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This is one of the reasons I like my school. Points 1 and 3 in the article are pretty close to nonexistent. [1]: We operate on a 4x4 schedule (4 classes August

This is one of the reasons I like my school. Points 1 and 3 in the article are pretty close to nonexistent. [1]: We operate on a 4x4 schedule (4 classes August - December, 4 classes January - June). So we sit in one class for 90 minutes, a good time to focus on a task and get it done. [2]: Issue 2 is a problem with every school I've been in and seen. I can't think of any school that has managed time in a way that will cover curriculum and capture student's attention. [3]: I'm lucky that my school is only 3 years old, extremely new for my district. I can easily form personal connections with my teachers and administration. My teachers know my extracurriculars and understand if I didn't complete my homework that day (I turn it in later, but I do have to finish it). Overall, this article was a reflective experience and made me even more thankful of my school.

jschwartzi 12y ago
My experience with a 4x4 schedule was that I would lose focus about 15 to 20 minutes in, start trying to work whatever homework the teacher had assigned, realize I didn't understand it, refocus on the lecture, and realize that I had missed half of it. The only reason I graduated High School on time was because one of my math teachers gave out D's. This was really only an issue in Math classes, where we were expected to passively absorb information. The classes I did really well in were Honors English, AP English, and History/Social Studies courses where the teachers asked us to think about what they were telling us. Looking back, the only reason that I was able to go to college, get a degree, and end up working in Engineering is that my parents were willing to support me monetarily while I replaced my shitty High School record with a good Community College record.
- aarohmankad 12y ago
  Your math teacher sounds like a bad teacher. My calc teacher is very much the same, but he heavily focuses on being able to teach us how to learn on our own (i.e. looking up new concepts on khanacademy/other resources, looking for practical applications to theorems we learn, etc.)
- Rapzid 12y ago
  I recall one of my best math class grades was pre-cal my Junior year. I would normally fall into the trap you did, and completely failed Algebra 2 but somehow didn't swing back on it.. Anyway, the teacher, the girls soccer couch, actually gave us a good amount of time after the lecturing to work on our homework. And often he would start the class about 10-15 minutes late and I knew it was to give us a chance to polish off the homework. I recall being in a class of mostly Seniors, and a group of us always ended up working together.. The baseball teams pitcher, who was actually quite sharp, his friend, and a girl I don't quite remember that well. The teacher encouraged us to move our desks together as needed. This arrangement worked out fantastically. We would often divide and conquer the homework, or race through the problems individually. Both had advantages; somebody(me or the pitcher) would almost always have a particular problem figured out if the rest were stuck. It created this interaction that was part competitive and part cooperative/supportive. I suspect we all had fun, learned a lot, and did great on the tests and grades(I did). I had three main takeaways from this: 1.)The lectures were focused, dense, and did not take up the entire 90 minutes. 2.)We had plenty of time to practice the problems and help each other/get help during the period 3.)I now just recall that this was our lunch period as well, which we took the 2nd to last slot, so we had a break before the last bit of the period. This was quite nice. As an aside, three of the coaches I had for academic classes are probably in my top 5 list. Their classes were very engaging.. I find this interesting.

jschwartzi 12y ago

My experience with a 4x4 schedule was that I would lose focus about 15 to 20 minutes in, start trying to work whatever homework the teacher had assigned, realize I didn't understand it, refocus on the lecture, and realize that I had missed half of it. The only reason I graduated High School on time was because one of my math teachers gave out D's. This was really only an issue in Math classes, where we were expected to passively absorb information. The classes I did really well in were Honors English, AP English, and History/Social Studies courses where the teachers asked us to think about what they were telling us. Looking back, the only reason that I was able to go to college, get a degree, and end up working in Engineering is that my parents were willing to support me monetarily while I replaced my shitty High School record with a good Community College record.

aarohmankad 12y ago
Your math teacher sounds like a bad teacher. My calc teacher is very much the same, but he heavily focuses on being able to teach us how to learn on our own (i.e. looking up new concepts on khanacademy/other resources, looking for practical applications to theorems we learn, etc.)
Rapzid 12y ago
I recall one of my best math class grades was pre-cal my Junior year. I would normally fall into the trap you did, and completely failed Algebra 2 but somehow didn't swing back on it.. Anyway, the teacher, the girls soccer couch, actually gave us a good amount of time after the lecturing to work on our homework. And often he would start the class about 10-15 minutes late and I knew it was to give us a chance to polish off the homework. I recall being in a class of mostly Seniors, and a group of us always ended up working together.. The baseball teams pitcher, who was actually quite sharp, his friend, and a girl I don't quite remember that well. The teacher encouraged us to move our desks together as needed. This arrangement worked out fantastically. We would often divide and conquer the homework, or race through the problems individually. Both had advantages; somebody(me or the pitcher) would almost always have a particular problem figured out if the rest were stuck. It created this interaction that was part competitive and part cooperative/supportive. I suspect we all had fun, learned a lot, and did great on the tests and grades(I did). I had three main takeaways from this: 1.)The lectures were focused, dense, and did not take up the entire 90 minutes. 2.)We had plenty of time to practice the problems and help each other/get help during the period 3.)I now just recall that this was our lunch period as well, which we took the 2nd to last slot, so we had a break before the last bit of the period. This was quite nice. As an aside, three of the coaches I had for academic classes are probably in my top 5 list. Their classes were very engaging.. I find this interesting.