Combined Communication Arts Class is Working in Parkway Middle Schools

It’s that moment some students count down to: the bell rings. Eighth graders in a Parkway West Middle School communication arts class shuffle out to the hallway, chatting with friends about the upcoming winter break and the quiz they just completed.

Just as the next bell rings, they file back into Kyle Roff’s classroom, take their seats and settle in for another 45 minutes of class time devoted to reading and writing.

They’ve always had two class periods devoted to communication arts, but previously the time has been separated: one class devoted to writing and the other to reading, taught by separate teachers. This year, all Parkway middle schools implemented back-to-back class periods of communication arts instruction for seventh and eighth graders. Staff at West Middle say so far it’s working.

Teachers are able to incorporate what their class is reading into writing lessons, and vice versa. It’s a change that makes sense, eighth grade administrator Annie Miller said.

“Reading and writing should be separated. They’re one and the same,” she said. The idea isn’t new. In sixth grade at West Middle, the block class already existed. This year, class length was cut by a few minutes and another class period was added to each day’s schedule to accommodate the 90-minute block.

Eighth grade communication arts teacher Lauren Kelly says she views that time as a gift.

“At first I thought, ‘Wow, that’s a lot of time,’ but now it never seems like enough,” Kelly said. She said the extra time has created better discussions among students—they’re able to delve into topics and discuss them longer without interruption. She also said she’s able to revisit topics if students didn’t quite catch on the first time.

Roff agrees. “We have time to ask questions,” he said. “We don’t feel as rushed.”

Students are able to read a whole play aloud in class, as they did in both Roff and Kelly’s class with 12 Angry Men. It’s something the teachers both said they would have done before, but it would have taken more school days to get through, and other sacrifices would have been made.

Both Roff and Kelly’s classes are lively. In one day, Roff’s students took a quiz, read on their own and then read the play aloud—sometimes with accents or voices, but stopping often to check comprehension. The students are engaged; rarely do they fidget or day dream and almost always several hands are quickly raised when a question is asked.

“The key to 90 minutes is variety,” Miller said. At this age, kids have about 12-minute attention spans, she said, so switching activities frequently is important. Miller said there haven’t been any behavioral problems with the switch; the classes are structured and there’s so much to get done that kids don’t think about acting out.

Both teachers have implemented about 15 to 20 minutes of independent reading time a day. Roff said his students enjoy this time and complain on days when it’s cut short. Time is also set aside for a quick daily grammar lesson. Kelly said her students have commented on how fast the time goes by.

The change has allowed for a stronger relationship between students and teachers, both Roff and Kelly said. Since they’re both teaching three block classes, instead of six separate classes, they have less students and more time to get to know them.

“As a teacher, knowing 100 kids really well takes a lot longer than knowing 50,” Miller said.

Roff said he was able to more quickly know his students’ strengths and weaknesses. He’s able to talk with students one-on-one each week about their independent reading books. And, because he has fewer students, he’s got less papers to grade and more time to give feedback and comments on each one. Plus, students are able to better identify their own strengths and weaknesses, he said. There’s now time for them to reflect on what they’ve learned so far, and what they still need to learn.

The block class makes students more tight knit since they've got more time to get to know each other, too, Kelly said. 

Like many changes in schools, the ultimate hope is that the block class raises standardized test scores. Roff said one change is not a cure all; the middle school communication arts was also restructured this year, so it may be hard to pinpoint a cause if test scores do rise.

“I don’t think you can just change one thing; there are so many factors,” he said.

Regardless of what standardized test scores show, both Roff and Kelly are happy with the switch.

“Personally, I love it,” Roff said.