Adapting to block scheduling in a year of COVID-19

by Emma Hartman

As the end of the school year draws nearer, it is important to reflect on some of the major changes that occurred this year. One major change was the switch from traditional 8 classes per day scheduling to 4 classes per day block scheduling.

Block scheduling is different for several reasons. Firstly, it means students only have each class twice a week. However, these 2 classes are 90 minutes, rather than the traditional 40 minutes. Additionally, block scheduling means students might not have a study hall every day, which is something some students find unfavorable.

Traditional scheduling means that students have every class, every day. The classes are 40 minutes with AC being longer, as students eat lunch during this time. AHS has always had this format of scheduling, so it was a big adjustment to switch to block scheduling.

For some teachers and students, this scheduling has been a great way to get more content into class time and to have longer bits of free time throughout the day. For others, it has been tiring and monotonous. For teachers who enjoy lecturing, it can be difficult to fill such a long class with lecturing without totally losing the interest of students. For other teachers who enjoy doing more interactive formats of teaching, block scheduling allows for more time for students to work on group activities along with class activities, without having to choose one or the other.

In my personal experience, block scheduling has given me more free time because I only have 2 classes each day. Additionally, for students who need to schedule CC+ classes, block scheduling makes the process far easier to work with.

This year, the long periods leave time for students and teachers to go outside for mask breaks. Mask breaks are important because they are mental breaks for students, and they give students a chance to not wear a mask for a couple of minutes.

Also, in this year of COVID-19, block scheduling is important for contact tracing. If a student only attends 4 classes per day, there might only be 4 classes of people who would have to be contact traced.

As we enter the final part of the school year, we have learned far more than just the content in our classes. We have learned more about the resiliency of our school, and the change and acceptance of block scheduling are proof of this.

Resiliency breeds adaptability, and as such, students and teachers in the 2020-21 school year have been forced to adapt to new schedules and methods of instruction. As the world continues to surprise us, adaptability is an essential skill to possess. Although COVID-19 has permanently altered the lives of nearly everybody, it has allowed for a new sense of adaptability in many people. This is exemplified in the way students and teachers adapted successfully to the change from block scheduling from the traditional schedule that AHS had for decades.