TIMETABLES IN SCHOOL
Maria Xavier from St. Dominic Savio High School, was instrumental in creating a buzz in our whatsapp group around What good Timetables look like. This is a compilation of the discussions that followed
Related Videos – Collaborative planning opportunities
Discussion on Timetables by Adhyayan assessors
Geeta:- “Time is the key instrument in determining a school’s effectiveness. The Timetable has to be made very carefully. A meditation at the beginning of the day and a peaceful closure at the end of the day is a must. Everyday at least two periods where students do games or physical activity like yoga, dance, aerobics, etc. the periods should be named in such a manner that it is apparent that students are active in these classes. Weekly or bi-weekly students to meet in a forum to discuss their concerns or current affairs. once a month in Primary reinforcement of ‘Good touch Bad touch’ type topics or emergency protocols. Period slots should be 35-40 minutes for Primary and 1 hour for 8th onwards.”
Uma Mahesh
We framed the time table for the Primary section keeping in mind the following points.
1) Active and passive periods.
2) Structured and unstructured.
3) We have correlated the topics through different subjects.
4) A period when all the 3 division teachers are free to plan for either the next day or next week.
5) 2 Math periods or English periods are planned which enables the teacher to have an introductory activity and then proceed with the topic.
We split our break time of 10 minutes between 2 periods which has helped the students to focus more and contribute positively to the discipline.
Our challenges have of course been part-time teachers who are specific with their demands on days and schedules. But we have still been able to manage!
Anjali Karpe:– “Scope for physical movement as well as non-academic/co-curriculars in a day.
• Two similar activities consciously avoided in a day – for example PE and Yoga.
• Two fixed days for inter-house events – with a calendar that is detailed at the start of the year.
• Between subjects ensure that the day is not a heavy science /math or just language/humanity concentration.
• Avoid heavy academic subjects straight after lunch (if it can be helped).
• A consciously culled out hour for Grades 6 and 7 for working on community service projects/ develop life skills – and trying to incorporate some of this in Grade 8 too (looking at their schedules).
• Fitted in a Hobby Hour for Grade 6 as well, knowing that there is scope to work on passion projects at this age, without taking away from academics.
For TEACHERS:
• Account for a load that is spread across the week – and not concentrated on two of three days only.
• Give at least a period between classes to give teachers time to even move from one class to the next! So avoid back-to-back classes.
• Ensure that various meetings – be it full-staff, department-specific, section-specific – are spread across the month – so that teachers are not attending all 3 meetings in a single week.
• Make time once a month/once in 6 weeks to meet just for de-stress – make time for conversations /games/ some art/ music.