one downside of block

bad-day-sad

I had my first bad day of the year on Thursday.1

It actually was not even a bad day, per se, rather one bad class period. But as any teacher will tell you, that’s all it takes.2

The bitter taste I had for most of the day took me back to my first year, when I remember having to struggle with this sort of thing a bit more often:

When you teach on a block schedule,3 and you have a bad day, you have to wait TWO days before you get a chance to redeem yourself with that same group of kids. And if that bad day happens on a Thursday — as yesterday did — then you have to endure that foul taste in your mouth for the next four days — all the way through the weekend until the following Monday.

And that stinks.4 5

  1. Considering that it took until week 6, perhaps that’s not that bad. []
  2. And actually… as any teacher will tell you – it takes far less than an entire class. []
  3. “Block” schedule, meaning: Four 90-minute classes each day, with alternating days for 8 periods total. []
  4. But just to be clear, this is just one negative aspect of block scheduling — there are numerous reasons for which I MUCH prefer 90-minute block periods to traditional 50-minute classes. []
  5. Also by the way: the rest of this week was wonderful. But it only takes one hour. It’s sadly true: Negativity has so much dominating power. []