Creating a Schedule

The art and science of planning a program schedule involves many areas. This section presents some do's and don'ts to consider when creating a schedule for youth programs that incorporate technology into learning.

Putting together a program schedule is harder than it looks. Although most program administrators and coordinators have a sense of the basic information needed to produce a schedule (which instructors are available, how many children will be enrolled in the program), many complex decisions are involved in deciding how to group children, how to assign class times, and how to match instructors with class groups.

A first draft of the program schedule should be completed at least two weeks before the start of classes to allow time to make any adjustments before distributing it to children, parents, and staff. Most importantly, involving children and parents in the scheduling process will help ensure success.

What's Wrong with this Schedule?

Below is a sample schedule for a technology learning center. Read on to learn ways in which this schedule can be improved.

1. Children and Staff Need Transition Time

The schedule above tries to maximize the number of different groups in the lab during the 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. time period by creating one-hour class blocks with no downtime between classes. Most programs that try to implement this kind of tight scheduling soon find that the classes feel rushed and staff feel stressed. Even with the best coordination of people and program activities, classes will start and end late.

Children need transition time to move from one activity to the next. Particularly for children under age 11, it is important to have time to do a welcome and warm-up activity before the primary class activities start and to have scheduled time to clean up and say goodbye. When children do not get sufficient time to transition from one activity to the next, their behavior is typically more disagreeable and disruptive.

Class time should be budgeted to accommodate at least a 15-minute "buffer period" between the primary class activities. So, for example, the class in the schedule that is supposed to start at 4:00 p.m. should begin no later than 3:45 p.m. to allow time for welcome and warm up. If the class ends at 5:00 p.m., the next class should begin no earlier than 5:15 p.m.

Transition time also helps staff. If one instructor is teaching multiple classes in a row, having a little down time to get a drink of water, eat a quick snack, make a phone call, collect thoughts or prepare notes for the next class is beneficial for the mind and spirit. If different instructors are using the same lab space, the down time between classes gives instructors the opportunity to settle in and set up their materials.

Examples of before-class transition activities:

• Putting away personal belongings, such as coats and backpacks
• Getting a drink of water
• Using the restroom
• Getting out portable drives, pens, or paper needed for class
• Taking attendance
• Checking personal email messages
• Welcoming/name games
• Stretching or physical games/exercises
• Personal affirmations/prayers/quote of the day
• Reading a story book
• Writing a journal entry
• Eating a snack

Examples of after-class transition activities:

• Saying goodbye to everyone
• Evaluative/processing discussion (What went well today? What did we learn?)
• Personal affirmations/prayers/quote of the day
• Saving computer files
• Putting away supplies, books and other class materials
• Reading a story book
• Writing a journal entry
• Checking personal email messages
• Getting a drink of water
• Using the restroom
• Putting on coats and backpacks
• Eating a snack

2. Children Must Be Placed in Developmentally Appropriate Groups

It can be socially and academically beneficial for children to be placed in class groups that span a range of ages and abilities. But it is extremely challenging for instructors to teach classes with significant age and developmental differences. Creating a curriculum and managing class activities becomes much more complicated when children's social interactions, ability to read and write, understanding of subject areas and concepts, and personal interests are at different developmental phases. See the article on ages and stages for more information about working with children of different ages.

In the sample schedule, the 4- to 8-year-old group and the 9- to 13-year-old group are examples of groups that would usually be difficult for instructors to manage because the age spread crosses several developmental stages.

A reference book on child development can provide the information needed to make decisions about what ages are optimal to combine in class groups. Yardsticks: Children in the Classroom Ages 4-14: A Resource for Parents and Teachers by Chip Wood is an easy-to-understand guide that explains the aspects of child development that affect children's learning. Yardsticks explains why, for example, 5- and 6-year-olds work well together in groups, whereas 6- and 7-year-olds typically do not. Child development guides also will help instructors decide what activities to use with children in different age groupings and how to most effectively implement them.

Sometimes, of course, instructors need to decide which children to include in various groups based on their knowledge of each child's individual needs and abilities. Some young children are advanced enough socially and academically to work with older children, whereas some older children benefit from the slower pace and the reduced social pressures of working with younger children.

3. Instructors Must Know Their Skills and Strengths

It is just as important for instructors to be appropriately matched to children's age groups as it is for children to be placed in age-appropriate groups. The sample schedule has instructor John teaching the 4- to 8-year-old group at 4:00 p.m. and then the teen group at 7:00 p.m. Regardless of John's teaching experience, the expectation that he teach such different age groups is probably stretching his skills. Most people who teach or work with children have an orientation and skill set that leans toward one end of the childhood spectrum or the other. The communication style, teaching approaches, and curriculum content that are effective for elementary school children are very different from the style, approach and content that work well for teenagers.

