" What Do I Teach for 90 Minutes?" Creating a Successful Block
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 463 558 CS 510 986 AUTHOR Porter, Carol TITLE "What Do I Teach for 90 Minutes?" Creating a Successful Block-Scheduled English Classroom. INSTITUTION National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, IL. ISBN ISBN-0-8141-5653-3 PUB DATE 2002-00-00 NOTE 202p. AVAILABLE FROM National Council of Teachers of English, 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096 (Stock No. 56533-1659: $19.95 members, $24.95 nonmembers). Tel: 800-369-6283 (Toll Free); Web site: http://www.ncte.org. PUB TYPE Books (010) Guides Classroom Teacher (052) Reports Descriptive (141) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC09 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Block Scheduling; *Curriculum Development; Decision Making; *English Instruction; High Schools; Journalism Education; Professional Development; Program Descriptions; *School Administration; Teaching Methods; Theater Arts; Theory Practice Relationship; Time Factors (Learning); Units of Study; Yearbooks IDENTIFIERS Illinois (Chicago Suburbs) ABSTRACT The story of the process that Mundelein High School (located in a northwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois) as it moved from a traditional schedule to a block schedule is described throughout this book as a way to blend theory with practice. The book addresses types of block schedules; key issues for effective preparation; professional development before and during the move to block schedules; curriculum development; approaches to student support services; how to create strong unit/lesson plans; 30 strategies for varying instruction; 27 key concerns regarding administration; making and coordinating schoolwide and departmental decisions; and working with the larger school community. Essays in the book are: (1)"Planning and Preparing: Getting Ready for the Block"; (2) "Supporting the Professional Development Process"; (3) "Examining and Revising the Curriculum"; (4) "Varying Instructional Approaches"; (5) "Teaching Yearbook and Newspaper on the Block" (Diane VonderHaar); (6) "Teaching Theatre on the Block" (Karen M. Hall); (7) "Considering Other Instructional and Departmental Changes" (Carol Porter and Diane VonderHaar); and (8) "Reflecting on Practice: What We've Learned." (Contains 62 references. Appendixes contain sample block schedules; Mundelein High School Block Schedule policies; time management samples; strategy descriptions; a curriculum map; a sample unit [Expressions: Literature and the Arts]; Advancement Center forms; and sample learning centers.)(RS) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. "What Do I Teach for Creating a Successful Block-Scheduled English Classroom fV U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND Office of Educational Research and Improvement DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION BEEN GRANTED BY CENTER (ERIC) O This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Nyils O Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. BEST COPY AVAILABLE TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES Points of view or opinions stated in this INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. 2 L.1 "What Do I Teach for 90 Minutes?" 3 NCTE Editorial Board: Jacqueline Bryant, Kermit Campbell, Willie Mae Crews, Colleen Fairbanks, Andrea Lunsford, Gerald R. Og lan, Jackie Swensson, Gail Wood, Zarina M. Hock, Chair, ex officio, Kent Williamson, ex officio, Peter Feely, ex officio 4 "What Do I Teach for 90 Minutes?" Creating a Successful Block-Scheduled English Classroom Carol Porter National-Louis University, Chicago, Illinois Deerfield High School, Deerfield, Illinois National Council of Teachers of English 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801-1096 Staff Editor: Tom Tiller Interior Design: Doug Burnett Cover Design: Pat Mayer NCTE Stock Number: 56533-3050 ©2002 by the National Council of Teachers of English. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or trans- mitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including pho- tocopy, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the copyright holder. Printed in the United States of America. It is the policy of NCTE in its journals and other publications to provide a fo- rum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teaching of English and the language arts. Publicity accorded to any particular point of view does not imply endorsement by the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, or the membership at large, except in announcements of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Porter, Carol (Carol J.) "What do I teach for 90 minutes?" : creating a successful block-scheduled English classroom / Carol Porter. