Ch. 9: Planning for Block Scheduling

Wormeli stated it very well on page 102, “I figured out that what my students learned from the curriculum is more important than what I covered in class.” I feel that learning comes from everywhere and everything around us, we should not be concerned with hitting every key point as long as every student “gets” what you want them to learn. If you spend two class periods on something and the students uncover another aspect that they want to study in which you haven’t planned out, teach it. You are there for them. There are advantages and disadvantages for block scheduling. I never went through blocks though. At my school I saw the same teachers every day at the same time for 90 minute blocks a semester (high school) and everyday all year for 45 minute periods (middle school). I felt the set-up at my school was tedious and boring. There was no change so you felt like a robot half-way through the year. Wormeli’s set-up works much better, in having alternate days for students. It becomes less boring for both the students and the teachers, I presume. His set-up in the chapter on building plans for the curriculum reminded me a lot of the backwards design from practicum in starting with the end in mind. This process helps see the bigger picture through lesson objectives, formative and summative assessment, the design as a whole, inviting activities, which I’ve always known as “hooks” and group work, setting context, making a mood and what you want the students to learn, the “experience”. When all these aspects work together, success in the classroom can and will be reached. Extensions were also explained further as ways to include other content areas which is helpful in making our integrated units and were a refresher from what we learned and used in practicum.