New Block Schedule Promises More Learning and Less Stress

Students and teachers experimented with the block schedule on October 30th and 31st because of back-to-back half days. This change had students attending their A, B, and C periods along with Mass on the first day and their D, E, F, and G periods the following day.

In addition to this modification, each class was 53 minutes rather than the usual 30 minutes on regular half days. Although class time would total one hour over the course of two days, many teachers find it easier to get more done and go more in-depth in what they are teaching in one long class period than two separate short periods. 

With fewer classes, students have more time to catch up on assignments they are behind on and get their homework done faster because they have a smaller workload. Sophomore Dylan Powis said, “I liked how most of my teachers gave me a lot of time at the end of class to start my homework. It allowed me to finish all the work I needed to get done, so that I wouldn’t have to spend the rest of my day doing work after baseball practice.”

Credit: Charlotte Catholic High School

Since students take seven classes, administration needed to fill a time slot on one of the half days. This was the perfect opportunity to schedule mass without shortening the time period of the classes. The change resulted in a normal daily schedule on Wednesday, which is usually a mass day, giving teachers even more time to get through their curriculum.

In my opinion, the Charlotte Catholic administration should continue making these back-to-back half days a block schedule because of the resulting benefits. I believe that having a longer class period is beneficial to teachers and students, especially when dealing with new material. In addition, seven half-hour periods afford students little time to soak in all the information given them by their teachers.

The majority of students favored the block schedule and believed it gave them a break from their heavy workload. Freshman Devon Toohey said, “Those two days allowed me to finish all the work I had to get done, which relieved me of all the stress I had going into the weekend.”

Whenever we have two half days in a row, the block schedule should be in effect. It gives teachers enough time to get through their curriculum on the shortened days, and it gives students opportunities to catch up on work and plenty of time to understand all the material they have to learn.