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<\/a><\/p>\nLast June we weren\u2019t anticipating a change in the daily schedule for September, yet with directives from the Provincial Health Officer all districts had to re-think the organization of their school schedules in short order.\u00a0 This caught us off guard and we responded with thoughtful planning.\u00a0 With a quarter of the school year now behind us we have an opportunity to reflect on both the positive aspects and the challenges the adjusted schedule presented for staff and students. While we are adapting to our revised schedule we are continually learning about innovative ways of teaching and learning and this gift of experience will be powerful as we look ahead.<\/p>\n
In the feedback provided by students they identified many positives associated with the quarter system. They reported that having fewer classes to focus upon is far more manageable. It appears that this results in less stress and in many cases deeper learning and higher achievement. We also hear that they find the classes long and somewhat intense and that they are getting too many Google Classroom notifications.\u00a0 As a staff we are addressing these concerns in order to make students\u2019 experiences better moving forward.<\/p>\n
Although most districts have adopted the quarter system each district has made its own adjustments to the schedule.\u00a0 One feature of the West Vancouver model is the inclusion of an X-block on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons which follows two shortened morning blocks.\u00a0 At Rockridge X-block is used for a variety of purposes including AP Seminars, delivery of the Careers curriculum, certain elective courses, tutorials, and support for our vulnerable learners. \u00a0District Academies also run during X-Block, an ideal time for students from each of our high schools to come together to engage in areas of passion and interest.<\/p>\n
X-Block provides students with choice as to how they use their time. This transfers the power and ownership from the teacher to the individual student thereby fostering learner agency.\u00a0 Each student feels actively responsible and in control of their own learning.\u00a0 In the survey students articulated the various ways they are using X-Block and it ranges from doing homework to getting help from their teachers. Ultimately they are learning the value of self-management skills, skills that are important throughout life.<\/p>\n
Although there is some degree of uncertainty as to what the next school year will bring, we are having meaningful and thoughtful conversations with colleagues throughout the Lower Mainland.\u00a0 As Dr. Henry so often says, \u2018We\u2019re in this together\u2019.\u00a0 Wherever we land we will be able to thoughtfully address the needs of our school community.\u00a0 Even though we have the heaviness of the pandemic hanging over all of us we have learned lessons that will impact our thinking.\u00a0 Despite the challenges, these are exciting times in education. We are at a juncture and have an unprecedented opportunity to explore possibilities based on our first quarter experiences.\u00a0 And of course we have the gift of time to get our ducks in a row.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As I was out walking on the weekend I was struck by the sight of a long line of ducks heading west along the West Vancouver shoreline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":9147,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-students","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westvancouverschools.ca\/rockridge-secondary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westvancouverschools.ca\/rockridge-secondary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westvancouverschools.ca\/rockridge-secondary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westvancouverschools.ca\/rockridge-secondary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westvancouverschools.ca\/rockridge-secondary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9136"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/westvancouverschools.ca\/rockridge-secondary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9152,"href":"https:\/\/westvancouverschools.ca\/rockridge-secondary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9136\/revisions\/9152"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westvancouverschools.ca\/rockridge-secondary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westvancouverschools.ca\/rockridge-secondary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westvancouverschools.ca\/rockridge-secondary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westvancouverschools.ca\/rockridge-secondary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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