Time for change? Or change of time? Tending the classroom for optimal growth. After what was an eye opening, never to be repeated term 2, our school has decided to trial a new timetable structure for K to year 9.

With the introduction of daily well-being and timetabled “mentor group” meetings, the start was frantic, hectic and took some time for both students and staff to adjust. Shortening sessions to 60 mins with a separate 30 minute mastery based afternoon time slot per subject, has seen some advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages

Disadvantages

60 minutes allows for more focused, concise and clear teaching/learning activities centred around a flipped learning experience before students begin Allows for direct instruction to whole class where needed Allows for more independent & group managed learning in this session to plan and allocate for the 30 minute Mastery Based session

60 minutes goes really, really quickly when students & teachers are used to 100 minutes Some students still need assistance to structure and support their developing independent learning skills 30 minutes to ‘master’ a concept and display at mastery level can be too short and disjoints the concepts from morning session to afternoon session – don’t flow/continuity of thoughts and understanding can be interrupted, counter productive to the “mastery” session

The adjustment phase of this new structure has seen some students using the Mastery sessions to complete flipped learning instead of continuing the Teacher Managed activities and Mastering them. The difficulties have mainly been in changing focus so quickly and really understanding what is expected of students during this time. Some subject areas are more clear with the direction of each sessions to ensure that all activities flow into each where as others are seeing the 3 different sessions as separate and are structuring their activities accordingly. Confusion sets in! 

I see the three sessions as preparing a garden for new plants to flourish.

Tending the soil – is it ready for the new seed/plant? = Flipped Learning aspect: what do the students already know? What can we do to prepare them for the new concepts and experiences they will have in class and how can we equip them to approach these with confidence?

Planting the seed/plant = Teacher Based Learning: here is the new concept/skill, this is what is looks like as an end result if we nurture/feed/grow that idea/concept properly – what path will students take? How will they get their plant/knowledge to grow? Can they use similar approaches used in the past? (growing a similar idea/concept/plant). Explore new approaches to learning (new plant requires new conditions to flourish) so students are given independence to try new ideas and see where their learning goes.

Allowing the plant to flourish = Mastery based learning – what specific needs to individual/small groups need? Workshops to target that gap. What fertiliser = extra support is needed for all students to succeed/grow? How can teachers and students “weed” out the misconceptions, distractions and keep the learning environment ideal so optimal learning takes places? Much the same as a gardener adjusts the environment to ensure maximum growth/yield in crop.

 

As much as the three sessions are named differently and are structured differently, the flow on effect of what happens in each is crucial in developing/mastering skills and concepts. Without the proper preparation, the seed/plant/concept does not have a good foundation to grow let alone flourish.