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Wednesday, November 15, 2006
The Myth of the After-Lunch Slump?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta Superintendent Beverly Hall dropped by yesterday to talk to the editorial board about the district’s weak showing on the NAEP science test. (She said, among other things, the state curriculum lines up poorly with the national test. Also, Atlanta excluded fewer students because of disabilities…)
Anyway… I got to attend the meeting, and we got to talking about science teaching - which she acknowledges needs to be a higher priority - and how teachers can fit it in to a school day already crammed with intense reading and math instruction.
I noted that schools I visit seem to teach the non-NCLB subjects - science and social studies - later in the day, after lunch when kids are tired.
Hall agreed that reading gobbles up much of the morning, but she disagreed with my observation that kids are tired and restless in the afternoon. Good teachers and good schools can keep the kids revved up until the bell rings, she said.
I am open to striking this perception from my list of things that hinder instruction. After all, the bell rings around 3, not at 6 or 7 p.m. And while I have visited a lot of schools over the years, I haven’t spent - in the grand scheme of things - a lot of time in the classroom.
So teachers … weigh in. And please don’t let your opinion about Dr. Hall and Atlanta Public Schools be an issue here. I just want to know: Is it possible to teach challenging material like science in the afternoon and have the kids absorb it?
