One of the most common questions I get from other AP Lit teachers is about scheduling for a block schedule. This blog post shares my limited insights, as well as practices and strategies from AP Lit teachers who teach on a full block schedule.
My Experience – the Modified Block
I teach on a modified block schedule, which means I have three 48-minute class periods Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. Wednesday/Thursday periods are 90 minutes long. On my regular class periods, my AP Lit students study whatever unit we’re working on (Frankenstein, short stories, Intro to Poetry, etc.). But on block days, we abandon the regular unit and do other things. These are the days I schedule in activities that are hard to fit in elsewhere, such as:
- AP Classroom MCQ practice
- Literary Term Bellringers
- Writing rehashes
- Targeted skill practice
I usually work in a standalone poetry lesson on these days as well. If I can, I will choose poems that pair well with our long fiction unit. One year I chose about 15 poems that could be studied in a historical or biographical sense and we studied the poets as well as one of their poems. I might do that again, as my students really liked it!
The last chunk of time I devote to independent reading. I usually give students between 30-40 minutes of time for this. Because I do sacrifice class time for reading, I require one independent novel per quarter, which students use for an FRQ 3 essay each quarter. I also police this time pretty closely and will take it away if students work on other homework or try to sleep.
Meet the Experts
Because I don’t teach on a full block schedule, I wanted real experiences from teachers who do. For this blog post, I will be sharing narratives and strategies from the following teachers:
- Sarah Ballers
- Kelly Hererra
- Dana Huff (Dana wrote a blog post on her block schedule, found here.)
- Melissa Tucker
- Alicia Weaver
Thank you ladies for sharing your valuable insights!
The Context
Alicia – Teaching AP Lit on a block schedule is challenging. I teach the course during semester 2, which only gives me 75 teaching days before test day. This does not include losing days to class meetings, school wide testing/events, and prom. Testing season for us begins mid-April when we return from spring break. Students who take an EOC, AP, or Cambridge course are excused from classes on the day of their exams. Because of this I have some students who I don’t see for five to seven days leading up to the exam because they take so many upper-level courses.
Sarah – I have been teaching AP Lit on a block schedule for over 16 years.
Dana – My first year teaching, I taught a 4X4 block schedule, which meant students took four classes each day, but each was 90 minutes long. Two semesters were covered in one semester. I didn’t find it worked that well with English, frankly, and in order to keep my disadvantaged, low-level, non-reading students interested in English for 90 minutes, I most often wound up teaching a lesson and giving them an assignment based on the lesson. They almost never had homework, and if they did, it wasn’t done.
Kelly – Our block periods are 100 minutes. We have two block days and one regular period per week (M 1/3/5, T 2/4/6, W 1-6, Th 1/3/5, F 2/4/6).
Melissa – I committed to using the CED skills as a guide for outlining the courses. I can only make it through unit 8 before the exam.
Pacing/Daily Routines
Alicia – When I first started teaching AP Lit on a block schedule ten years ago, I thought I had to try to cram it all in. I tried to stick to the pacing guide, and it was nearly impossible. My students did not score well those first few years because I was trying to go too broad, when I should have been narrowing it down.
However, after just finishing year ten I feel good about the types of units and pacing I follow. I start with five weeks of Intro to AP Lit FRQs, multiple choice, and the rubric. Then I have 12 days each for analysis of FRQ1/Poetry and FRQ2/excerpts and short stories. For the FRQ3/whole class novel I have about 8-10 days. For ten years I used The Things They Carried, but next year I am switching it up and am using James by Percival Everett. I spend about 8-10 days on the FRQ3 whole class play, Hamlet. That leaves me with about 12 days for test prep. After the test we have roughly 15 days and students do a project where they help me re-do my units and lessons for the following year.
Sarah – This is probably super obvious, but I plan most classes as units of 3 30-min chunks (obviously altering when we are doing a practice timed essay or a longer group project).
Dana – When I taught a 4×4 block, I taught three classes and had a 90 minute planning period. I also had about 90-100 students. This was really nice. But I can see how it would not work the same with an A/B schedule.
Melissa – I’ve attached a screenshot of my daily routine:
Pacing:
- 85 min. block, spring semester M-F
- Bell ringer: text/art/video/unpack skill (≤15 min)
- Reading time (20 min.)
- Direct instruction (≤10 min., alternating days)
- Practice & conference
- Assess & reflect
Unit Layouts/Block Ideas
Melissa – Units 1-3 are approximately 2 weeks each (short fiction, poetry, and longer work boot camps, respectively). They have a list of the independent reads (some years they have to stick to the list, others not), and they use that as the review for longer work while we tackle a short play (Trifles, Death of a Salesman, etc.). After that, I use core text and bring in supplemental works (short fiction and poetry). Shakespeare unit usually takes 3-4 weeks; the novel unit 3. Poetry collection is 2-3 weeks, depending on what we read.
Kelly – If we are working on poetry or prose, we will work through a speedwork model, carousel annotations, or something similar. We start with some whole group instruction connected to skills in the CED. I try to plan close reading activities that get students interacting with their seat partners and talking about the text before we move on to class discussion. Sometimes students work through a thesis statement before we begin discussion. This usually takes 45 minutes (depending on what we need to review before we begin).
After that we will take a quick break before we move into group discussion. I like to use the same questions for group discussion that I provide for close reading work. I also supplement these questions with details from the text to help them move beyond a surface level reading. Ideally, the group discussion takes us close to the bell or to a place where I will assign a short writing task. We do a lot of thesis and paragraph writing throughout the year. This is where things can get tricky. There is always a group of students who dive into their writing immediately. There are also students who have their materials out and get started, but they finish their writing for homework.
