For January 30, 1997 Drummer Column, Gibbs, 717 words

Tinker toys

To track or not to track. That is the question that's been bouncing around the halls at BHS. I don't know if anyone is intending to actually alter our present structure, but just the thought of it stimulates conversation.

To block or not to block. That was the question that bounced around the BHS halls not long ago. Blocking means to somehow double the length of periods and schedule classes every other day. We would have three long classes each day instead of six shorter ones. After analyzing it and debating it for months, after guest speakers and field trips, after weighing all the pros and cons, we voted it down by a narrow margin.

Changing traditional school to improve the learning environment is being tried all over the country, with success and failure. Some ideas work in one town and not in the next.

I think a kid is going to learn any time his curiosity is ignited and the teacher is effective. It doesn't matter if it's in a classroom or an open field. It could be for a hour a day or two hours every other day, in a room of multiple skill levels or one sorted by ability.

What sways the decisions are debates over procedure, mechanics, comfort, work load, and classroom management.

Now some are mentioning heterogeneous grouping as another mechanical fix to the teacher-student relationship. That means that students would be assigned classes regardless of their skills. English would be English and history would be history. I must say that I'm ambivalent on the issue. I see too many pros and cons.

Pro: It's less Darwinistic. Competent students aren't siphoned off to work alone on advanced ideas. Instead they are turned into tutors and role models. When a student masters a skill, she turns and helps a neighbor. The whole class advances, not just the chosen few. Students focus more on humanistic skills and less on competitive skills. We graduate a class of students who know how to help each other. Perhaps they would be more sensitive and compassionate.

Con: It's more communistic. Individuals at either end of the skill spectrum would learn at abnormal speeds. The brilliant and the remedial could get lost. Bright kids need to devour complex notions at a furious pace. Remedial kids need frequent rehearsal and prolonged personal attention. Our brightest may graduate with great people skills, but a truncated knowledge bank. Our slowest would get through bolstered by an enormous support group that would dissipate after graduation day.

I used to work at Willard Junior High in Berkeley. Willard had heterogeneous classes and no shortage of advocates. I learned to appreciate the positive and make it work. Cooperative learning became the magic method. Basically, that means I used internal tracking, creating groups from each observed skill level, putting the most capable in charge. The bright learned important management skills, and the slow got the prolonged peer support they needed. Fewer cliques formed. Students mingled more. They weren't bundled by skill and cloistered off for three years. After eighth grade, they all graduated to Berkeley High, which used tracking.

At BHS I've taught at all tracked levels from remedial to general to advanced to honors. I've learned to appreciate the positive and make it work. In honors classes we can read complex, mature books and hold philosophical discussions. We can also do that in remedial classes, but at a more appropriate pace.

I miss my remedial classes. We could hammer away at fragments and run-ons for weeks. In honors classes I cover that topic in about 20 minutes. When remedial classes were abrogated and absorbed into double-sized general English classes, I watched slower students flounder. I no longer had time to help them all.

I love my honors classes. Free from peer criticism these gifted students blossom and reveal their vulnerabilities. The wildest ideas are assimilated, not stultified. The pace is breakneck and homework brings a 100-percent return.

I love my middle and advanced students. We try everything. The pace fluctuates depending on the difficulty of the assignment. Free from the pressures of an honors program, these students blossom and reveal their creativity. We have a lot of laughs.

Where will I stand if the issue becomes real? Hm. I lean toward tracking. Life is tracking.