The purpose of this action research was to study the potential of block time lesson planning (BTLP) as a viable alternative to detailed daily lesson planning in managing teachers' workloads. The study delved into primary responsibilities of a teacher such as resourcing lessons, carrying out assessments and daily lesson planning as workloads. A…

Purpose: We report the qualitative findings from a survey of elementary teachers regarding reading instruction. The purpose is to extend on quantitative findings in a previously described survey to gain a more in-depth understanding of Australian elementary teachers' approaches to the literacy block in their schools: how this is used, who makes…

Adults often find themselves transitioning from one activity to another in a short time span. Most of the time, they do not feel they have a lot of control over their schedules, but wish that they could carve out extended time to relax and focus on one project. Picture a group of children in the block area who have spent 15 or 20 minutes building…

Many schools have adopted schoolwide intervention blocks as a component of response-to-intervention (RTI) implementation to ensure that students who need intervention are receiving it. However, virtually no peer-reviewed guidance exists for helping teachers manage this time effectively. This article presents a blueprint for organizing intervention…

It is possible to create a literacy block where teachers meet with students for guided reading and writing conferences, and provide daily explicit instruction in both reading and writing. A comprehensive look at literacy and learning, "100 Minutes" shows teachers how to fit balanced literacy into a daily 100-minute literacy block using a framework…

About 20 years ago, a number of Yukon schools took a different approach to outdoor education and outdoor pursuits. During the 1970s and 1980s, most Yukon high schools and junior high schools offered a course called Outdoor Education. These courses fit into the conventional blocks in a school timetable. Outdoor activities longer than these blocks…

In high school students get tied up in extracurricular activities and have little time for pleasure reading. It is true that with rigorous academic schedules they have little time for pleasure reading. Thus began a conversation with a sophomore English teacher at the author's high school. As they were discussing the plight of free reading he was…

As schools continue to strive to meet federal testing requirements, many schools have been looking at ways to improve. During the 1990's many school districts thought they had found the method, tool, or program, with which to accomplish this goal: the "block schedule". This study was a comparison of the teaching strategies and attitudes of…

In this article, the author describes the one 50-minute lunch period for all students, teachers, and staff members at James Hubert Blake High School in Silver Spring, Maryland. The one lunch period, which began in 2000, allows students to eat in certain areas of the school, including classrooms, hallways, and resource areas. Teachers use the lunch…

This report describes the importance of redesigned high schools to engage full high school communities in the deliberate rethinking of virtually everything, ranging from how time is used, to how adults are deployed, even to the "places"where learning occurs. Essentially, redesigned high schools: (1) have high expectations for all…