High School Schedules

[aspiringwriter]

I need some help!!! I am writing a YA novel for NanoWrimo this year and need some help. My MC is a 17 year old kid ( a junior) and I've been wracking my brain about high school schedules. Here in NC there are four classes a day (about 90 minutes). I'm not sure how it is in other states.

This might be kind of garbled and not make sense...but here goes. I know the requirements are like four credits of English, four credits of math and so on. Now---is English a one semester deal and if you pass, you can take say electives the next semester? Thing is, according to graduation requirements you need like 6 credits of electives. Now if you're taking English both semesters, math both semesters and so on...when do you fit in an elective?

Again, I know each state is different---so I'm just wondering how your state is. Do you take four classes a day? I know here in North Carolina you take the same class every day.

Maybe this will make sense, maybe it won't!! But it was worth a shot.

[BriMaresh]

In my school district in Alaska the schedule is six classes per semester, six on Mon/Fri, four Tues/Wed/Thurs. Other school districts in state do it differently, I'm sure.

Freshman year, it's law (one semester) math (two semester) English and speech (two semesters) health (one semester) physical science (two semesters) and then electives.

Sophomore year it's world history (two semesters) math (two semesters) English (two semesters) biology (two semesters) and then electives.

Junior year it's U.S. history (two semesters) math (two semesters) English (two semesters) and electives

Senior year, it's two English electives (mythology, journalism, theater, and so on), Alaskan History (one semester) and regular electives.

Two gym classes have to be taken any time in the four years. You have to have 24 credits to graduate. Several classes (such as AP classes, and senior English classes) are 1 credit per semester instead of .5. They require one computer class, or used to anyway, as well.

The total requirement for English is four credits, but you can take a one-semester full-credit course, too. People on the college track take are told to take Math, English, Science, Social Studies, and two or three years of a foreign language.

Typically places that only have four classes per semester do one of a few things--they go by trimesters so you take a total of twelve half-credit classes a year (for a total of six credits a year), or each half-semester class is a full credit, for eight credits a year. There are high schools where they go on a quarter system, too, but I'm less familiar with them, sorry!

[Tuuli]

What I did was look up schools on the internet. Most schools have websites which list school schedules as well as course requirements. Just google "high school" and the town/city you'll using (or modeling your town after), and you'll end up with a list. As I discovered, there's quite a variation in school schedules even within the same state.

Hope that helps.

[Juneluv12]

I teach high school in Georgia. We're not currently on a block schedule, so there are 7 periods in our day. Students usually have four academic subjects, one or two electives like PE, ART, Yearbook, Heathcare Science, etc, and then a lunch period.

In GA, the Junior year is one of the hardest years academically, and we do have the 4 English, 4 Math, etc requirements.

In my case, I teach English, and what we teach per grade really depends on the county you are in. We teach American literature the Junior year in my county, but my good teacher buddy in the next county teaches World Literature, so it's all different.

I usually find it interesting some of the books authors have their MC's reading. Like in New Moon, Bella is reading Romeo and Juliet as a Senior and that's typically and almost universally a 9th grade text. Senior year is Macbeth.

[kaitlin008]

It definitely varies from school to school like Tuuli said. I think as long as you make it believable, you can pretty much do what you want.

My high school did four 90 minute classes per day. Mostly, it was the same class each day, but some classes were every other day (like latin, for example, which was every other day but ran all year rather than just the semester. And most of my AP classes were every other day one semester and every day the other semester of the year).

We were required to take four english classes, one per year (they were only a semester long, but you weren't allowed to take them four semesters in a row, you had to do it within your grade), and then we were required to take biology, chemistry, physics, world civilizations I (which was basically ancient history--the more recent world civilizations class was elective), american history, either a government class or an economics class, two years of gym (the freshman year one was every other day all year, the other one just one semester sometime before your senior year), two algebras, geometry, and trigonometry. And three semesters of a language (we had latin, spanish, french, and japanese to choose from). And we also had to take a computer literacy class (aka typing--not a challenge if you already had typing in middle school lol) and health class freshman year.

Anything else was elective.

