By Lauren Farberman
Staff Writer
Mira Costa English teacher Shannon Vaughan and History teacher Bill Fauver are collaborating in the 2015-16 school year to reintroduce a class for sophomores called English 3-4 Block.
The class is a two period block that will include English and History will be taught between Vaughan and Fauver, respectively. The two teachers will be able to split the two-period class length according to the daily lesson plan, while covering all the necessary curriculum.
“A block of time allows us to be absolutely flexible,” Fauver said. ” Ms. Vaughan may need one and a half hours to complete a project or I might need one hour and ten minutes to effectively do a debate, and that flexibility is possible in a block class.”
Vaughan and Fauver previously taught the block class together, but ended it three years ago because of traveling inconveniences for Vaughan. When they previously taught they did not have classrooms next to each other, but Vaughan is moving into the classroom next to Fauver for the 2015-16 school year.
“With the major construction three years ago it was too much of a nuisance to travel from my room to Mr. Fauver’s,” Vaughan said. “Now that I am able to move into the classroom next door it will eliminate the hassles of traveling from room to room.”
Vaughan currently teaches freshman English, sophomore accelerated English and Creative Writing, while Fauver teaches History and Government. There will only be one two-period block class, therefore there will still be vacant periods for Vaughan and Fauver to teach other classes.
“The block class will be a major focus for me during the next school year,” Vaughan said. “As a result I will no longer teach sophomore English, but I will continue to teach Creative Writing and freshman English.”
The block class has more students than the average class. Vaughan and Fauver received close to 170 applicants, but can only accept 60 students for the class through a random lottery. The list was posted on Monday, June 8.
“Although the class is 60 students, the level of individual attention might be greater than in a traditional setting since we can manipulate and use the extended time in class to work one on one with those that are struggling,” Fauver said.
60 kids is a large class size, but students such as freshman Andrew White do not anticipate it negatively affecting the course. There are opportunities to learn from your peers when a class has many students to interact with.
“As far as the large class size it might be harder to get help from the teacher individually,” White said. “But there will be more people in your class that you can ask for help, edit your writing, and study with which is definitely a plus.”
While Vaughan’s focus is English and Fauver’s is history, they still are teaching the class together. According to Vaughan, they look forward to bringing the block class back, having a learning filled year and teaching together.
“I am honored to team teach with such an accomplished teacher as Mr. Fauver,” Vaughan said. “Our goal is to improve reading and writing across the curriculum and have students delve beneath the surface in a collegiate-type forum.”
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