A committee at Southington High School was established last year to look into methods of alternative daytime scheduling. Recently, a delegation of Southington High School teachers and students visited East Lyme High School, in an effort to learn more about the block scheduling system which they are currently using.
Their day consists of four periods, that are 85-90 minutes each, also, there is a 40 minute lunch period in between the second and third block. At East Lyme there are two days, instead of our six. On "A" day students atten class periods one through four, and on a "B" day they go to classes five through eight. But perhaps it is not only the schedule that is different from SHS's current eight period day.
When I arrived a little late to the high school, I went in to check in at the main office. There I recieved a visitor's tag and was told that three schools were visiting today to look at the system. I was placed with a tour guide, junior Matt Teel. Off we went to his first period class. He did not receive a pass when he arrived he simply signed himself in on a sheet of paper.
At first glance, the classrooms looked like the ones at SHS, with brightly decorated walls, representing the class you are in, but after looking around, I found that there was a video projector, as well as an overhead and many other teacher's aides that are quite hard to come by at SHS. The only thing I did not see at first glance was a clock; however, I soon located it, it was a visual image on the TV in a corner of the classroom. Every room has a TV so all the clocks are always working and synchronized.
Around ten minutes before the scheduled end of the first block, I was quite surprised not to hear a bell, but what was really amazing was the fact that at the end of the period there was no bell. Everyone simply filed out the door and headed to their locker, or next period class.
In the beginning of period two, the class was very rowdy, but the teacher did not bother to quiet them down. He didn't have to because when the TV started to play a minute later everyone stopped talking so they could hear "The Morning Show." This was a student taped six-minute segment on what was going on at East Lyme, almost like our seldom heard morning announcements. Suprisingly, the day was almost half over, and it really did not feel like it was that late.
Next was lunch. Amazingly, everyone headed downstairs and began to eat in either the cafe, gym, classrooms, or the hallways. Their lunch was on a closed campus per se, but the could venture outside as long as they stayed on school grounds an were back by the time period three began. Also, during lunch many of the clubs held their weekly meetings so their wasn't as much after-school time being used up.
In the third block, the Latin teacher had a coffee pot set up in the back of the room for students to use during class. Also, in the middle of the room were bean bag chairs which replaced desks. Period four was study hall. Everyone filed into the cafe and gathered around their designated table based on last name to sign in and pick the place they wanted to spend their time in the cafe, library, or anywhere else.
Freshman, sophomores, and juniors had to remain in the school, but seniors had the option of leaving early. I asked my tour guide, Matt, if a lot of people cut school. He said it could be eaisly done, but no one really bothered, they all felt responsible for where they belonged. Also, during the free period, I got to talk with many students about block scheduling. All of them said the loved the new schedule, it gave them more time to do their homeword, they learned much more in-depth than they had before, and they only had three classes per day plus a study or gym. Teachers also said they would never go back to their old system, because of the many improvements that blcok scheduling had brought to ELHS.
All in all I was very impressed with not only how well block scheduling works, but also, by the fact that students were given many responsibilities, and they handled them quite well.
Michelle Plourde '98
The Emblem invites comment from students and teachers on the proposed change.