I honestly cannot remember how they were set up in terms of how many credits each were worth. I didn't pay much attention to that until college. Because high school was pretty hard not to get the appropriate amount of credits. I was more worried about trying to get my every other day classes to line up properly so I could take the APs I wanted.

You were allowed to have one free period per semester your senior year, and you could have an every other day one junior year if it was due to APs or latin.

I really liked the system. And it made college feel like such a happy place, with most of my lectures being 45 minutes long (or 50...I can't remember now. Either way, about half as long as in high school.) They just flew by.

Mine was a "private" school, (in the technical sense, but it also took public students, which I was) so I'm not sure how standard that all is.

eta: that's an interesting comment, Krista, about Bella reading R&J as a senior. I hadn't thought about that. But we read that in 9th too, now that I recall. And I think we read Macbeth senior year too! I wonder how universal that is.

[Clair Dickson]

As far as credits go, Michigan, for example has 22 required credits now and many high schools make a semester course worth 1/2 a credit. Like college, there are sometimes grade restrictions on classes, such as at the high school I went to, Creative Writing was a senior-only class, so even if I had tested-out or otherwise got credit for the earlier English courses, I couldn't take C.W. until I was a senior by credits.

Of course, there's sometimes a difference between state requirements and school requirements. Michigan's old state standards, from only a few years ago, included only one requirement-- 1/2 credit (or 1/2 year) of Civics. High schools got to determine their own requirements. A so-called high quality district would often have 3 or 4 years English, 2 or 3 of math, 2 or 3 of science, depending on the school. Some schools really did leave little to no room for electives. The high school I went to allowed, I think, 4 electives-- 2 credits worth. Everything else was required. The new Michigan standards are about that bad (IMHO.)

So, you might check the state requirements to see what the minimum required is. After that, it's pretty flexible. For example, the school where I now teach has no requirements on being a senior for x class and even lets me teach Movies v. Books instead of "English 9A" since both classes meet the state requirements, but one is way more appealing and fun. =)

[hmg]

When I was in high school our schedule ran quite similar to a college's. We had 4 classes one half of the year 4 classes the other half. Each class was 90 minutes long, with a 5 minute passing period, and a 35 minute lunch. Every class happened every day for the full semester. There was no study halls. Our requirements were 5 units English, 4 of PE/ Health, 3 of math, 3 of science, 3 of social studies, 1 fine art, 1 applied art, everything else elective. Most people took 4 or 5 units of math and 3 units of foreign language as well but it wasn't required.

It seems like everyone's schedule is/was different so I say write it how you want.

[hmg]

June, I haven't read "The Twilight" series (gasp, I know!) but that's interesting about the reading level. I definitely read Romeo and Juliet in 9th grade, MacBeth in 10th. Those were the only two required Shakespeare texts but we also had an elective on Shakespeare for juniors and seniors. We also did 11th grade American Literature in Massachusetts to coincide with the requirement for US History in 11th grade. That was 10 years ago now, the requirements may have changed.

I used to work on developing teacher certification testing (GACE in Georgia as an example) and the frameworks across states were pretty standard regarding English. I felt like there was a lot more variation amongst states in other subjects.

[~*Kate*~]

Originally Posted by Tuuli

What I did was look up schools on the internet. Most schools have websites which list school schedules as well as course requirements. Just google "high school" and the town/city you'll using (or modeling your town after), and you'll end up with a list. As I discovered, there's quite a variation in school schedules even within the same state.

Hope that helps.

^^ This. Also, our school had three tracks-- honors, something in between and a vo-tech focus-- that all had different requirements.

Originally Posted by kaitlin008

eta: that's an interesting comment, Krista, about Bella reading R&J as a senior. I hadn't thought about that. But we read that in 9th too, now that I recall. And I think we read Macbeth senior year too! I wonder how universal that is.

Huh, us too. 9th was R&J, 10th I had an English class attached to an AP US History class, so no Shakespeare; 11th was MacBeth (including a friend yelling out, "Give us a light there, ho!") and I *think* we read Hamlet in 12th, but I'm not positive.

