Schedule 2013.14 Frequently Asked Questions Why do I have two meetings blocks on my homeroom timetable?

? In every 8 day cycle there are two meeting blocks scheduled for each grade. One is the Grade Level Meeting (GLM), which will be similar to last year except that Specialist teachers are now available to attend for part of this meeting. The other is the Student Learning Meeting (SLM). We will talk more about this in the induction days prior to the start of term. Due to scheduling limitations, groups teachers are only available for the SLM meeting rather than the GLM, so a small part of this meeting can be given to discussion between homeroom and groups if required at times throughout the year. Jackie and Trudy will alternate attending each of these meetings. Why does my class have back to back specialist lessons on some days? One of the things we worked hard to achieve with the new schedule was extended blocks of time in every 8 day cycle for homeroom teachers to meet for SLM (Student Learning Meetings) and GLM (Grade Level) meetings. To accomplish this we have built in back to back specialist lessons. Why do I have on my schedule that I am walking classes? In creating the schedule we attempted to share the duties of walking children from class to class. In certain instances we had to specifically assign walking to a particular teacher as the homeroom teacher is involved in a GLM or SLM meeting at that time. Who walks the children to specialist classes when it is not written on the schedule? - Homeroom teachers and specialists will need to work out between themselves who is walking children to and from each specialist lesson. We need to balance the time that homeroom teachers and specialists are spending walking children, whilst ensuring that specialist teachers have adequate time to set-up between lessons that are scheduled close together. Please find a time over these initial days to clarify with one another who will be doing the walking.

 Why do I have GL meetings blocked on my schedule? One of the concerns that teachers had with the old schedule was that it was very difficult for homeroom teachers and specialists to find times to meet together. The new schedule has addressed this problem to allowing for time where the Grade and Specialist can meet to discuss integration of subjects, interdisciplinary units and shared assessment practices. What does it mean when I have a lunch duty assigned to a grade but not a particular class? As we are now fortunate enough to be eating in the River Cafe, the lunch duty requirements have changed slightly. As in the past, each class will have an assigned teacher to help with the transition from play to the River Cafe as well as from the Cafe back to class. In addition, we have also assigned a floater in the cafeteria to assist with supervision. I seem to have more / less lunch duties now than I did before, why is that? All full-time JS teachers are doing 4 lunch duties within the 8 day cycle. Part-time teachers duties are adjusted accordingly. PE teachers are not being assigned duties in the River Caf but will work with the HOD to determine suitable times where they can be out on the playground with the students. Some of the specialist classes are shorter now than before. Why? When calculating total time spent in each specialist class/ homeroom block within the old schedule, we subtracted 5 minutes from each class to account for the time lost in walking. To ensure that students have the entire time in each specialist class, it is essential that walking comes out of the homeroom time before and after the specialist. The specialist teacher needs to be able to start teaching at the lesson start time written on the schedule. I have heard that the MS are finishing later than the JS with the new schedule, how will this affect the buses? The MS will now be finishing at 3:15 which means that the buses

will be leaving 15 minutes later than they did previously. As the students who take buses cannot wait in the cafeteria for this length of time they will wait on the playground. Teaching Assistants who are on bus duty will leave their classrooms at 2:50 and go directly to the playground. Bus students will be dismissed to the playground at 2:55, (rather than to the cafeteria as previously), by the JS teacher who brings the class downstairs. When buses arrive, the TA responsible for the bus will line-up and walk their students to it. The only exception to this will be the Roosevelt Island Bus which will continue to meet Sandy, the supervisor for this bus, by the elevators. TAs will meet with Hiba Ikli, The Transport Coordinator and Trudy prior to the start of term to talk this through further.