Uniontown’s school district is different from other local schools because rather than having the traditional seven periods a day, we have the block schedule, which consists of four periods a day for an hour and a half for a semester. Block scheduling is better. It’s difficult for a teacher to teach a good lesson in less than an hour. Rather than having 45 minutes per class, and hour and a half is a lot more effective to allow the lesson to sink in. Also, I think the difference in timing is good preparation for when students go to college.
Traditional scheduling has just too many classes. Teachers can assign a lot of homework, and having seven classes is a lot of stress and time taken out of students’ lives. Book bags are also heavy for students to carry, and with all those classes come a lot of books.
As it is, we’re lazy getting up in the morning. Having to walk back and fourth to all those classes is just time consuming and tiring, especially if you have a schedule where you have a class on one side of the building. Frankly, it’s just a pain and we will probably get an attitude out of it.
Students were asked what they thought of block schedules (They wished to remain anonymous). One student stated, “It makes it harder to pay attention.” However another student had a different viewpoint. They preferred the block saying, “Since I’m in AP classes, it’d be a lot more difficult to learn the lesson in shorter time.”
It’s based upon what classes you’re taking. If students would like a lot of different types of electives, then the traditional schedule is for them. On the other hand, if students have an AP class or a language class, then a longer period would probably be better for them to have. Ultimately, after weighing both sides, the thought here is that the block schedule is more efficient all around.