Yes, the end is coming to the 2012-13 school year. We are in our last days. We are so close….. so why does that matter?
I feel the traditional school year (based on the agrarian calender) is antiquated and I am not alone in this thinking. For many students we provide something they are not getting at home, or in their community… What a juxtaposition… In a few short weeks teachers and administrators will be cheering, celebrating, and making their summer plans a reality…. and many students will be sad, upset, and realizing their summer will pale in comparison to the school year. Sad isn’t it.
I certainly do not have the answers but I sure do have a lot of questions as to why we continue to follow this antiquated system.
– Do we make school calender decisions based on our needs, or student learning needs?
– Could we restructure the school year to build in more time for students (Currently we have 180 days beginning in September and ending in June, can we get everything accomplished during this time?)
– Does the current calender maximize student and teacher effectiveness? (I hear a LOT of chatter about burn-out during certain times of the year)
– If given the opportunity to restructure the calender, what would YOU suggest? What are some other states, countries doing to maximize their calenders?
Let’s discuss… I’ve got all summer 🙂
Having just moved to Australia, I’ve been surprised how easily I’ve adapted to the [roughly] 10 weeks of school then 2 weeks of break. Summer is about 6 weeks (Dec. 15 – Feb. 1).
Part of the nice rhythm is that three major Australian holidays fall during the summer holiday (Christmas, New Year, and Australia Day). The only other public holidays are Labour Day, ANZAC Day, Queen’s Birthday, and Melbourne Cup.
It will be interesting to see whether or not the teachers discuss the “summer slide” before Christmas. I haven’t heard the phrase so far.