Middle Grades Scheduling

Scheduling in the middle grades has become one of the fundamental aspects of school that administrators and teachers are eager to change. The traditional 6-8 periods a day for 40-55 minutes is not suitable for how young adolescents learn, nor was it designed for school at all. In fact, the traditional schedule of multiple short periods a day was designed to teach students to work in factories (Flexible Scheduling and Young Adolescent Development).  That’s where flexible scheduling gains its popularity. Flex scheduling is designed to the students’ needs, and at its core is a schedule with fewer and longer time periods that is adjusted based on the needs of the students (Flexible Scheduling and Young Adolescent Development). There are four types of flexible scheduling which includes Block Scheduling, Alternate Day Classes, Rotating Schedules, and Dropped Schedules (Flexible Scheduling). Each type of flex scheduling has different aspects and characteristics that only the school can decide which type would be best for its students, but research shows that flexible scheduling has many more benefits than traditional scheduling. Benefits include the encouragement of developing teacher/student relationships, increasement in student understanding and teacher planning, and more time for teachers to effectively address the demands of diverse learners (Flexible Scheduling and Young Adolescent Development). An important note is that flexible scheduling doesn’t just mean choosing a style and rigidly abiding by its definition, but instead it means modifying it to incorporate different elements of other scheduling types with the ultimate goal of cultivating student learning based on their needs. A way of finding what students want and need is to have a way for them to have a voice in the creation of their schedule. It’s shown that students would prefer to have office hours with a teacher to discuss their classes and schedule rather than have to choose classes on their own or not have any say in the decision-making (Scheduling and Student Choice).

An example of a modified flexible schedule could be having a baseline of Alternate Day Classes, but on certain days of the week, or even once a week, having a long stretch of time devoted to teaming and personalized learning plans. By doing this, you encourage communication between teachers, but more importantly you get students interacting with their peers. Expanding on the idea of longer sections of time for a class, academic discipline lines are beginning to blur which means that student centered instructional strategies are becoming more necessary (Scheduling). To accommodate for this, you can have teachers working together, since most teachers have more than one endorsement of a subject area, which would cultivate more student-centered, engaged learning (Scheduling). The picture below is just one example of a flexible schedule with changes daily, but also with sections of time devoted to student well-being.

There is no question that the traditional way of scheduling in middle school is not working, and it most definitely needs to change. Flexible scheduling gives educators a way to change the monotonous, non-conducive, factory scheduling that currently exists, and change it to a way of conducting the day that works for all students.

Bibliography

Brown, D. F. (n.d.). Flexible Scheduling and Young Adolescent Development. Retrieved April 9, 2019. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6XDMDNKCm2FQTgzOEVXZVJ1a1E/view
I used this source to gather my initial information on scheduling in middle schools. I originally found it on the Middle Grades Classroom website, and it proved to be very useful. It started out by highlighting what was wrong with the way that schedules are organized, but it also went on to describe ways to improve schedules within middle schools.

Daniel, L. (2007). Research summary: Flexible scheduling. Retrieved March 11, 2019 from
http://www.nmsa.org/Research/ResearchSummaries/FlexibleScheduling/tabid/1140/Default.aspx
I also found this source on the Middle Grades Classroom website, and it outlined different types of flexible scheduling by sectioning the document by schedule type. I found this to be very useful because it gave me the chance to gather information quickly and understand it in its entirety.

Scheduling. (n.d.). Retrieved April 9, 2019, from https://tiie.w3.uvm.edu/blog/scheduling/#.XKyQQJhKjD5
I used this source because of a recommendation, and it proved to be very useful. It doesn’t describe different categories of flexible scheduling, but instead lists different characteristics that can be implemented to complement a flexible learning schedule.

SharonAcademy.HEIC. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WMzTQ7UdAoFsCxyzLylvRWrStztsvoIJ/view
This is an image I found from another learning website, and it was useful because it was a concrete example of a schedule that incorporated aspects of flexible scheduling that otherwise wouldn’t be included if it were a traditional 7-8 period scheduled day. It includes time to relax and come together as a community, it changes to sway from monotony, and it is displayed on a large bulletin board that the school/grade/team can follow.

Scheduling and Student Choice. (2018, December 07). Retrieved from https://tiie.w3.uvm.edu/blog/scheduling-and-student-choice/#.XKyQRJhKjD5
I used this article as a guide in my research because it included insights from teachers who have taught/currently are teaching within a school that fosters a flexible schedule program. Most of the teachers say that they’ve received positive feedback from students regarding student choice and the way that the day is structures. They also allow for student criticism and feedback, which is uncommon in many public schools, but can be extremely useful when used correctly.