Trimester questions

Here are questions that have been posed so far. If you wish to comment on any of these, please do so by number so that everyone can follow the conversation more easily. If you have additional questions, be sure to contact one of the R&D PLC members.


1. Will AP classes be 2 trimesters and 1 trimester of prep for the exam?

2. Will we be guaranteed a 70 minute conf./prep. hour each trimester? Or will we have study hall or hall duty?

3. What about building relationships with students if we are changing hours or classes each trimester? CWC classes?

4. What about CSLP and Tadet Teaching, would they be allowed to continue all 3 trimesters?

5. Will the amount of preps increase? Consider trimester II below:
TriI TriII TriIII
US1 US2 US2
WH1 WH2 US2
US1 WH1 WH2
WH1 US1 WH2

6. If a student enrolls in marketing 1st and 3rd trimester, could they continue in the work study program 2nd trimester?

7. What about length of class time for students with attention problems/difficult students? Wouldn't this be a problem for all staff, but particularly for sped staff.

8. What about schedule changes (possible) 3 times per school year = more IEP meetings, staff meetings, etc.? Sped teachers have 9-20 students per caseload and wouldn't this be a problem for situations in which students move from sped to regular ed and then back?

9. What about the fast pace of the trimester for special ed. students in CWC?

10. What about the fast pace of the trimester for special ed classes for which we worked so hard to align with regular ed classes?

11. What about tech students? Would they be limited to a choice of FHN coursework only 1st and 2nd hours or 4th and 5th hours under the trimester?

12. How will special schedules be handled? (For example: how would homerooms, pep assemblies, etc.) be scheduled in the trimester?

13. Will guidance and our school still allow the 10 day add/drop period (Since classes will be shorter)?

14. How many study halls will be allowed in the trimester (We currently have some students with 2-3 study halls)?

15. How will this affect dual enrollment at the community college?

16. What courses or department will have preference on the back to back
trimesters (A-B, B-C)?

17. Will all full year core courses be given preference on back to back trimesters (A-B, B-C)?

18. In regards to Advanced Accounting and Introduction to Accounting classes, which are both yearlong classes, yet are electives. Will electives be given the same recognition in scheduling as core classes? Accounting students will suffer if they were split A-C or C-A trimesters.

19. What is the priority listing for electives?

20 Which department is first on the list?

21. Which one is last?

22. I realize there are only so many A-B, B-C slots that can be filled. Where are electives in the pecking order?

23. If we had a trimester schedule, I understand there will be more electives available, in 3 or 4 years into the new system. Are we just setting ourselves up for more electives taken (switched over to required courses) and ending just where we are now, having to rewrite our curriculum again to match? Basically, is there any way to guarantee no more electives taken (taken from the students and replaced with required courses)?

24. If we are now offering more courses each semester, what plans/ideas do we have for teacher/room accomodations? It is my understanding that teachers will be traveling more (same amount of classrooms with more courses offered). Any remedies to criteria to determine who would travel and who would not?

25. The district-level time task force suggested making some trimesters longer than others, in anticipation of snow days, reducing the number of progress reporting periods per trimester, and splitting up the parent-teacher conference hours into each of the 3 trimesters. If different from the rest of the district, how would FHN handle snow days, progress reports, report cards, parent-teacher conferences, open house, and exams? To what extent would these be handled in the manner proposed by the district-level time task force?

FHN Studies the Trimester

Since R&D already has the blog established as a forum for people to share ideas, this blog will also serve as a way to share information and comments about the trimester schedule.



If you have questions for R&D to research about trimesters, please send an email to the PLC members. As we get questions and find information or answers, we will post them here. R&D PLC members are:

Mary Baker
Kathy Carron
Aaron Manfull
Kim Rastberger
Bryan Spencer
Jon Travis
Steve Willott



For starters, here are some links to the schools that the High School Time Task Force visited in August 2007.



