Public School.

Hmm... some public schools probably aren't that different from Catholic schools. I can help, but can you be more specific about what you need?

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NaNo 2006: THE BLACK HEART - YA urban fantasy - WINNER!
NaNo 2007: THE WITCH BOOK (working title) - MG urban fantasy - WINNER!

I went to a public middle school in southern California (greater Los Angeles area).

My school was very odd and started at 9 due to lack of buses and us sharing a campus with an elementary school, but most start probably anywhere from 8-8:40, maybe a bit earlier. Some schools go on block schedule, meaning you have different classes every day, but my schedule was the same every day. I've been told our classes were VERY short compared to most schools (46 minutes), but that never bothered me. I loved only being in a classroom that short, especially if I disliked the teacher. Our schedule was also a bit funky in the fact that in 6th-7th grades, our homeroom was during before third period, with our third period teacher. That meant you had to be there during third period to be counted as present, and some kids showed up late because of this. The homeroom changed during eighth grade, however, and attendance started being taken during first period. However ,at the same time, your third period room kind of remained as your homeroom in a different sense of the word-- we had a 20-30 minute reading block called RAD (Reading Awakens Dreams-- my middle school was cheesy). That was between second and third periods, in your third period room, and it was also when they'd do announcements and the like. Although, like I said, my middle school was a bit on the odd side. Oh, and we had five minute passing periods and about a thirty or forty minute lunch. Lunch was between 4th/5th periods for eighth grade, but for the younger graders it was after 3rd period. Everyone had to take an elective. Most kids at my school did band, but there was also the 'wheel' in sixth grade (basically, sampling every elective), and foreign languages, art, etc. in the later grades. I personally was in orchestra all my years there, where I played the cello. This was my eighth grade schedule:

1. Teacher's Assistant (would have been gym, but I was medically excused)
2. English
3. Orchestra (RAD was in this room)
4. Science
5. Math
6. History

If you have any more questions, just ask. :)

~Carrie
Nano '04 - Carson (Won)
Nano '05 - The Left on Aubrey Street (Won)
Nano '06 - 2000 Miles From St. Louis (Won)
Nano '07 - Corporation (Won!)

My public middle school was pretty big, about 1000 kids. Our eighth grade class was about 300. I had the same classes every day, starting with Science at 8:00 am and finishing with Language Arts at 2:50. I rode a bus and it picked us up around 3:00pm. Our classes were 50 minutes long and our lunch was only half an hour. We went outside for about 15 minutes after lunch to run around and talk to our friends.
Dress code was pretty lax. no spaghetti straps or halter tops unless you had a jacket on over them and no skirts/shorts shorter than the tip of your middle finger (put your hands straight down at your sides and measure where the tip of your middle finger ends).
There weren't too many drugs, except for the occasional weed. only the eighth grade couples were ever caught doing anything bad - and the worst it usually got was heavy make outs in hallway corners. a lot of girls I knew cut themselves or were anorexic. pretty much everyone swore.
I was in band, but choir was pretty popular also. In eighth grade we got to choose our electives if we weren't in band or choir and you could choose to take spanish, german or french if you wanted. They were high school level courses.
I go to a catholic high school now (ugh) so if you want a comparison between the two or have any other questions, let me know in a nanomail.
Hope this helps!

2006: How (Not) To Get Rich...30k
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Oh, the last post reminded me of a few more details. :) We got out of school at 3:10, and the entire school had about 1300 kids, give or take 50-100 kids as different classes came and entered. For example, when I was in grade six, the eighth grade class had probably about 500 kids, whereas my class had closer to 350-375. Dress code wasn't enforced very well, but we were supposed to be mindful. Supposedly, if someone was wearing inappropriate clothes, they'd be forced to change into their gym clothes the rest of the day or would be sent home, but I never recalled that happening. We were allowed to wear flip-flops, but I know the middle school a couple miles away didn't allow them.

~Carrie
Nano '04 - Carson (Won)
Nano '05 - The Left on Aubrey Street (Won)
Nano '06 - 2000 Miles From St. Louis (Won)
Nano '07 - Corporation (Won!)

Thanks, this is really helpful! Another couple questions: How many classes do you have a day, and what classes do you have? And do you get breaks in between classes to get books from lockers and stuff like that?

Jordan Marie <33

In my middle school we had seven classes each day (45 minutes each). In eigth grade, these are the classes I had:
1. English
2. Math
3. Science
4. Art (could also pick chorus, band, or technology/shop)
5. Social Studies (we learned American history)
6. PE
7. French or Spanish

School started at about 8:30 and went to 2:40. We had a four minute break between classes so we could get our books and stuff, but we weren't allowed to carry out backpacks around with us. We also had grade level lunches (so all 8th graders ate at the same time). We also didn't have homeroom every day, only when we had to get important papers or report cards.

http://dragon.ycp.edu/~lmarsden (last updated 12/21)
I do free websites! PM me!

