Cooper High School - Talons Yearbook (New Hope, MN)

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Modular scheduling introduces a totally different atmosphere to the Cooper auditorium. In this large group students become better prepared for college through efficient note taking and careful listening to materials presented by their instructor. Mr. Brian Boettcher leads a discussion in one of his small group biology classes. Small groups are limited to fifteen students to encourage student interaction and individual help. 18

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Modular Scheduling Offers Unique Education •nior Donna Gunnerson diligently uses her knowledge of shorthand as she utilizes the ctaphone in a business listening laboratory during her unscheduled modules. To promote greater learning by the students, Cooper High School switched to the Stanford modular scheduling system this fall. This scheduling system abolished the traditional six hour-long classes a day. Instead, each day was di- vided into twenty-minute units of time called modules. This system will be em- ployed at Cooper as a long-range ex- periment for three years. Afterwards a final evaluation will be made. Modular scheduling has better prepared the col- lege-bound students and also those who are going directly into the working world. As a result of modular schedul- ing, eight resource aids were hired to handle materials in the Instructional Material Center and relieved teachers of extra paper work. One of the most im- portant aspects of modular scheduling was it gave students a chance to work without constant adult supervision. With forty percent of time unscheduled, stu- dents had use of most facilities. Phile a student checks out a reserve paperback book in the English resource room in the Instructional Material Center, Mrs. Stella Aurola, esource aid examines the overnight check-out card. This familiar scene is repeated throughout the entire IMC each day. 17

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Mr. Stanley Marliula delivers a biology lec- More preparation is required in team leaching, a vital part of modular scheduling. Miss lure to a large group in the auditorium. olo Kludt, Mrs. Dorothy Dyrseth, and Mr. David Cade plan a presentation for English. Students Learn To Budget Unscheduled Mods Laboratory classes, tvhich are limited to thirty students, are designed to give additional help in weak areas. Mr. John Koestler helps his students improve their German accent. Switching from a traditional schedule to a modular schedule demanded a dras- tic change on the part of the students and faculty. With forty percent of their time unscheduled, students had to learn how to plan their independent study time. The Instructional Material Center was the most widely used study area. It was here that students could use tapes, filmstrips, records, magazines, pam- phlets, and hooks. The English and so- cial studies resource rooms were also lo- cated here. The other resource rooms for mathematics and science provided an area where students could receive extra help from their teacher. Open labora- tories for foreign language, business, art, home economics, and shop courses al- lowed students to come in during their unscheduled time to practice or study.