One class per term

In high school

Inspired by the TED talk below about Quest University in Canada.

What if the school year was split into 6 terms of 6 weeks, and during each term students only took one class for half of the day every day? 4 hours a day, every day for 6 weeks is roughly the amount of time you get over the course of the full year on a typical block schedule. In a typical school year, students take about 6 courses (ie. math, english, science, social studies, foreign language, art/music) so they would still have the same number of courses over 6 terms.

Changing courses constantly throughout the day was designed intentionally to disrupt learning, so that students could never enter a state of flow. Allowing students to focus intently on one course for the entire term gives that opportunity back to them. I taught a course with this format over several summers and we got quite a lot done each year because we didn’t have to stop and start every 1.5 hours. (Note: There were short breaks built-in to the half-day but we didn’t have to completely pack up everything and start all over before and after each break. And a 10 minute break is much different from a two day break between sessions.)

Having one course per term also means that teachers can focus on one area at a time as well, instead of having to plan and grade for multiple classes. Classes can go on trips, work on long projects, invite guest speakers, etc without having to worry about how it will fit into a 1.5 hour class or how it will add to the workload given to students by other teachers.

Imagine an American Literature class where students can travel to the parts of the country that they’re reading about to immerse themselves in a different aspect of the American experience. Or a biology class where students can spend all morning in a hospital shadowing doctors on rounds. Or a Spanish class where students can plan a trip to a nearby Spanish-speaking community and hone their skills while shopping in a market or eating a meal with native speakers.

Teachers wouldn’t be teaching for that full 4 hours every day because who can talk for that long anyway? Instead, they would be crafting more immersive learning experiences where students can work with one another, work independently, and go out into the world to meet new people and explore new places and ideas.

In the afternoon, students would work on independent projects, do community service, intern or apprentice with local organizations/businesses, or take elective courses. But each term, they would commit to doing one thing every day.

Here’s how Quest University applies this approach and why: