Mastering the Master Schedule

One task I was given during my summer elementary internship was to create a master schedule for the school.  My supervising administrator requested that the schedule fit on one page so all grade levels could view each others schedule (in previous years each grade level had their own master that was 10 pages long and hard to read).  

It was overwhelming to be given the task of creating a schedule of a school I was not familiar with.  Would the administrator like it?  Would the teachers like it?  How do I create a schedule that allows for large chunks of instructional time?  How do I limit the amount of interruptions and small, weird chunks of time that always seem to occur on the schedule? Most of all, how do I create a schedule that is fair for all grade levels?

I started with mapping out a lunch schedule that made a flow in the lunch room so there weren't so many students in the lunch room at the same time.  After that, I wasn't sure where to go next with the schedule.  I tried doing recesses and was getting frustrated that I couldn't fit the necessary blocks into the schedule so I decided to ask an administrator I know for some advice.  He suggested that I start with the blocks of time that are the hardest to move and build the rest of the schedule around those times. Based on his advice, I scrapped my schedule and started over again, this time starting with the big blocks of Step-Up time (Math and Language Arts small groups) and their Block Rotations (P.E., Library, Music, Keyboarding, & Art) and then created grade level schedules of when each teacher would have P.E., Library, Music, Keyboarding, and Art.

Once the big blocks were in place, the rest of the schedule started to come together... or so I thought!  After about 5 more drafts, the principal felt that it was complete to his liking and that the next step was to get buy in from the teachers before we set it in stone.  I thought it was perfect and that his teachers would love it.  I would love it if I was a teacher on his staff, but I was wrong.  After 5 more drafts of the schedule, the principal was happy, the staff was happy, and I was happy to be done!

From this experience, I learned the importance of starting with your big blocks of time and working your way through the times that are flexible, such as recess.  I also learned the importance of getting the opinions of my staff by asking the team leads or by creating a scheduling committee, and have them meet before summer vacation prior to finalizing the schedule.  This allows teachers ownership with the schedule and lets them know what the schedule will look like for the next school year before they leave, and hopefully, it will make them happy and excited for the new school year.