Standard Time Zones

The band, Chicago, is one of our all-time favorites.  Mary and I have seen them live several times and their mix of keyboards, percussion, electric, brass, and wide range of vocals is unique.  One of their hit songs is, Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? There was a time when this was a fairly accurate statement.  In 1883, the United States and Canada adopted a system of Standard Time Zones.  Prior to this, 8:00 p.m. in Toronto looked far different than 8:00 p.m. in Seattle. The United States currently uses nine different time zones.  If it is 2:03 p.m. in Northwest Indiana, it is 3:03 p.m. in South Bend, Indiana, and just past one in San Diego.  Of course, it is 9:03 a.m. in Hawaii. Heck, most of Indiana is in the Eastern Time Zone with just a few small sections carved out as Central Times Zones (da Region included).  Go farther out into the Pacific Ocean and you begin to deal with the International Date Line (by the way, it is imaginary). How about this fun in converting – if you are traveling westbound and pass the International Date Line, you will add a day (Friday becomes Saturday) and eastbound travelers subtract a day (Saturday becomes Friday).  Crazy?  Not really, it does help greatly with the expansion of trade throughout the world.  So, this has to do with money?  Come on.

Could you imagine if each classroom in the school had a different “Educational Time Zone”?  You know, every teacher was teaching whatever they felt was important for the kids to learn.  A great big hodgepodge of “Education du jour”.  Take it up a notch – what if common courses had their own “time zones”.  A grade in one teacher’s class had a far different meaning than a grade in another teacher’s class.  There would be no common learning goals, no common objectives, no common desired outcomes, no common assessments, no common anything.  It wasn’t all that long ago when that was exactly what happened in classrooms across the country.  That was long before accountability became the norm and standardized testing really meant something.  Common courses should have all of the common traits that I mentioned.  That is why our biweekly common course articulation/planning time is so vital.  It gives you time to plan with your colleagues as to common goals and common assessments.   A grade in one class should mean the same as in another class.  It gives us standard measures across the map. Couple that with some excellent teaching tips on high-yield strategies and we have a winner winner chicken dinner.   So, does anyone really know what time it is?  We do.