STAB US Teachers

Daniel Isquith, who has taught math at Calhoun for eight years, said he was initially “worried the kids would burn out” during the long classes. But he reorganized his lessons into 15-minute chunks, with a little breathing room in case things ran over: a 15-minute lecture, 15 minutes of problem solving, then 15 minutes of group work, capped by a final 15 minutes in which the students have to summarize what they did in class — a gem, he said, that the old schedule did not permit. During two-hour classes he changes things up just as often, to keep the students engaged. “Once you live in this and get a sense of pacing,” Mr. Isquith said, “it’s incredible what you can accomplish in terms of real actual understanding versus proficiency.”