NaNo 2006: THE BLACK HEART - YA urban fantasy - WINNER!
NaNo 2007: THE WITCH BOOK (working title) - MG urban fantasy - WINNER!

I teach 6th-8th grade at a public school. We have three core classes per day (70 minutes each). Literacy (Reading and Writing) and Math are every day of the school year. Social Studies and Science rotate every term for the third core class. Then, kids have two shorter Unified classes, which are your PE, arts, languages, shop, band, drama, computers, etc. The change every term. Of course, lunch lasts 30 minutes.

We don't have bells except to start and end the day. Kids do get a short passing period to go to lockers and move to the next class. Teachers are always in the hall ways. NO backpacks in most public schools so they go to lockers between each class.

As for sports, kids can do an organized sport after school if they want to OR they can do an after-school rec. activity. We also have different clubs that kids can go to after school. Right now, I am the sponsor of the Nanowrimo Club! We also have yearbook, ski/snowboard, math club, cultural explorers club, chess club. I've even sponsored a knitting club.

In comparison to my private school background, it's a bit lame. The biggest difference is that kids don't have to go to chapel every morning!

I only was in a public middle school for a few days, but most public schools suck anyway.

Having gone to and taught in both public and private, here's my take on the difference. There's more bad behavior seen in public: there's more bad behavior ignored in private. The size of the school and student population is bigger in public. It's easier to be the invisible boy or girl in public school.

There's less school spirit in public school. Some private schools are huge on sports; more than public, but if you're in the South, football is G-O-D in public school. Dress, especially in middle school, is more of a problem in public.

The expectation for college is higher in private. The existence of learning troubles is more ignored or misdiagnosed in private. The better teachers are in public, and we're paid a lot better. The more outrageous and dramatic teachers are in private. The younger, newer teachers are at the lowest socio-economic schools, and the older, more experienced teachers are in the more affluent.

We have an on- campus deputy at my school. There are lots of electives choices because we have such a large population. There are 500 kids at a time in the lunch room- and ten adults supervising them. Some lunched have seated lunch, meaning you have to stay in one place the whole time. 30 minutes is never enough time to eat. Three minutes isn't enough time for passing. Kids are always hurrying everywhere, the short passing is designed to keep them from hanging out. Our school is very big on supervision- it's hard for a kid to be alone and unsupervised.

This is just my take, but I think you find more do-gooder teachers in public school.

Good luck!

When I was in the 8th grade two years ago, we had 7 periods [classes] per day (one was study hall, called FLASH that year) for 55 minutes each. This was my schedule:

1st - Literature (basically reading only)
2nd - Science
3rd - Advanced English (basically grammar only)
4th - Chorus
5th - Social Studies
6th - FLASH (20 minute period)
7th - Math

School was from 7:40 AM-2:40 PM. In English and Math, if you were smart enough, you were placed into an advanced course. Chorus was my related arts for the whole year, but you could also have band for the whole year or alternate each nine weeks between Art, Music, Gym, Technology, or Teen Living. (You didn't get to have one. For me, that one in 6th grade that I didn't have was Teen Living. I took Chorus in 7th and 8th grades.)

Hope that helps some. :)

NaNo 2007: Lessons in Understanding (YA Novel)

I go to a public school, it's not that bad. You can really see the difference, though, when you go to a catholic primary school and then go to a public high school. LOL

I'd tell you about it, but I'm not sure exactly what kind of info you want. ^^'

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I don't think that public school in general is bad....but mine definatley falls behind par. My bus gets me at six and school starts at seven thrirty. Kids are always making out in the halls, and graffiti covers the stallin our bathrooms, that never have toilette paper, paper towels, warm water, or working toilettes. People hawk lugies on the hall floors and think nothing of it and cap random lockers just becaus ethey can. We have a great pride in our football team but that is about it. I have four nintey minute casses everyday and a ten minute lunch. As dismal as this seems, this is really how it is. I have a few friends and teachers that make it worth while, but we definatley decided not to let my brother go here. We are going to enroll him in a private schoool for gifted students.

We can't see the forest for the trees.

Khedboard - Your school sounds like its either in a foriegn country, or its a school that features 'whats wrong with America'. Where do you go to school? And where is it located? Thanks!

I know that we in the USA, do have some schools that are absolutely rotten because of lack of funding. Thats why I don't like property taxes being one of the main ways of funding schools. Poor people who own homes suffer because they never get enough property taxes to support their schools. I also know that somewhere in New York (I forget where), they cleaned up many of their schools that were really bad.

