Two schools in Japan have hired me to be a consultant to help with their schedules. It seems like easy work, but it's not.
So many IB schools have the same problem: over the years, eager teachers, directors, vice-principals, coaches, etc. have come up with one great idea after another, and added it to the school's timetable. So, now students are getting pulled in 100 directions: The Biology Field Trip, the Geography Field Trip, the CAS Community Service Retreat, the ToK Retreat, the Science Fair, the String Ensemble Rehearsal, the Basketball Tournament, the MUN Conference, the Arts Fair, Theatre Week, the Volleyball Practice, the School Play, the Business & Management Tourism Survey in Koh Samet, etc.
Wow! How do they find time to learn anything?
All this has resulted in timetables that are literally bursting at the seams. Schools are trying all sorts of things: early-morning classes, evening classes, weekend classes, etc, all of which just increase the pressure on students.
As we (teachers and administrators) talk about these issues, I realize one thing is missing: the students' voice.
Once, when I mentioned my frustration to my math class, their response was: "hey, mr mick, can we take a mathematics field trip?"
"What are we going to do?" I asked sarcastically, "go to the beach at Koh Samet, get naked and draw pictures of triangles in the sand, like the Ancient Greeks?"
"YEAHHHH!" they said, "That sounds GREAT!"
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3 comments:
Perhaps the school should have hired you to do the exam timetable as well... :D
Mick,
Congratulations on the consultancy. Scheduling is a huge undertaking and I know what you mean about add it, add it, add it, without any remove it. As an old colleague told me once way back when I was pretty new to teaching, "they can ask me to do 5 more things, but I'll just end up doing the other 47 less well!"
Sigh!!#@^%$^%#$#@@@!!!
hahaha... the last part was really hilarious!
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