On Sat, 01 Nov 2014 18:19:12 -0400, Bill
wrote:

wrote:
On Sat, 01 Nov 2014 08:59:41 -0400, Stormin Mormon
wrote:

On 11/1/2014 8:15 AM, Danny D. wrote:
San Jose high school classes are an
hour and 45 minutes long, which is
double your class periods. On Mondays,
they're very short. About an hour.

That sounds like a lot too long to keep
students at a desk. Half hour to 45 mins
would make more sense. Need to get up and
walk around. I don't think this sounds
practical.
+1

An hour is about all one can expect for an attention span. My son had
classes that went two hours but they were really a combination of two
(English and history, or some the like). They were combined classes
with about twice the size, with two teachers. They had plenty of
breaks and changes of topics during the classes.

Add in the current ADD "epidemic" and it can't work.

Even an hour is a long time for students to listen to a lecture. One
secret to making it work is to include
some group activity such as a worksheet, so that the students are not
just (not) listening to a lecture.

Agreed. Unless there is some contribution from everyone, an hour is a
lot. At work, meetings generally last an hour, though design reviews
can lass all day. There is a lot of participation, though. Neither
are "lectures", by any stretch). When suppliers come in for classes,
they take 15 minute breaks about every 45 minutes (time to stretch and
check emails ;-). OTOH, we aren't required to check out a plunger to
go to the rest room, either. In fact, attendance is rarely required.