Well, I'm only in seventh grade, but my schedule is in the same time periods as the eighths.

The bus picks me up at 7 AM, and the first bell is 7:35.

Period 1: 7:40 - 8:20 Science (Rotates each quarter)
Homeroom Study Time: 8:23 - 8:53
Breakfast: 8:57- 9:09
2: 9:12 - 9:52 World Cultures 7
3: 9:55 - 10:35 Pre Algebra 7
4: 10:38 - 11:18 English 7
5: 11:21 - 12:01 Reading 7
6: 12:04 - 12:44 Music, Woodshop, Home Ec, or Gym (Rotates each quarter)
7th and 8th Grade Lunch: 12:44 - 1:14
7: 1:17 - 1:57 Art, Career Planning, Keyboarding, or Intro To Computers
8: 2:00 - 2:42 Monday, Wednesday, and Friday - Band... Tuesday and Thursday - Chorus

Our school district is really small, like 500 kids in the Jr./Sr. High School and 500 in the Elementary K-6. Our grade has about 65 kids, so I don't have any information on 'big' schools.

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0_0 I'm afraid of high school now.

I just graduated eighth grade two weeks ago. My graduating class had four kids, counting myself, my sister, and my best friend. The other one was a guy, who was a friend of ours, but not extremely close. Our entire school had 49 kids, K-8.

My schedule was staying in my homeroom (12 kids, 6-8 graders) from 8:30 until 2:00. There, we had math, science, grammar, history, spelling, journal (writing), P.E., etc. Then at 2:00, when the first and second graders got out, we went down to their classroom and took reading from 2:00 to 3:00. We got out at 3:00. We had two recesses. The morning recess, we had a five-minute snack break and then a fifteen-minute recess. The afternoon recess, we went out at noon for twenty minutes and had lunch after. Then at 12:45, our teacher read to us for twenty minutes or so.

This was a charter school in the middle of the country, so it took a while to get to and from it. We only got bus service three years ago, and last year there were only enough kids going back a certain way to have a morning bus, no afternoon bus.

We had study hall between classes, when the other grades were taking THIER classes. If you worked hard and fast enough, you didn't have to take any homework home. (I never did.)

The eighth graders wrote our own skit for graduation this year. All four of us. XD

Our homeroom teacher hated kids, though, and we were stuck with her for almost all day. She called my parents for so many made-up charges that I could have been expelled five times over if my mom hadn't believed me instead. When my uncle died (also my reading teacher's husband), and one kid made fun of me for something random that morning, I screamed at him to shut up. The teacher took me aside, screamed at me for five minutes that I should be polite and just because I was embarrassed about being teased (What?!) didn't mean that I could be rude, and called my mom. Then I went to another teacher that actually likes me and asked to call my mom to come pick me up.

But yeah, probably not what you were looking for....it was actually a public school, though. Public charter school, but still entirely public.

OK one thing I need to ask is which kind of middle school are they going too? Some states run a middle school consisting of 6th, 7th and 8th grades while others run a junior high school of just 7th and 8th. How the schools operate depends alot on this.

I just graduated from middle school in florida, public school. its a typical school, and almost all of the schools in central florida are the same. Feel free to Nanomail me any questions you might have :)

I went to a public school in a small-ish town in Texas. Only seventh and eighth graders were there. I rode the bus to school and had to get on it at 7:00 in the morning. School started at 8:30. If we got there early we had to sit in the gym to wait. Seventh grades in the seventh grade gym and eighth graders in the eighth grade gym. There were two wings, one for each grade, but for some classes we had to cross over. Art was the only class upstairs and both grades shared classes. For my computer class I had to go way into the seventh grade wing (which sucked! I guess).

I'm in college now so I don't think I can remember my exact schedule. We had two lunch periods because it was a small lunch room. One had mostly eighth and one had mostly seventh but it wasn't uncommon to be a little bit mixed. Lunch was 35 minutes. We had a 6 minute break between classes to go to our lockers. Seventh graders had half lockers, a row on top and a row on bottom. Eighth graders had full sized lockers, and we got our own. Each class I think is 50 minutes, I think I had 8 class periods with the next to last period being Tutorials, which was fun. It was organized alphabetically so both years I had pretty much the same people in Tutorials and we never actually did work, just goofed off. After school I had to run to where the buses are because we didn't have much time to get on them, plus it was fun to be out there with everyone. Uhm... I think the size was about 800-900 total in the school. I don't know the details on what kind of school you're writing about, like how big it is or where it is (because schools in a little Texas town are different than schools in Los Angeles or New York or Minneapolis, you know?) but if you have any particular questions, you can NaNo mail me.

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