Dear L + D,
I don't know if this is an area you're familiar with, but I desperately need your help. This year, I was put in charge of redesigning our schedule, and the process has become an absolute disaster. It all started because our school is pursuing five new initiatives that we want to accomplish this year: Project-Based Learning, Social Justice Tinker Time, Proficiency-Based Field Experiences, the Tri-lingual Achievement Network, and, of course, Student Wellness. It turns out we had a hard time fitting all of that into our schedule, which is broken into 30-minute blocks with no passing time. First I just made a schedule and handed it out but, weirdly, people got mad that I made all the decisions and so then we put together a representative Task Force to fix the schedule, and in order to be inclusive and not have any hurt feelings, it ended up with 30 members (and we only have 40 faculty and staff). We surveyed everyone about what they wanted in the schedule and got back a lot of different answers, all of which contradicted each other. Now we just get together during our allotted Task Force Meeting Time, which is at 6:45am because there is no other time in the schedule. We talk in circles and never make any decisions.

Everybody wants change, especially the students who are really burnt out. My daughter, who is a junior at the school, is currently getting a B- in AP Wellness and she is so distraught, she's thinking of not even sitting for the exam. I can't blame her - there just isn't enough time in a 30 minute period to cover all the AP Wellness content. We're supposed to have a new schedule to implement by this coming fall, but I'm thinking that ain't gonna happen, unless you have ideas for how to bend the time-space continuum and add hours to the day.

Do you have any suggestions about how we can change our schedule so we can achieve our goals and people will maybe feel just a little less crazy?

Sincerely,

Tempus Fugit
Tempus Fugit, Indeed:  

Oh, honey. We happen to know a lot about your dilemma, although we don't have any magical solutions that add pockets of time to a school day or eliminate the inevitable conflicts of wants and needs when it comes to redesigning how a school uses time. This is an area we've helped a number of schools grapple with, and we've learned a few things as we've ushered them through the process of collaborative, human-centered schedule redesign:

  1. Know Your Why: Schedule redesign processes can be very muddy and are usually unsuccessful when there is only a vague sense of the reason(s) why you are pursuing the process. A general sense of "people are just unhappy with it" or "we're burnt out" without working to get to the root cause of those feelings, is fertile ground for wheel-spinning. If you dig a little deeper, you might learn that the schedule isn't actually at the root. The most successful schedule redesign projects we've facilitated have come as a result of that kind of soul-searching on the part of a school that really knows what it wants to achieve, and knows that the schedule could be a lever for tackling those larger, more specific institutional priorities, as well as the human needs of students and the professional community. In addition, the way a school uses time, should align with and reflect the core values.
  2. Become an Anthropologist: We always start by having each schedule design team member shadow a student for a full day, in order to understand what the lived experience of your school's schedule is like for a real, live, human student. You would be surprised the insights your team can glean from doing this kind of qualitative research rather than relying on surveys.
  3. Be Ready to Make Choices and Embrace Change: Oftentimes when we work with a school on schedule redesign, there is a moment of revelation for people that goes something like this: "Oh, I thought we were just changing the schedule - this is actually changing how we teach. It's actually changing everything." Also, my hunch is that your school just might be trying to do too much. A schedule change is the ultimate exercise in both prioritization and creative destruction. Done right, it's a process of helping your community identify what to let die and what to grow and nourish in its place.
  4. Consider Getting Some Help: Schedule redesign is an emotional project, to put it lightly. It's also an opportunity to learn and practice leading a community through difficult change. When we partner with schools on these kinds of projects, we view it as a professional development experience for the team as much as it is a chance to produce creative scheduling outcomes. Reach out to us at info@leadershipanddesign.org if you want to connect and explore whether we might partner with you. The best timeframe to conduct a schedule project is January-to-January, so this is a good time to reach out.

Yours in Scheduling Solidarity,

L+D
Do you have a question or dilemma for Dear L+D? Send it to dearlandd@leadershipanddesign.org
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