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The Effects of Block Scheduling: Strategies for Time Management
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by Brian E. Vaughn
Episcopal High School
Houston, Texas
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| | In-Class Strategies
Many schools use a block schedule in which some or all classes meet for longer periods but with less frequency than those that meet every day. This can be a real boon for some types of learning but a hindrance for others. With careful planning, AP Music Theory taught on a block schedule can work to the advantage of both student and instructor.
There are many variations of block scheduling, so depending on the one used in your school, you may have to do a bit of interpolating to figure out which strategies work best for your situation. For the purposes of this article, I will limit my discussion to those teaching strategies that deal with the time spent in class and those that should be most beneficial between class meetings.
Premise: Your traditional 40/45/50-minute class period, five days a week, has given way to a block period of 75 to 90 minutes two to three times a week. How do you (a) keep students focused during that much time and (b) avoid wasting the last several minutes of class? This may prove a bit of a challenge for the instructor who is accustomed to presenting a concept, introducing the related homework assignment, and then giving the students the last few minutes to get started. I operated in this mode for a number of years before changing to a block schedule.
The course content for AP Music Theory may actually provide some welcome relief. Aspects of the curriculum may have presented instructional problems because of inadequate class time. It seems you are just scratching the surface when the bell rings. When introducing a new concept in part writing, for example, the block period can be a terrific instructional asset. Students might work out multiple examples on the board, leading up to an in-class assignment in which each member of the class takes the next chord to voice and lead. This will force all class members to anticipate the unexpected and be flexible in their thinking when things don't work out as neatly as they planned.
Multitasking
Students will benefit when an entire class period is dedicated to one concept experienced in a variety of ways, or when a variety of concepts is experienced in smaller bites.
Attention spans are getting shorter, and students are being asked to do a greater number of things in a short amount of time. The good news is, our students today are better equipped for this style of learning than ever. Like it or not, this is excellent training for the AP Exam itself, where students must move at a good pace and advance to the next task in a timely fashion. Your block-period classes could reflect this as well. By dividing the period into different activities, you will help your students get used to a multitasking mode in preparation for the "Big Day."
On a typical day of block schedule, you might review the previous day's material and follow this with the introduction of a new concept, which is then reinforced through skill-and-drill exercises. This might lead to a contest or other illustration on the board and culminate in a homework assignment for the next class. Standard stuff, but now try applying that process three or four times over the 75-minute period to a pitch concept, a rhythm concept, a notation concept, and an aural skills concept! You're going to move fast, so you must prepare segments in small doses that students will easily digest.
Integrated Activities
Once presented in small portions, concepts may easily be integrated in a more substantial assignment during a block period.
Lessons on form, cadences, motives, and the like can be quite successful when presented in isolated exercises out of a textbook, but students will also need to recognize them in the context of pieces they analyze. The lengthier time in a block period allows students to experience these concepts as a whole when doing musical detective work. Engage them with a piece of music in a variety of ways (through listening to a recording, viewing the notation, filling in a form-mapping template, taking melodic dictation on the principal motives, and so on), and use the allotted time to experience it in as many different ways as possible. From there, allow time for discussion of what they found. As one of my administrators used to say at the start of faculty meetings, "None of us is as smart as all of us."
Testing Strategies
Block scheduling gives teachers more flexibility in testing procedures.
Test taking is a very important aspect of AP Exam preparation. Block periods can be a wonderful tool for testing a variety of skills in small units of time or for allowing chapter or unit exams to extend over an entire block.
For example, a quiz on sight-singing or melodic dictation may already be a staple of each week's routine. Having the time to teach the skill of taking a quiz on sight-singing or melodic dictation may sometimes be difficult on a regular schedule. Spending 75 or 90 minutes to teach the testing skills required may be very beneficial to the students' test results.
Similarly, we need to prepare our students for the lengthy AP Exam. By using an entire block period for a chapter or unit test, students will have a better sense of the grueling exam before them. (A tip: I've gotten in the habit of assigning point values per page or per section, to help students understand how points are stacked; they will thus learn to better budget their test time.)
Internet-Based Learning
Whether via a computer lab or through the use of individually accessible laptops, most schools are taking advantage of Internet-based learning to some degree. Music theory instruction is no different in this regard, and the block-period schedule can lend itself nicely to Internet activities.
Interactive Web sites exist for music theory (check out the ones in the AP Central Teachers' Resources reviews) and allow students to practice their skills in larger chunks of time. On block days students might go to the lab for a whole period as a class, or they might work individually after they complete a test or in-class assignment.
Outside-of-Class Strategies
Block scheduling by nature does not allow contact with your class every day; for example, a class that meets on Thursday may not meet again until Monday. Add a federal holiday to the mix, and you've got close to a week between class sessions. How do you plan for homework assignments that will be worthwhile, time efficient, and manageable for the students? Here are a few ideas:
- Break it up -- give assignments that reflect the segmented strategy previously discussed.
- Encourage students to do homework in short sessions with greater frequency. (I call this "anti-cram," as opposed to "anti-spam"!)
- Provide an opportunity for students to hand in portions of their homework between classes.
- Accustom students to the collegiate model of office hours; plan on being available for help at a prescribed time on days between class sessions. Perhaps your school has a "seminar" session one or two days a week that would allow students to come in.
- Provide enrichment activities that can be found on Web sites that relate to the material in the assignment. These can be used by students between class meetings to answer many of their own questions.
- In addition to offering office hours, make yourself available through electronic means. Email can be a great way to answer quick questions.
Summary
After stumbling through a semester or so of well-intentioned (but not always successful) experimentation, I learned to embrace the modified block schedule my school adopted. I was able to plan appropriate lessons and activities for the three days a week in which I had the traditional 45-minute period and made the 75-minute block day a priority lesson. To bridge the gulf between the block day and the next class meeting two days later, I set aside an hour of the afternoon in between for my AP students' exclusive use. Additionally, I use a broader range of teaching methods to cover the material, which my students appreciate. This tends to hold their attention better, especially since they have to be on their toes every day, not knowing what to expect from that day's lesson! Through lecture/demonstration, skill-and-drill, computer-assisted instruction, and more, my students are well equipped to take on the challenges of the AP Exam and continue their study at the college level.
Brian E. Vaughn is a 1987 graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, from which he received degrees in vocal performance and music education. Despite the excellence of the music theory faculty at Oberlin, Brian remained an extraordinarily average student of the subject. Now a career music educator, Brian has repented of his lascivious parallelisms, and has embarked on a crusade to deliver his students from inappropriate voice leadings. He is the Music Department chairman at Episcopal High School in Houston, Texas.
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