With the number of activities in the spring, it is important to remind everyone of the importance of protecting the school academic learning time. For example, as I began planning for chemistry class for the week of April 19, I discovered that some students will be gone from my class every day that week for a school activity except Wednesday. And I have to be in Kearney for a meeting that day. That is the situation for all 7th and 8th period classes that week.
We try to schedule track and baseball activities so that students miss as little time from school as possible. That means Saturdays are the preferred day for scheduling. Students are in school for 180 days. Each day has 8 periods. Each period lasts 50 minutes. That equates to 9000 minutes of scheduled instructional time for each high school class period. Now start subtracting time lost due to early dismissals, late starts, required state testing, assemblies, etc. and I find that there is barely enough time to adequately prepare students in Chemistry.
What needs to be done to protect academic learning time?
Administrators- Schedule as few interruptions to the school day as possible. Interruptions result in teachers not teaching and students not learning. Interruptions are popular with students but it has a negative impact on student achievement.
Teachers- Make use of the instructional time that you have. Even if some of the students are gone for activities, the students you have need to be involved in some type of learning activity. Before requesting that students miss someone else’s class, ask yourself, “ Is my activity as valuable to the students as the class they are missing?” This is the question I had to answer when making decisions about John Baylor Test Prep or the Entrepreneurship workshop.
Coaches- Understand that extra-curricular activities are EXTRA. They support of the goals of the school, but are not THE goal. When activities intrude into the school day, they negatively impact student learning.
Parents- Make sure your students are in school as much as possible and support the school efforts to maximize instructional time. If they are not here, we cannot teach them. Don’t ask for students to be gone from school unless it is absolutely necessary.
Students- Make use of your time in school. Arrive to class on time ready to learn.
Let’s say, “We are all about academics at Bancroft-Rosalie.”
