6 Period Day Teaming

Recommendations from the Scheduling Team

2009-2010 school year

· 6-period day

o 50 minute periods

o 25 minute advisory at the end of the day

o 4 minute passing

· Develop 5/7 and 6/8 collegial and student ‘Mission Support Crews’

o Example: all 5th and 7th grade teachers/students would be on the same Mission Support Crew. 6th and 8th grade teachers/students would be on another MSC.

o MSC could offer mentoring, study buddies, homework help, team building, field trip collaboration/chaperoneing help…anything the Crew feels would help build a feeling of community within the building.

o Support staff could/should also be MSC members

· 5th grade core curriculum remains self-contained

o Begin preparation for middle school model by working with Mission Support Crew

o Change terminology from ‘prep’ to ‘elective’ for art, music, gym

· 6th grade core curriculum remains self-contained for part of the year

o Consider departmentalizing 2nd or 3rd tri- to help students transition to the middle school model

o Change terminology from ‘prep’ to ‘elective’ for art, music, gym

o Consider offering 6th graders to take an actual elective- i.e Spanish, ceramics- 3rd tri

· 7th and 8th grades are teamed by grade.

o Core teachers share all students on team

o Core teachers loop their students per grade (7th grade one year, 8th grade the next)

o Core teams are housed in a similar location

o Core teams have a common planning time

o One elective teacher shares a planning time with the core

o Elective teachers without common team planning time could meet as an elective team

· Grades 5-8 operate on the same schedule

· Reinstate use of Restitution Self-Discipline 5-8 to create a common language for behavior expectations

· Conscience effort at providing professional development/team planning time 5-8

· Have all-staff meetings at both buildings- one month at PreK-4, one month at 5-8

o All-staff meetings could take on more of a ‘showcase’ feel- show off the cool things happening in each building. Share professional learnings, talk about kid-work.

o Have nuts and bolts information be disseminated at each campus and/or via email

· Conscience effort at developing camaraderie, community, collaboration starting in August

Advisory Purposes

· Planner usage

· Keeping organized

· Team building

· Conflict resolution strategies

· Listening skills

· General jr. high survival skills

· Student portal / technology

· Baseline assessment

· Buddy opportunities for 5-8

· Homework help / safety net

· Announcements

· Group pull outs- student council, other groups

· MCA test prep

· Team-developed programs

· Fun time- rewards, school-wide challenges

· Library time

· Student conferencing

6 Period Day Teaming-

Grade Level Teams: English, Math, Social Studies, Science, ELL, SpEd,

· Teaches will teach five sections a day with one 50 minute prep period.

· Core Team teachers will have prep at the same time.

· +1 Team teachers will share students with the Core Team, but not a prep.

· Choice Elective Teachers will share students with all teams.

· Level 3-4 ELL and Special Education teachers will be attached to a team and serve as co-teachers in Core classes where a majority of their students are, to provide support and differentiated instruction. The 5th section of the day could be served teaching an ELL or Special Ed. Required Elective such as study skills or resource.

· Class periods will be approximately 50 minutes with a 25-minute daily advisory.

Grades 7-8 (% of students does not equal 100 due to overlap in SpEd and ELL)

ELL (57% of students) Other (25% of students)

1. Math 1. Math

2. English or Read 180 2. English

3. Science 3. Science

4. Social Studies 4. Social Studies

5. Read 180 or Support Class (Elective D) 5. Elective B

6. Tri= El A El C El A 6. Tri= El A El A El C

Special Ed. (20% of students)

1. Math

2. English

3. Science

4. Social Studies

5. SpEd Course/Read 180 (Elective D)

6. SpEd Course/Read 180 or

Tri= El A El B El B

COMPARISONS

Six Periods Seven Periods

Teach 5 periods Teach 6 periods

Classes approx 50 minutes Classes approx 42 minutes

Seven passing times (28 minutes) w/advisory Eight passing times (32 minutes) w/advisory

One 50-minute individual prep daily One 42-minute individual prep daily

No separate team prep period No separate team prep period

Teams will have same prep period Teams will have same prep period

Fewer elective slots for students More elective slots for students

Core class sizes roughly 32 Core class sizes roughly 27

Encourages manipulative-based teaching Discourages manipulative-based teaching

Longer time allows for processing Shorter time does not allow for processing

Highest Priorities/Concerns in considering a 6 vs 7 period day

Priorities: A 25-minute end of the day advisory, longer class periods

Concerns: 42 minute classes are not long enough in a 7 per day, 30-40 kids in a core class in 6 period

6 Period Day (each teacher teaching 5 classes)

Core - 32.9 students per class

Elective - 19.4 students per class

7 Period Day (each teacher teaching 6 classes)

Core - 27.4 students per class

Elective - 23.5 students per class

Elective numbers would decrease with ELL or special ed classes scheduled instead of electives. These numbers are AVERAGE class sizes so it is likely that some classes would be bigger and some would be smaller.

For example: The 8th grade math students would need 3 math classes (Algebra 1, Algebra 1 Challenge and Geometry) but they are not split equally among those classes. According to this year's numbers, here is the set up for next year's 8th graders.

1. Algebra Challenge - 26 students (This year's Pre-Algebra Challenge students)

2. Geometry - 29 students (This year's Algebra 1 Challenge students, which is currently 3 sections)

3. Geometry - 29 students

4. Algebra 1 (Reg) - 43 students (This year's Pre-Algebra students, which is currently 5 sections)

5. Algebra 1 (Reg) - 43 students

With a 7 period day, the Algebra 1 (regular) students could be split into 3 sections of 29 students each.