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p.). ISBN 0-8141-5653-3 (pbk.) 1. English languageStudy and teaching (Secondary) 2. Block scheduling (Education) I. Title. LB1631 .P63 2002 428' .0071'2dc21 2002001435 To my colleaguesJohn Davis, principal, and the English teachers of Mundelein High School, who are the true authors of this book. Your learning, experimenting, reflecting, and revising changed Mundelein into a place that was good for all learners. Thanks for allowing and encouraging me to record your work. To my familyRyan, Michelle, and Tomwho help me create new chapters in my life. vii Contents Introduction ix 1. Planning and Preparing: Getting Ready for the Block 1 2. Supporting the Professional Development Process 9 3. Examining and Revising the Curriculum 16 4. Varying Instructional Approaches 31 5. Teaching Yearbook and Newspaper on the Block 56 Diane VonderHaar 6. Teaching Theatre on the Block 68 Karen M. Hall 7. Considering Other Instructional and Departmental Changes 80 Carol Porter and Diane VonderHaar 8. Reflecting on Practice: What We've Learned 90 Appendix A: Sample Block Schedules 97 Appendix B: Mundelein High School Block Schedule Policies 98 Appendix C: Time Management SamplesTraditional Schedule versus Block Schedule 124 Appendix D: Strategy Descriptions 126 Appendix E: Curriculum Map 148 Appendix F: Sample Unit (Expressions: Literature and the Arts) 151 Appendix G: Advancement Center Forms 170 Appendix H: Sample Learning Centers 175 Works Cited 181 Author 185 Contributors 187 8 ix Introduction Since block scheduling begins in a different place for every teacher and school, this book is written with an awareness that readers will need to begin in different places and that the information presented does not necessarily need to be read from cover to cover. In some schools, teachers have been involved in decisions relating to the block schedule from the time the idea became part of the conversation. These teachers may be most interested in the chapters on how to revise curriculumand vary instruction for extended class periods (see Chapters 3and 4). At the opposite end of the spectrum are teachers who hear the announce- ment about block scheduling in the final days of the school year (or even in the back-to-school letter in August, as we have seen happen in sev- eral schools). These teachers may need to temporarily bypass curricu- lum revision and start with the discussion in1Chapter 4 on structuring lesson plans and varying instructional methods. Still other teachers may have heard about a decision to move to block scheduling, or may have been part of the decision, and are ready to begin making the changes necessary for implementation. The first chapter of interest to these teach- ers might be Chapter 1, "Planning and Preparing: Getting Readyfor the Block." The story of one school's process as it moved from a traditional schedule to the block is described throughout the book as a way to blend theory with practice. Critical areas of preparation for block scheduling are identified and discussed in each chapter section that isfollowed by reflections titled "What We Learned." Since our process was not per- fect, we hope that others can learn from our learning by considering our reflections and suggestions on how we would alter or revise our pro- cess were we to prepare for block scheduling again. When the first change, which led to many others, was made, Mundelein High School (MHS), located in a northwest suburb of Chi- cago, was a school of about 1,500 students and stood in contrast to the wealth and lack of diversity in surrounding suburban school districts. MHS was named a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence by the U.S. Depart- ment of Education for the 1992-93 year. Highlighted in the Blue Ribbon report as an innovation that made our school deserving of this award were the detracking efforts that had eliminated our system of placing students in high-, average-, and low-level English classes. Many factors influenced our decision to detrack. The makeup of our low-tracked 9 Introduction classes matched our minority population, whichwas primarily His- panic, and we weren't seeing any movement out of the low tracksover the four years students were with us. These divisions of studentswere just as evident outside classrooms when students congregatedin the hallways, ate lunch, and participated in extracurricular activities.An- other change and accomplishment thatwas working in our school was the efforts we had made to reach out to community membersby ask- ing them about their concerns, interests, and questions, and bycreat- ing monthly parent workshops around these issues. When the English department made the decision to detrack,we knew we could no longer deliver thesame curriculum