Sarah – Routine is key- so we always start with a daily bellringer. Then we discuss and transition to the day’s lesson for necessary direct notes/ instruction/ examples (this is never over 20-30 min). And the last chunk is the students working, independently or with a partner. This basic structure helps me keep the class moving. Some days our bell ringer is starting with a practice timed multiple choice from AP classroom. Other days I only talk for like 10 minutes and we are reading a play out loud for 30. Some days the whole class is a Socratic Seminar- flexibility is necessary.
Alicia – Not only did I have to learn to narrow down I also had to learn to go deeper, I had to figure out how to incorporate other test concepts into the units. Because I have such limited time and I only get to focus on each part of the test for one unit, I try to blend deeper concepts into other units. For example, when reading James I incorporate poetry, figurative language, and multiple-choice practice. I also have them read a Zora Neale Hurston excerpt and we focus on meaning of the work as a whole in comparison to James. While technically it is my FRQ3 whole class novel unit, I am still pulling in and trying to go deeper on what they learned in the FRQ1/poetry unit.
Independent Reading
Kelly – I start AP Lit with 15 minutes of independent reading. Students can bring their own books, check out a book from the classroom library, or read the class novel (if we are in a novel unit). I read with the class, and it’s become an expectation that class starts quietly and students can ease into the morning. I don’t allow students to use the time to finish homework during reading time. My AP Lit class was 1st period last school year, and this helped my seniors who were still waking up!
Melissa – I do commit to that independent reading time [of 20 minutes per day] because it builds endurance for the exam. I do not have assigned homework, but I request that they commit to 45min outside of class at least 5 days a week. They can use that time to review, revise, practice, etc.
Alicia – I have also had to think hard about outside of class reading. When I started ten years ago, I was much more rigid in making sure we were reading all the same texts and they were mostly from the canon. Today, students know in the fall that they are in my class. At that time, I give them two lists of four books each. One list is of more classic literature, and the other one is contemporary. Students read one book from each list, and we start class having a Socratic Seminar focused on these novels. Students are then tasked with reading four more novels on their own. While I limit the period for each of the four books into older classic, newer classic, older contemporary, and newer contemporary, students have full autonomy in what they pick.
Writing & AP Classroom
Melissa – I can only get through 1-8 progress checks on AP Classroom. I do 3 full length MCQ exams (one as part of the mock exam). We write FRQ2 in first unit on extended time (55min); we write FRQ1 in second unit with slightly less time (50min). From units 3 on, we are writing 2 timed essays per unit. They write all 3 for a mock exam. They get to revise what they feel is their strongest for each FRQ.
Kelly – If we are working on MCQs or a Timed Write in AP Classroom, I always schedule that for the first activity. I find it’s too hard to get students to focus on MCQs or writing an essay if we aren’t starting until later in the period. I also schedule it that way to accommodate students with IEPs and 504s. Most of the time these students will go to the resource room to complete their work.
On days where we start with a Timed Write, the second activity may include looking at sample essays on the prompt, working on a group assignment, or breaking down a new text for discussion the following period.
Dana – Class size and the number of blocks make a huge difference. I don’t know how I could do an adequate job teaching writing without enough time to grade all the student essays. As a matter of fact, I feel like it takes me forever to grade a set of essays as it is. I can’t imagine having to grade 180 essays each time. It makes my head spin.
Advice for teaching on a block
Alicia – I think learning to go narrow with the focus, digging deeper into the skills, adjusting my unit pacing, and allowing for more student agency has been a game changer for me in teaching this course in a block schedule. Not only are the students scoring better now, but they are enjoying the class more. I have heard so many times in the past few years how the course has re-ignited their love of reading. For me, that is more powerful than any test score. And I did it all in 75 days.
Sarah – The key is to think of most days as three connected chunks, which is less intimidating.
Kelly – I always have an agenda on the board and a slide projected with the day’s activities, so students know what to prepare when they come in the door. I try to schedule a couple activities each day with a short stand-and-stretch break somewhere in the middle.
Sample Schedule
Susan Barber kindly agreed to share her 4×4 block teaching schedule. She only taught it for one year, but it reflects how she planned a year’s worth of content into one fall semester.
Other Advice
I scoured blogs and social media on this topic and found a few more tips to share:
- Most rely on 3-5 mini blocks or chunks of time. A common pattern I found was bellringer, lesson, activity, independent reading.
- Choose shorter “long works.” One poster recommended under 120 pages, if possible.
- Integrate summer reading to get started immediately.
- Text pairing works really well in block schedules. Pair poems or excerpts with long works to study by theme or skill.
- Many integrate independent reading to fit long works in, while focusing on poetry, excerpts, and writing in class.
- Rather than overwhelm students with many essays, many block teachers assign short, mini writing activities. Truly, I think this is advice for AP Lit teachers no matter what schedule they’re on!
- Some abandon classic poetry units, instead integrating poetry lessons each day.
- Many teachers find it difficult to prep for a spring exam when having a fall block. Others struggle to fit everything in before the first week in May.
- Many block teachers utilize test prep sessions or a mock exam to tackle test prep. This especially applies to courses taught in the fall.
- Other teachers praise a block schedule because it gives teachers fewer preps and more time to grade and give feedback.
Need help?
If you’re just starting AP Lit or looking back at 20 years (or more), I’d love to help you in any way I can. Bookmark this website, where I post free lessons, reading lists, and other helpful tools for ELA teachers. I also have many resources in my Teachers Pay Teachers store, over half of which are geared towards AP Lit teachers!
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