Here is one speculative narrative with Sam and Max reading a novel
Below is a second speculative narrative:
It’s 8am on Monday, Jay’s friend sends a message, “Are you on your way to school?”
Jays’s digital assistant responds – “Jay is still in sleep mode, optimal sleep is not yet complete. Jay will join the later session.”
When Jay wakes up, feeling well-rested after a good night’s sleep, he accesses his school dashboard to find out what is in store for the day. The assistant has synced with the other class members and instructors and prepared Jay’s schedule. “You will start with a lesson on media in the 20th century and then will do some research to prepare for your in-school session later this morning with the following 10 classmates …, since your more optimal math learning occurs in the afternoon, that lesson is scheduled for 2 pm. You can do that lesson at school and then meet with Instructor Smith and the following 8 classmates to work through the practical applications. After math work you’ll be ready for some physical activity and can participate in the afternoon session with Instructor Jones.”
Jay moves through his morning routines and gets ready to access his first lesson. He likes the setup of the school schedule and that his assistant works with the school programming to create the optimal learning routines for him. His older sibling, Sam, talks about the rigid schedule that high school used to have. He can’t even imagine the school that his parents talk about, with the same schedule for all students, every day, even if they were early morning people or late sleepers. Nobody cared about people’s optimal sleep rhythms, the schedule was set for the system and not the system for the individuals. Sam doesn’t know what his friend Susie would do without her afternoon rest in the sleeping pods at school.
Jay does his lesson and research about media in the 20th century from home. He puts on his glasses and travels through the network, following a series of links as he learns about the changes in media through the 1900s. The school librarian mentions in the lesson that they have an old tool available at the school to look at preserved newspapers on microfilm. He asks his assistant to remind him to go look at some old news stories when he gets to school.
After his session is finished, Jay gets his things together, checks his list with his assistant to make sure he has everything he needs for the rest of the day and heads out to the bike path for his commute to school.
I love the idea of a totally flexible schedule based on individual needs. But in all honesty, even if middle school and high school started later by an hour or two, BIG improvement. I’d arrive at 7:30 from the ninth grade on for an 8AM start and would consume my lunch by 10
Hi Norah, Thanks. I totally agree with you, sometimes I think we are trying to force teenagers into an unnatural ideal that fits with someone else’s idea of what their sleep habits should look like. Throughout the online period in the spring when our teenage daughter was working with a time zone 12.5 hours away, we noticed that she was getting more sleep than usual because she was often having late-night meetings but then was able to sleep in until she woke up naturally.
Hi Janice!
This is fantastic. I love that you used Twine for one of your narratives! I also second Norah, and you word it perfectly when you describe it as “setting. . . the system for the individuals”. My teaching practicums were all in high schools with a completely fixed block rotation (something which my school planned to also switch to… though its hard to say what will happen now with covid). It was terrible. I remember observing a grade 12 math class at 8:30am and seeing less than half of the students arrive on time (about a third never showed up). I wonder if the system would be shaped around the Instructors’ needs too… I always pity my morning classes. Would the day be longer to accommodate students with a later wake-time? Or would there be an un-scheduled block to allow for time-shifting? (I’m not asking for answers, I’m just pondering).
Hi Laura,
Thanks for your comments. I also love the idea of the world moving to more natural sleep schedules. I’ve been thinking about it these past several months as some people’s schedules were able to adjust towards what they are more naturally inclined to. I wonder about your thoughts as well. Would it be possible to work within everyone’s needs? I also like the idea of the objective decision-maker (i.e. the system somehow determining the ideal for the individual) so that it’s not about laziness or one person just wanting an easier schedule. The Tristan Harris Ted Talk about a digital renaissance allowing us to live out our best timeline really stuck with me.