During collaboration meetings with my fellow second grade teachers this week, a wonderful blog topic was brought to my attention. Would you support an extended school day? President Obama has brought it to the table. There have been many critics giving their opinion on this matter. In an article posted by Fox News the main issue was what type of an impact it would have on summer activities. I had not realized there was so much more to extending a school year than just what the students, parents, and teachers thought. In the article, they highlight the effect it would have on hotels, summer hot spots and camps. It states an extended school year would have a dire effect to the economy and would only make things worse. But wouldn’t families still take vacations? Wouldn’t you still send your child to camp even though they went to school longer into the summer? Obama’s idea to extend the school year is in hopes of increasing learning, increasing test scores and closing the achievement gap when competing against other countries.
I wonder, as a teacher, would you support an extended day? I also wondered if myself, as a parent, what I might think if the school year was extended. A school in Chicopee, Massachusetts has plenty of support after extending their school day 100 minutes. Patrick E. Bowe Elementary is working off a grant and has found several advantages of extending their school day. The teacher’s support it because of the extra time to fit in subjects that are otherwise put on the back burner and forgotten about such as social studies and science. According to the site the students support the extended day overall. Although some feel they do not get as much free time at home or feel some subjects drag on.
Envisioning an extended school day, I wondered what problems you would run into as not only a teacher, but as a school. Would the students be too tired? How would the day be set up? Would you have longer specials such as gym and music? Would you have to have a morning and afternoon snack? One website, Issues with the Extended School Day, made some great points about some of the issues an extended school day would bring, such as properly maintaining the interest of the children. Making sure they are not sitting for all hours of the day. They also made some points about having the support of the local and federal government. Making sure teachers are supported through proper pay and resources are one way to motivate teachers and in turn pass their motivation onto their students.
I feel rushed everyday and never feel I have enough time to complete everything I need to. I feel I do not have time to teach everything my students need. But is extending the school day the answer? My day already begins at 8:05, so I don’t think it would work to go any earlier. But we end at 2:45 so that allows for plenty of room for extension. But how long would create positive results? Half hour? Forty-five minutes? An hour? What change would it bring for my students? What change would it bring for my school? Do we only find out if we give it a try?
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Hmmm, an extended school day. Interesting. Very clear that there are both pro's and con's for this issue. I like that it would give more time to the classes that get put on the back burner, or in my case of music, get cut or slashed. That would be a benefit. It is a conundrum for me to think about though. I am a mother of a small child and up until now have been a full time teacher. It breaks my heart the way it is now that I only have approx 4 hours a day with my daughter when we get home from school and daycare. Extending the school day and being a teacher in that school would be hard to handle with already so little time with my child. That alone would make me an opponent of the idea. The day is already long enough and taxing on the family time. It seems like longer hours means more work and I am sure more work would not translate to more pay. There would have to be great financial reward to make it worthwhile to me. If we increased our school day by 100 mins. our school day would be 8:40 am to 5:20 pm. Plus over an hour bus ride for many kids. That just seems crazy to me.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth Haraseth
Right now, I teach at an extended school day program (ESP). At ESP, students need to qualify to attend. Students qualify by being partial proficient or novice in either reading or math. At ESP, we start at 3pm by completing homework. From there, students are assigned a math game that focuses on their math needs (I find their math needs by looking at MAP scores and visiting with the classroom teachers). Next, students work either independently, in a small group, or with a guided reading teacher on reading. At 4pm, we take a break for snack. Then we have 3 rotating stations that are each 30 minutes long. We have a tech club, a large muscle activity, and a hands-on science experiment. Most of my students get upset with their parents if they get picked up early. The students are so engaged the whole time, they never complain. It is not sit in your desk and listen to the teacher. It is camouflaged learning.
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