William Mason High School, Mason, Ohio

http://www.masonohioschools.com/school_cpages.aspx?schoolid=1&cid=128

http://www.masoncomets.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Mason_High_School

http://www.masonbands.com/



Little Miami High School, Morrow, Ohio

http://www.littlemiamischools.com/hs/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Miami_High_School_(Ohio)



Bloomington High School South, Bloomington, Indiana

http://www.south.mccsc.edu/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomington_High_School_South



Martinsville High School, Martinsville, Indiana

http://msdadmin.scican.net/mhs/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martinsville_High_School

Here's a school (Grand Ledge High School in Grand Ledge, Michigan) that is implementing a trimester schedule next year (2008-2009):

http://www.glps.k12.mi.us/ghs/

Spring Lake Public Schools in Spring Lake, Michigan has lots of information about trimesters (including a blog that has had some Oct. 2007 comments posted from St. Charles County teachers):

http://www.trimesters.org/

Fairview High School in Fairview, Tennessee (Williamson County Schools) has recently begun using the trimester schedule.

http://www.wcs.edu/frvhs/

Let's measure our progress

As you prepare for parent-teacher conferences next week, you might want to have students complete a brief self-reflective piece that will help focus your conversation with parents. An adaptation of a form used by Shalaunda Spencer last year can be found at this link:

http://fhn.fhsd.k12.mo.us/swillott/studentselfeval.doc

It is a word document, so you should be able to access it and edit it to your liking.

This blog is all about sharing best practices, including those that are backed by research. Remember that the first post to the blog dealt with homerooms and getting to know students in your homeroom. Research indicated to the FHN family that a homeroom would be a beneficial addition to the day because students who find an anchoring adult in the building tend to perform better overall. Research also indicated that it was important to maintain homerooms intact throughout the high school years, rather than shifting and balancing numbers annually, in order to maintain a sense of community and the connections built between the students and the homeroom teacher.

The R&D PLC wants to know how your homeroom is shaping up. Have you taken the opportunity to call students over to discuss grades? What has worked for you in homeroom and what hasn't? Has your homeroom developed a focus on improving academics and a sense of community? We want to know how things are going. Remember, you can comment anonymously, if you choose to do so.

Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition

Can anyone share some experiences with Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition? New ideas are great, but we would love to hear about how you might teach the importance of effort, reinforce effort, or provide recognition of effort or achievement.

A colleague (no one that anyone here would probably know) once told me that he followed the advice he learned in the military (forgive me if I heard this incorrectly or remember it incorrectly)-- punish in private and praise in public.

A quick survey of the classroom walls around the building would reveal a lot of ideas about these topics. How many of us have these quotes on the walls?

"Your 'I will' is more important than your 'IQ'."
"It pays to pay attention."
"It's always too soon to quit."
"'Good enough' isn't."
"Due dates are closer than they appear."
"If you don't take the time to do it right the first time, then you must take the time to do it over."
"Success is measured by effort."
"Success comes in cans, not in cannots."
"A good angle to approach any problem is the try-angle."
"Have you used your brain today?"

Summarizing and Note Taking

Can anyone share some experiences with Summarizing and Note Taking? We're not looking for new ideas, just how you might teach summarizing or note taking, how you model it, or unique ways of encouraging or organizing notes.

A quick search of "note taking" in Google presents a lot of ideas and handouts. Sure, we might expect students to have learned how to take notes by the time we see them, but then again, there are a lot who have never really been TAUGHT how to take notes. It doesn't have to be a separate lesson-- in fact, it should be taught embedded within our work.

Here are a few handouts from the web:

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~acskills/docs/taking_notes.doc

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~acskills/docs/cornell_note_taking.doc

Comparing, Classifying, and Graphic Organizers

Can anyone share some experiences with Comparing, Classifying, and Graphic Organizers? Remember that these aren't necessarily new, but might be new to me or you. If you have a handout or know where one could find some, consider including a link to it like this one:

http://www.leominster.mec.edu/pro-dev.htm

This is a set of math related graphic organizers that were included in a session at the St. Louis NCTM Conference. Departments other than math might find them helpful for generating ideas about using graphic organizers in class.

On a related note, why not give examples of similes and metaphors you use in class, or stories about connecting past learning to new learning?

Your colleagues are eager to hear about your experiences!

Homeroom ideas

Good Morning!
Short form:

I have a sophomore homeroom and I'm on the Research and Development PLC (R&D). So, I have some questions from each standpoint:
1. What activities, if any, are you doing during homeroom?

