Teachers cram for new block schedule

The new four by four schedule means teachers have to learn new ways to engage students in longer 90-minute classes.

By PAULETTE LASH RITCHIE

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 6, 2000

INVERNESS -- Citrus High School will begin the school year with a new class schedule known as the four by four or block schedule.

Class periods will be lengthened to 90 minutes, compressing a yearlong course into a semester. Courses that had previously been a semester long will now fit into a nine-week period.

It will be an adjustment not just for the students, but for the faculty as well.

Since the end of the last school year, CHS Principal Gary Foltz has been helping the faculty prepare for the change. The teachers were invited to a Saturday morning workshop before the summer break entitled "What Do I Do With the Four By Four?" Teachers new this year were invited to attend a similar workshop at the end of July.

One focus of the workshop was cooperative learning, explained Leigh Ann Bradshaw, a CHS business teacher who has just received her educational leadership certification and has been studying curriculum for five years. She will act as a resource teacher for her colleagues throughout the year.

Cooperative learning, Bradshaw said, shows teachers how to be facilitators and keep students on task and learning.

One program, CRISS (Creating Independence through Student-Owned Strategies), gives teachers ideas on how to use a 90-minute period. Using these strategies, Bradshaw said, "Everyone's involved. Everyone's participating."

For example, Bradshaw said, suppose a teacher wants to do a lesson on oceans. He or she could just lecture or could use one of the CRISS strategies.

The students might be asked to jot down what they already know about oceans. Then they would turn to a partner and compare notes. Then that information would be shared with the class.

"It gets the kids active and provides a good background to the lesson on oceans," Bradshaw said. "There are hundreds of these different ideas to provide variety in their lessons."

More CRISS sessions will be held in September and October, Foltz said.

Also, before school ended, teachers were invited to visit schools already on the four by four schedule, which include both Lecanto and Crystal River high schools. Some went to Citrus County schools and others traveled out of county. They filled out evaluation forms and through them shared their ideas and expressed their concerns.

Over the summer teachers were offered paid time to prepare for the new schedule. Foltz said he asked the teachers how much time they thought they would need and they told him anywhere from 10 to 15 hours.

For some teachers it turned out to be much more than that, but the budget didn't allow for extra time, so the teachers have been coming to school on their own time, although they do receive in-service points, Foltz said.

"The response has been tremendous," he said. Some teachers had signed up for 15 hours in-service and some were up to 40 to 50 hours.

There were also resource materials for teachers who wanted to check them out and work at home.

Foltz said he was shocked when "one of the veteran teachers walked in and said, "I have never felt so ready for school.' It's almost like we're having a rebirth or regeneration.

"Teachers were so interested in active learning strategies," Bradshaw said. "That's what they've been learning this summer. So many teachers have worked this summer restructuring their lesson plans."

An important addition to the schedule is the technology that will be new in classrooms this year. By October, Bradshaw said, all teachers will have a new multimedia computer station. "They can use some exciting technology and share it with the class," she said. They will all be Internet capable, she said, and "we'll have a lot of resources available for classes. We're looking at a lot of technology and we want to make sure it's used."

Bradshaw will continue to be a business teacher for one block of her day. During her second block she'll be available as a resource for other teachers. During her third block, which is really her planning, she said she'll be available to help teachers with technology. Her fourth block will be for training student teacher assistants.

When the school year begins the teacher training will continue. Technology-based training sessions will be offered weekly for the first nine weeks, two of which will be mandatory for all teachers, Bradshaw said. After that, she intends to offer them twice a month through out the school year.

With her availability, Bradshaw hopes that when something isn't working it can be addressed right away. But teachers, she said, have been working on their own and have been feeling positive.

"They are ready with their materials. They have their classrooms as they want them, their lesson plans, and they are ready in spirit," Bradshaw said. "They're just positive. I think when they come in that positive, it's going to really pass over to the children. When the teachers come in excited about a lesson, the children are going to be excited."

Parents with questions about the four by four schedule can call the guidance department at 726-2080 or Bradshaw at 726-3303 or 726-2241.

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