Thursday, October 3, 2013

Bell schedules, new vs. old

The late start Monday schedule is better for SRVHS. The late start Monday schedule allows students to ease into the week with more sleep, teachers get to leave at a regular time, and it is a more consistent schedule. With late start Monday, students get an extra hour to sleep on the first day of the week, this allows for the transition from weekend fun to school grind to be much smoother and reduces that "just ran into a brick wall" feeling that Monday morning gives most people.
The extra sleep also allows students to be more awake and attentive in class because they spend less time wishing they were still asleep. 
Mondays
Start TimeEnd TimeLength
Staff Collaboration7:30 AM8:30 AM60 min
Period A or Office Hours8:40 AM9:25 AM45 min
Period 19:30 AM10:15 AM45 min
Period 210:20 AM11:05 AM45 min
Brunch11:05 AM11:15 AM10 min
Period 311:20 AM12:05 PM45 min
Period 412:10 PM12:55 PM45 min
Lunch12:55 PM1:30 PM35 min
Period 51:35 PM2:20 PM45 min
Period 62:25 PM3:10 PM45 min
With the new schedule teachers and staff can leave at their normal times. With the old schedule, a teacher who only taught A period through 4th period would have to stay through 5th and 6th so they can teach A period. This causes teachers to be tired and annoyed by the time A period comes in and 1st period the next day.



The new schedule is also more consistent, A period is always before 1st period. With the old schedule A period would be after 6th period on Tuesdays, causing some students to accidentally show up at their regular time, defeating the purpose of late start all together. Some students also forgot that A period was after 6th period and forgot to go o A period at all.




One might argue that the old schedule was better because it allowed student-athletes without A periods to get some food before practice, or that it was better because A period people and non A period people showed up at the same time and there for got the same amount of sleep. While it is true that many non A period athletes used the 50 minutes between class and when practice started to get something to eat, but, what about the athletes who had A periods? They not only did not have the chance to get a meal but they also had to start practice an hour further away from lunch causing them to be hungry all through practice. Many students quit playing their sport because of the stress of going through practices on an empty stomach.










As for the claim that the old schedule was better because every one got the same amount of sleep. Yes, everyone showed up at the same time, but, while A period people enjoyed their extra sleep, non A  period people showed up at the same time as they always do, not giving them a late start at all. However, they would get out Ann hour earlier which allowed for some social time, the only problem with that was, many of the non A period students friends had an A period, so the accrual prevented them  from hanging out after school. Overall, I believe that we can all agree that the new schedule is an improvement over the old one.




3 comments:

  1. I like your post because it has good points. The pictures are also helpful in both making this easier to read and pressing the point further. I also like the length of the post as it takes time to read, and therefore can be absorbed better. Pat yourself on the back for creating such an informative and persuasive post.

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  2. I like all the awesome pictures you put in. It definitely helps describe the feelings people get. You also made the points clear and easy to understand.

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  3. You had some very strong points. I also liked the visuals and good word choice. I would if I were you try to go more into the stress of the daily life for the average!

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