180 days?

For the best of 2007 on Fischbowl, i decided to read 180 Days?. I liked that the teacher talked about used the did you know? video to start a class discussion because I think that would really work and you would get a great response.

This blog talked about how the 180 days of school were not enough and out of those 180 days, he wondered how much was used for actual teaching. He said that things like movies were not a necessary part of teaching but other teachers dissagreed. They said they showed their students movies when they needed a break or when the students deserved a reward. He talks about how he thinks the curriculum needs to be changed to incorporate more of the "necessary" things and take out the not to necessary.

Out of the 180 days of school, only about 120 are actually being used to teach. That leaves 60 days of "wasted?" time. Some of those days are things that I feelare necessary. Those include days taken for your classroom tests and days that you review for the tests. It also includes things like final exams when you do not go to every class and state testing when classes are shortened. I believe that those are good things to take time out of teaching for. I think that the creator of the power point would agree.

Some of the other things that were taking away from teaching days were things like parties, pep ralleys, scheduling classes for the next year, and days before vacation. He said that the days before a school break were "wasted" days because many students are absent, leaving for vacation early, and the students that are there are to distracted to consentrate. I don't think that just because christmas break starts the next day or in two days that you can not do anything in your class. It is still a school day, so teachers should still be able to plan on teaching that day. If a student is absent, they will just have to make up the work when they return.