2. Have you gotten to know your homeroom students and, if so, how have you done so?
3. To what extent has the homeroom been a study hall and to what extent has it been an advisory period thus far?



Long form and background:

Last year, the Research and Development PLC (R&D) here at FHN found some research that indicated that having one homeroom teacher as an anchor in the student's school life was a significant element in the long-term success of that student in school. I was talking yesterday to several other teachers about the Wednesday homerooms and discussing how that time is used. I have a sophomore homeroom. One student asked when their mentors would be coming and so, I think some of them are looking for structured get-to-know-you time or other advice on how to succeed in their second year here. I think some would benefit from a refresher on study skills (and maybe a good reminder to bring something productive to work on in homeroom-- too many have already shown up with nothing in hand). Following a successful mentoring program last year, I don't want my sophomores to regress (R&D found that the 10th graders actually get a lot of F's). At the same time, I don't want to eat up 40 minutes with some activity when a student was hoping to get homework done.


So, how does one balance these needs? I don't think that (m)any of us want an additional prep, but I have been frustrated trying to think of ways to get to know students in an informal and non-instructional setting like homeroom. I don't remember ever discussing such times in my college education classes. I've heard of a few really great ideas and hope that others could be shared.


Thanks in advance for your input-- I look forward to hearing your ideas.


Steve Willott


R&D asked me to clear comments with those who made them, so everyone's reply posted here came with their permission. Here are some of the ideas shared so far:

"...Once we get through the topic, if any, most of the students just talk quietly.

I did use one of the activities provided during the first couple of days. I thought it was fun the seniors were willing to participate (that was a surprise)."




"As a SPED teacher, I have always believed that every student would benefit from a case manager. I am pleased that this homeroom model will provide something similar.

In terms of establishing yourself as a resource, I would recommend something as simple as letting the students know that you are available while they are working in homeroom if they have any questions or concerns. Also, schedule several students every Wednesday (your total divided by 4) for 'mini-conferences'--an opportunity for them to talk with you at your desk about how everything is going or what activities they are involved in...just chatting, really. Over time, this will develop into a trust and comfort level so that you can truly be the resource they need."




"I also have a sophomore homeroom.

1. I have used homeroom so far as a study hall for students. Being a "newbie", I wasn't sure if I was suppose to be doing other things with them or just providing that study session.

2. I played a couple of "getting to know you" games during the first week of school so that I could learn a little bit about my homeroom students and learn their names.

3. I would say most of the time is spent as a study hall."




"Next semester I have 4 [other] classes. Home room time will be useful for those students.
I understood the time to be 'academic study hall.' Conducting activities would prevent me from working with students coming in for help."




"I have a senior homeroom, but here's the approach I'm taking.

We do a check-in each homeroom (some silly question to help get to know one another), and we did a couple of ice breakers at the beginning. In one of the first homerooms, I had them set a short-term goal, a long-term goal and a personal goal, and we placed that goal sheet in portfolios they created. Also in their portfolio is a self-monitoring chart they use when they conference with me. It has one column for attendance, one for grades and concerns, and one for reflection on how well they are meeting their goals. I conference with them each week while others are working on homework. They fill me in on their grades, activities they are involved in or trying to get involved in, and how their attendance is. (We also have an attendance competition with (another teacher's) class, so that adds a little fun to it). I write down notes too, so I know what to ask them about the next week.

It's been working so far. Any other ideas would be awesome."




"During homeroom I pull up grades for each student the Pinnacle Crystal report for the quarter or semester showing any missing assignments for each class. If the student has no missing grades, I do not print. If they do have missing grades, I talk to them, find out what is going on and help them with resources or personal assistance. If grades are good, I let them know I looked at the grade and tell them how proud I am of their work. If grades are in but low, I do the same kind of intervention that I would if the assignments are missing. I only let students leave after I look at grades. This is done each week, it allows me to have communication with each individually and help out as needed. I really don't have time for anything else."




"I use my homeroom as a study who would like to get homework done.
I also allow them to play games (tic tac toe, hangman etc) on my whiteboards...
I had these guys last year so I know most of them already!"