Warsaw Bell Schedules
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
Moving to a seven-period day and a balanced (year-round) schedule is touted by the superintendent as being "good" for students. There may well be good reasons to go to a balanced schedule, but academic improvement is not one of them.
In the last faculty meeting I attended, only one study was cited as evidence. Bell schedules do not make better students. Like so much of the window dressing, I observed in 20 years of teaching, this, too, lacks substance. A swirl of activity should not be confused with forward progress. The fracas over bell schedules is misplaced. When will the classroom have priority?
In the English department we were told consumables were too costly, so we copied the vocabulary books. The Bible as Literature class began without Bibles or books. I was left to supply those. In the recent construction of the new athletic complex, performing arts center and weight room, no details were skipped.
On the other hand, the classroom where I was to teach an online computer curriculum class was not ready for the start of school. If I wanted to teach the class, I had to wire the lab during the summer. I did so - on my own time and largely my own dime. The IT department had other priorities. When the school year arrived, we could not begin the online curriculum for nearly two months since the computers were not installed - not to mention the administrator who was more focused on the size and location of her office. Nonetheless, I understand those feelings and priorities because in public education, financial reward is given to those with the least contact with students.
Central administrative offices become chock-a-block full of high-wage earning personnel who face no students and have little or no direct contact with the classroom. This is backwards. I never expected to make money in education, but I also never expected to have to purchase books, paper, wiring supplies, etc.
I will miss interacting with students in the classroom, and miss taking my Bible literature students to the Oriental Institute in Chicago. I will not miss the extracurricular nonsense - my pockets are empty.
The future looks no different than the past with this emphasis on bell schedules rather than the classroom. Money, ego and office size are and have always been the driving factor in decision making. Bell schedules come and go. Making them a bragging point in a simple-minded strategy takes emphasis away from the class room - an all-too-frequent occurrence in my experience at Warsaw Schools.
Raphael Wolff
Warsaw
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Moving to a seven-period day and a balanced (year-round) schedule is touted by the superintendent as being "good" for students. There may well be good reasons to go to a balanced schedule, but academic improvement is not one of them.
In the last faculty meeting I attended, only one study was cited as evidence. Bell schedules do not make better students. Like so much of the window dressing, I observed in 20 years of teaching, this, too, lacks substance. A swirl of activity should not be confused with forward progress. The fracas over bell schedules is misplaced. When will the classroom have priority?
In the English department we were told consumables were too costly, so we copied the vocabulary books. The Bible as Literature class began without Bibles or books. I was left to supply those. In the recent construction of the new athletic complex, performing arts center and weight room, no details were skipped.
On the other hand, the classroom where I was to teach an online computer curriculum class was not ready for the start of school. If I wanted to teach the class, I had to wire the lab during the summer. I did so - on my own time and largely my own dime. The IT department had other priorities. When the school year arrived, we could not begin the online curriculum for nearly two months since the computers were not installed - not to mention the administrator who was more focused on the size and location of her office. Nonetheless, I understand those feelings and priorities because in public education, financial reward is given to those with the least contact with students.
Central administrative offices become chock-a-block full of high-wage earning personnel who face no students and have little or no direct contact with the classroom. This is backwards. I never expected to make money in education, but I also never expected to have to purchase books, paper, wiring supplies, etc.
I will miss interacting with students in the classroom, and miss taking my Bible literature students to the Oriental Institute in Chicago. I will not miss the extracurricular nonsense - my pockets are empty.
The future looks no different than the past with this emphasis on bell schedules rather than the classroom. Money, ego and office size are and have always been the driving factor in decision making. Bell schedules come and go. Making them a bragging point in a simple-minded strategy takes emphasis away from the class room - an all-too-frequent occurrence in my experience at Warsaw Schools.
Raphael Wolff
Warsaw
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