Classes will be more successful if instructors are able to concentrate on groups composed of similar ages and developmental stages. If John prefers to work with teenagers, he can probably adjust his curriculum and teaching style to work with pre-teens. If he prefers working with elementary-school-age children, he can probably move within the 6- to 10-year-old age spectrum. Working with children across even these modest age spreads is demanding, however. In Yardsticks, Chip Wood advises that "the maximum range for even the most talented teachers is about a three-year chronological and two-year grade spread."

Of course, organizations do not always have the staff capacity to assign a separate instructor to each age group. Sometimes a staff person's absence or a temporary staff vacancy requires instructors to teach different kinds of classes. Staff and volunteers who are new to teaching may ask for the opportunity to teach across a broad age spectrum because they want to gain an understanding of which age groups they are most skilled to teach. Sometimes organizations have staff and volunteers who are talented enough to handle a wide variety of ages.

If program circumstances require that staff and volunteers teach across a broad age spectrum, the following strategies can help:

• Set up the program schedule to allow instructors to concentrate on similar ages or developmental groups each day. If John has to teach teens and elementary school children in the same week, allow him to cluster the teen groups on the same days and the elementary school groups on other days.

• Set up class cycles, or "rotations," for new instructors who want to learn how to teach different age groups. If Maria loves teaching pre-teens but wants to try working with an elementary-school-age group, let her complete a class cycle with the 12- to 13-year-olds before taking on a class of 7- to 8-year-olds.

• Limit inexperienced instructors to one class per cycle. It can be exciting for a staff person or volunteer who has never before taught in a structured setting to try teaching and developing curricula for the first time. It can also be exhausting and overwhelming, as the new instructor learns through trial and error. Instructors who have previous experience teaching or working with children in structured settings will have a sense of their capacity and probably can decide on their own how many classes it is reasonable to take on at once.

• Be aware of the training needs of your instructors, and whenever possible provide them with access to books, training and other forms of staff development. It is particularly important to recognize that working with groups of children who are pre-readers or are at early stages of reading—typically ages 3 to 8—requires exposure to specialized teaching methods. The lack of such training often results in children "acting out" in classes, as inexperienced instructors try to engage them in activities in ways that do not meet the children's developmental needs.

4. Optimize Computer Time for the Youth Who Would Most Benefit from It

The sample schedule has 4- to 8-year-olds using the technology lab during the prime after-school hours of 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. and teens using the center in the evening from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. The schedule also shuts out youth on Friday afternoons to accommodate staff planning time. Youth-serving organizations should consider the following points when deciding how to allot class time at their learning centers:

• Studies have shown that the after-school hours of 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. are the times when school-age youth are most likely to use drugs, engage in sexual activity, commit a crime, or become the victim of an accident or violence. If programs seek to provide positive alternatives to the youth who are most at risk of becoming engaged in negative activity, Internet and technology learning programs during these hours should be targeted at older children and teens. This focus does not have to mean that younger children are left out of using the computer and other technology altogether. Rather, it suggests that younger children spend more time during the prime after-school hours on non-technology activities such as physical recreation, arts and reading, and less time on computers.

• A growing body of research is raising questions about the educational value of computer use for young children, especially preschoolers. The Alliance for Childhood, a nonprofit advocacy group, published a position paper on computers and children that raises significant concerns about the consequences of computer use in early childhood. These concerns have since been echoed and substantiated by other researchers.

Balance and common sense are good rules of thumb to follow when creating a program schedule. Learning can be achieved through a mixture of technology-based and non-technology-based educational activities. A comprehensive youth schedule that includes time for activities such as field trips, visual arts, writing, music, drama and sports will allow more flexible use of the computer lab and will ensure that program time is used most effectively.

A Better Schedule

The revised sample schedule (below) incorporates the principles described in this section. The information presented here reflects the experiences of direct-service practitioners in community-based, youth-serving organizations.

For expert information, contact a nationally recognized out-of-school or youth-development accreditation or training organization. The National Institute on Out of School Time (NIOST) and the National AfterSchool Association (NAA) have developed a joint accreditation process for child care programs for school-age youth, which include after-school and out-of-school programs. Whether or not your organization decides to pursue accreditation, it is worth investigating the materials NIOST and NSACA have developed to help organizations that run programs. Their well-researched guidelines cover everything from the nutritional content of children's snacks to the amount of physical activity children at different ages should have in an out-of-school program.