Block Schedules and AP Stats


My last post brought up the fact I am on a block schedule. It is a good schedule and I like the way I have created interaction with learners because of it.

Our schedule goes like this.

First class every day is P.A.S.S. – Panther Academic Student Support. It is 45 minutes of work time where each teacher is either teaching a “for grade” class or a “S/U” class. The “for grade” classes are just like any other class, but meet 5 times a week. The “S/U” classes are flexible and can be anything the teacher wants them to be. I have 26 of my AP Stats learners in my class. They are all motivated, great learners, so I help them be successful in all their classes.

The rest of our schedule is more normal (if you can call what I describe now as normal).

We have 72 minutes classes every day but Wednesday. On Wednesdays we are released 45 min early for PD time, so we have 60 minute classes.

In the morning, we rotate through a schedule of 1-2-3, but see only two of them per day. So Mon we see 1, 2, Tuesday we see 3 and 1 again. Wednesday (the short day) will see 2, 3, then Thursday will be 1, 2, Friday will be 3, 1, and Monday will be 2, 3, etc. It is a rolling 1,2,3 in the morning.

The afternoon is the same except for 4,5,6.

Monday Tuesday Wed Thursday Friday Monday Tuesday Wed
PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS
1, 2 3, 1 2, 3 1, 2 3, 1 2, 3 1, 2 3, 1
Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch
4, 5 6, 4 5, 6 4, 5 6, 4 5, 6 4, 5 6, 4

 

What I like about this schedule is that I see my learners two times consecutively, and then a day off. So I see period 1 on Monday and Tuesday, then not on Wednesday. That allows me to stage the assignments so there is a short brief, and a longer more thoughtful assignment.

I also do not see the same learners at the same time every day. At the end of the day, I see period 5, then period 4, then period 6, not the same period 6 every day. Seeing them at different times of the day allows me to see them when their energy levels are different (as well as mine) and at different attention levels.  That is very helpful in how I set up to teach them and give them what they need.

It also means that my planning goes in 3 day cycles. This makes it hard to do a 180 blog, but I will be doing my best at least to do a 120 blog.

 

AP Statistics

Today is my happiest day. I teach 3 AP Stats classes in a row. Because of the schedule above and my schedule (per 2, 3, 5 = AP Stats; per 4 = Alg 2; periods 1, 6 = prep and dept lead prep) on the “C” days [2,3,5,6] I get to have PASS, then AP Stats, AP Stats, AP Stats, Dept Prep.

There can not be a better schedule.

—-(time passes to afternoon)

Today we did the “W’s” and “H”. [My PPTX file w/ problems]

Whew. I always think this is one of the toughest lessons. The confusion about when numbers are categories and when numbers are quantities is confusing at first, and the notes are hard to do, and the reading is tough, and … and … Arg.

Plus, it was the short day, so we didn’t do the reading I wanted, just the notes. But that means tomorrow and Friday we can do lots of reading. Yay!

I added something to the book’s W’s and H, which is “By Whom”. I have found that adding the “By Whom” eliminates the learners trying to write “Gallup” for the “Who”.

The assignment was to go to ScienceDaily.com, find ONE article from there and do the whole breakdown.

Tomorrow we are reading lots of articles, as well as some problems from the textbook.

All in all, a great day.

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