[Juneluv12]

Originally Posted by ~*Kate*~

11th was MacBeth (including a friend yelling out, "Give us a light there, ho!") and I *think* we read Hamlet in 12th, but I'm not positive.

Oh yes, mine love the line in R and J, "Give me my longsword, ho!"

Sigh, it doesn't take much to entertain Freshman, and they snort at every "ho" mentioned, lol.

[History_Chick]

In NY we have regent requirements. Even without our county schools run different scedules. I am not on block scheduling and we have 9-35 min class periods. A school 40 min away has block scheduling.

• English: Four credits
• Social Studies: Four credits (including a half-credit each in economics and government)
• Science: Three credits (including at least one credit each in both physical and life sciences)
• Math: Three credits
• Physical Education: Two credits
• Visual Arts, Music or Performance Arts: One credit
• Foreign Language: One credit
• Health: One-half credit

And then we have this nonsense
egents Exams

In order to earn a Regents New York high school diploma, students must pass five Regents exams. A passing grade is 65% or higher. Regents exams are given in English, American history, world history, mathematics and science. Students who complete all tests with an average score of 90% or higher may be awarded a Regents diploma with honors.
Advanced Regents Diplomas

Students can complete extra examinations to be awarded Regents diplomas with advanced designation. In order to earn the advanced Regents diploma, students must pass two extra exams in mathematics and one extra exam in science. They must also complete two extra class units of a foreign language.
Alternative Diplomas: Local High School Diploma

Special education students who entered high school in the 2007-2008 school year or later and who score at least 65% on four of the five Regents exams and 55% on the fifth can be awarded a local high school diploma. This option is now available only for special education students.
Alternative Diplomas: Individualized Education Program (IEP)

Students with disabilities that preclude the successful completion of the standard New York high school diploma requirements can earn an Individualized Education Program (IEP) diploma. Standards for IEP diplomas are designed for each student according to his or her needs. IEP students who take and pass the Regents examinations may earn a local diploma instead.

[Sage]

Every school is different. Get ready for a crazy schedule from my high school:

Monday: Normal day. Six 55-minute classes, plus a 15-minute break after the 2nd and a half-hour lunch after the fourth

Tuesday: (This day changed over the course of my high school career. When I started it was a normal day. Later they put something in between two of the classes and shortened the rest of them. I can't remember what because my mind is saying something about meeting with counselors, but I don't remember doing it).

Wednesday: Lab day 1. We had first, third, and fifth period for an hour and a half each, plus the break and lunch in between them. These were the days when the sciences would have labs. We would get out early, but we were encouraged to use "tutorial" time after school to finish labs, talk to teachers, etc.

Thursday: Lab day 2. Same thing but with second, fourth, and sixth period.

Friday: Professional time. We would start school later and every class would be only 45 minutes long. During the morning hours, teachers were supposed to be organizing their classes so, say, the U.S. history teacher and the American Lit. teacher were teaching the same periods at the same time.

[Melissa_Marr]

Some of the high schools here (VA side of DC) are on block scheduling (90 min classes); others are on regular "old fashioned" scheduling with the 7-9 periods a day. The block schedules at my daughter's high school run on an A/B days--which is complicated w 5 day weeks. This means you need to know what you had yesterday to figure out today bc it's not like college where it's the same class on every Monday, frex.

As a sophomore, she has 2 electives. Some electives (band) are double period, so are counted as 2 not 1. IIRC, Junior/Senior is 3 electives.

They have no study hall, so library usage has to be after school in "activity period." Lunch is a short window (30 minutes or so). The block period you're in when lunch happens can be 40 minutes, go to lunch, resume for 40 minutes.

IIRC, they get 12 min btw blocks to go to lockers, use the restroom, & get to the nxt class. They have no homeroom. PE, health, & drivers ed are all part of the same class.

I've visited a number of schools for author visits, though, and plenty of schools are still on the older model wherein there were shorter classes & more of them. Lunch seems to have gotten short everywhere though, & library time/study halls are a dying thing.

Hope that helps.

