-minute periods, and now we have 90-minute periods. We used to have seven periods a day, and now we have four periods a day. But since there are four periods in the first semester and four periods in the second semester, now instead of taking seven classes per year, students are required to take eight classes a year.”

Students and teachers continue to adjust.

“Students are only meeting with [teachers] four periods a day, but of course [the regular schedule] would usually take 180 school days, and now that is being accomplished in 90 school days,” Webb said. “Even though the screen time is about the same … you still have only 90 days to learn a year’s worth of content, and that is a big challenge.”

Webb compared the current e-learning model with the one used when schools were shut down due to the pandemic.

“Students are finding much more success with the current module than students found in the module when we went into the spring,” Webb said. “It is a very successful module, even with the magnified workload on the teachers.”

Sophomore Max Aronson likes the new module.

“You can focus more on the four classes that you have per day, and the block schedule makes it a lot easier in fact because you have so much more time to focus on those classes and you also get the same amount of contact time you would get in a year,” Aronson said.

Aronson pointed out that e-learning has its limitations.

“I think I would rather be in-person because I feel like I am not getting as good instruction,” Aronson said. “I think my retention isn’t as good as an e-learner, so I think the process of e-learning is affecting my grades adversely.”

By Hendrickson Ha