Schedule

I'm having problems deciding on a schedule because I want to get everything in, including Friday panels, which I didn't account for in the last schedule I posted. Here are two more schedules. Half the school would be on one, and the other half would be on the other.

8:30-9:55 - 1/5
10:00-11:25 - 2/6
11:30-12:05 - Lunch
12:10-1:35 - 3/7
1:40-3:05 - 4/8
3:10-4:00 - Study Hall
4:05-5:00 - After School Activities

8:30-9:55 - 1/5
10:00-11:25 - 2/6
11:30-12:55 - 3/7
1:00-1:35 - Lunch
1:40-3:05 - 4/8
3:10-4:00 - Study Hall
4:05-5:00 - After School Activities

Prefects

I recently found out my little cousin's school (in Louisiana) has prefects...like in Harry Potter! I think that is very cool, so I did a little research and decided I want prefects in MA. But then I started worrying about how that would unbalance the students, and I do not think I want to put some students above others like that. I haven't completely made up my mind, but I do not think I want anything like prefects. I'm not even sure anymore that I want Student Council presidents and other captains to have a big enough role to be above the other students. Equality! But leadership...I'm not sure yet.

10-Period Schedule

New 10-period schedule for focus schools:

8:30-9:35 - 1
9:40-10:45 - 2
10:50-11:55 - 3
12:00-12:35 - Lunch
12:40-1:45 - 4
1:50-2:55 - 5
3:00-3:55 - Homebase
4:00-5:00 - After school activities

I haven't yet figured out if I'm going to have split lunches or how that would work.

Schedule 8/8/12

I've decided that the day is too long, and there is no time for after school activities, so here is my newly proposed schedule!

8:30-9:55 - 1/5
10:00-11:25 – 2/6

11:30-12:55 – Lunch/Homebase

• 11:30-12:10
• 12:15-12:55

1:00-2:25 – 3/7

2:30-3:55 – 4/8

4:00-5:00 – After school activities

Lunch and homebase (study hall) would be during lunch. Half the students would have lunch first and homebase second (lunch 11:30-12:10, homebase 12:15-12:55), and the other half would have it flipped. That way we would only have about 200 students at lunch at once. 

After school activities: 

Arts and sports and some teams can have up to 3 days in the week 

Student Council 

PSAT/AP/SAT prep clubs/classes

Clubs and fun activities like I had at the British School of Amsterdam in 5th grade. Second semester I have an after school activity every day of the week. I had classes like handwriting and art. 

I want to encourage students to have something every day after school (and encourage parents to make their kids sign up for an activity for every day of the week). 

Classroom Walls

I really like an open feeling in buildings. I'm not sure if it would work (or be way too expensive), but it might be nice to have the walls leading into classrooms from the hallways to be made of glass. I don't want students to be distracted by other classes or other teachers, so maybe glass would not be best, but I do want something to keep the school open and flowing.

Classes

As of right now, I'm requiring 28 classes of students. With 8 classes over 4 years, students will have the opportunity to take 32 classes (or 64 semesters of classes), which leaves the students with 4 classes (8 semesters) that are completely up to them. They can take extra classes in anything: math, science, art, history, further studies, anything that fits into their schedules.

Lesson

In addition to not speaking with filler words (umm uhh like), I want my students to quickly get out of the habit of spending a lot of time telling people about what they're not going to tell them. Honestly, teachers are probably worse at this than students, so everyone should learn! I went to a presentation last week, and one lady spent 4 or 5 minutes of the hour-long presentation telling us about a program she was not going to tell us about. She told us what is is, why it doesn't apply to us, why she's not going to tell us about it, etc. It was a waste of everyone's time.

Spring/Summer Breaks

UPDATE 8/19/12:
I am going to have one week breaks in the Fall and Spring and three week breaks in the Summer and Winter. Then I'd have 11 week quarters. I still want optional camps in the breaks, particularly in the longer Summer and possibly Winter breaks.

I'm thinking I'm going to shorten Spring Break and lengthen Summer Break. Spring Break two weeks, Summer Break four weeks. That way students and teachers can do at least some seminars or internships or other things during the summer. It'd be great if we could get some sort of Maymester (in the summer) abroad relationship with MA so students could study abroad. I haven't changed any of the schedules for this yet.

I also want sports camps during breaks. Maybe teams and groups can have camps just for them sometimes, but they should be optional, and there should also be camps for those not in those groups.

Yearly Meetings With Students

I'm thinking of ways to keep in close contact with students. I want each student to meet with administrators and counselors at least once each year. If there are 110 students per year, two adults could easily split each year and meet with 55 students during lunch in the year. That would mean 8 administrators and 8 counselors (I don't know how many admins and counselors I'll have, but this is the general idea). For instance, Mr. Admin A would meet with half of the freshman class (one at a time), and Mr. Admin B would meet with the other half of the freshman. Ms. Counselor A would meet with half the freshmen, and Mr. Counselor B would meet with the other half. Then Admin C and D and Counselor C and D would meet with the sophomores and so on. And all of this would happen each year. That way, each student has one-on-one contact with an administrator and a counselor for 35 minutes each year.

Admins/counselors should ask about how they like school, how their personal life is (check for bullies and the like), how their family life is, studies, what they like about MA, what they don't like about MA, what they would change, how they like high school, what they see for themselves in the future, etc. Admins/counselors should add a short summary of the meeting with observations about the student into the student's file then sort any information that could be useful to the school elsewhere. This information can be brought up every week in meetings.

Admins/counselors should ask students (by email) for the appointment one week before it is to be scheduled then remind them (again by email) the day before. Students can bring lunch to the meeting and eat while the admin/counselor is asking questions and possibly giving advise or answering the student's questions.

Number of Students

In coming up with an ideal number of students for each year, I need to keep in mind that I can't exceed the number of students that can be on a panel their senior year. There are roughly 40 Fridays in the academic year, so let's calculate with 38 of them. Let's say 3 senior panelists each week. So I can't have more than 114 seniors each year. That's 456 students total. So I'm thinking no more than 440 students in the school. So 110 students each year! I think I can try to have 100 freshmen each year then let in a few more students for sophomore and junior year then not let anyone else in before their senior year (so students get at least two years at MA before they graduate).

Input and Advirtizing

When I'm starting to open a school in a community, I should go out and talk to people (community members, parents, etc.) one-on-one, preferably in their homes, asking their opinions on integrating MA into the community and being the best for these students and parents. I'd get valuable information about customizing the school, and MA would be advirtizing and making a personal connection in the community without pitching anything!

Handwriting

I want handwriting lessons in English and/or culture class to promote permanent improvements in handwriting, not just during that week or two the teacher is paying attention.

Doing Less with Less

I want to strip school down a little. A study showed that students in Japan, despite how well they do in international testing, use more traditional methods of teaching (like reading and writing from a textbook). Also, students do not need as many bells and whistles as we think. I learned all of the Microsoft Office applications, but my friend Charlie, a buisnessman, only needs Excel and PowerPoint in the real world.

AEI event: "Do less with less instead of more with less" - Anya Kamenetz

MA Mindset

Getting into Murray Academy should be good, but the real accomplishment should be when a student graduates from MA.

Shared Governance and Unbundling

Terms I heard at the AEI event