[Sage]

You know what, I never ready R&J in school. We read A Midsummer Night's Dream for freshman Honor's English, MacBeth for sophomore Honors English/Humanities, and Hamlet for senior AP English. Junior year we had American Lit, so there was no Shakespeare there for obvious reasons.

[StephenP]

As was pretty much said, you can make the schedule however you want because they vary so much.

In my middle and high school years, I've always had 7 classes per day, 50 minutes each. The course started in August and ended in May, except for a few foreign language and electives that were only a half year. But in the next town over, their school district was on the quarterly system. And then some high schools have different grade level separations. My high school was 9th through 12th grade, but another school around here has a "freshman high" for 9th-graders. The elementary school in my district was K-5. But now they've separated it into 3 different schools, K-1, 2-3, and 4-5.

If you have a high school senior character, then you have even more leeway because most seniors don't even have to stay the full day. Since I was on a 7 full-year course schedule, I got to leave early because I only took 4 classes.

If your character goes to school around 7 or 8ish o'clock and leaves at 2:30-3ish, takes your basic math/science/history/english/whatever classes, no reader will question it.

[aspiringwriter]

Thanks for all the responses.

[aspiringwriter]

Originally Posted by Juneluv12

I teach high school in Georgia. We're not currently on a block schedule, so there are 7 periods in our day. Students usually have four academic subjects, one or two electives like PE, ART, Yearbook, Heathcare Science, etc, and then a lunch period.

In GA, the Junior year is one of the hardest years academically, and we do have the 4 English, 4 Math, etc requirements.

In my case, I teach English, and what we teach per grade really depends on the county you are in. We teach American literature the Junior year in my county, but my good teacher buddy in the next county teaches World Literature, so it's all different.

I usually find it interesting some of the books authors have their MC's reading. Like in New Moon, Bella is reading Romeo and Juliet as a Senior and that's typically and almost universally a 9th grade text. Senior year is Macbeth.

Thanks...here in NC it's a four class schedule---classes are 90 minutes each day. I think that if you say, take English the first semester and pass it you don't have to take it again. That makes more sense to me I guess. Because if you were taking English two semesters, Math two semesters, Science two semesters, you'd never get to take electives..which here in NC you need 8 credits.

[backslashbaby]

It really does differ. Some places you have to drive to get to the building with the college-level courses, etc. I'm from NC and I drove to my first two and final classes of the day (everyday back then)... my 1st period started at 7:20am. This was a public school, too. Not all students had that schedule, of course. It was due to the driving times involved.

[~*Kate*~]

Originally Posted by backslashbaby

It really does differ. Some places you have to drive to get to the building with the college-level courses, etc. I'm from NC and I drove to my first two and final classes of the day (everyday back then)... my 1st period started at 7:20am. This was a public school, too. Not all students had that schedule, of course. It was due to the driving times involved.

That reminds me-- senior year I hated our Spanish IV teacher, so I took it at the local state university through concurrent enrollment. DH took math classes that way from his sophomore year of HS on.

All that to say-- It really does differ, like /baby said.

[History_Chick]

The schools around me have a ton of study Halls. Some of my students have 3 to 4 a day. The reason being is the school can't afford to have elective classes because of budget cuts. So with less teachers we have less classes and more study halls.

I live in a poor rural area. Maybe it is different in the wealthier districts.

[bclement412]

The schools around me have a ton of study Halls. Some of my students have 3 to 4 a day

Yeah I'm in high school and I have at least two study halls a day. But we also have something called Rotation where every day one period with rotate out and be exchanged either with an elective or free period.

[amlptj]

ok i went to an all girls cathlic school in Philadelphia PA and for my first two years there we had the block system which was 4 classes a day. You only take one math, one science, one english and so on a year. One semester or the other it didnt matter. The school didnt really give us much a chosse of electives until we were juniors or seniors and by that time for me the school switched back over to 8 classes a day.

They were roughtly 45 minutes with 5 minute breaks in between and you just had your normal 8 classes for the whole year.

But with the block system, i think the school pretty much figured out where all your electives and requirments fit in and gave you small options on what you wanted to take.