36 Annotated Bibliography: “Shortening the School Week”

Rylee Ann Wintermute

Instructor Alexis Kopp

ENG 1023.XX

11 March 2022

Cover Letter

Throughout the span of the school year, this has been one of the most straightforward assignments I have written for this course. Initially, I believed that this was going to be one of the hardest assignments I have written in Dual Credit English III [ENG 1023 Composition II]; however, once I memorized the process of writing an annotation, this assignment was a breeze. Amongst the process, I took a variety of different steps to both come up with my topic and construct the final draft of my annotated bibliography that you will soon be reading.

The first step that I took in my writing process was to come up with the best topic to write both my research paper and annotated bibliography about. I knew that, because this project was going to be my main focus for the rest of the year, it had to be over both something I am interested in and can easily write about. I first tried to think of a topic by doing a jot thought practice in class; however, this practice did not help me very much. I then suddenly thought of the perfect matter to write about: Can shortening the school week help lower the mental health rates in students? I submitted this idea to my teacher, Ms. Kopp, to get it approved and ensure that it was a good topic to commit to for the remainder of the school year. Once my topic had been approved, I advanced my way into the drafting process. The first step that I took in my drafting process was completing two color-coded annotations. I did this to both guarantee that I was writing an annotated bibliography properly and to master the process of writing these annotations. After I completed these two color-coded annotations, I moved my way into creating a rough draft. I was legitimately surprised to find how easy it was to write these annotations once I retained the necessary factors needed for each one. When I completed my rough draft, I asked Ms. Kopp if she could read over a few of my annotations to assure that I correctly wrote each of them and did not gradually grow sloppy in my writing process. She gave me a few minor edits to add to my final draft and confirmed that I wrote each annotation perfectly. I completed these minor revisions, added my cover letter, and just like that, I had completed my very first annotated bibliography.

The justification as to why I took so many different steps in my writing process was due to the new conventions being provided by the genre. I had never written in the annotated bibliography genre before, so I wanted to guarantee that I did it properly. Overall, many different aspects of this genre were completely different from all the genres I had previously written in.

This genre has six primary conventions that separate it from every other genre. These conventions include the following: a citation of the source, statements of the authors’ credibility, mention of the authors’ research methods, a summary of the source and its argument, an evaluation of the work, and how you plan to use the source for your research paper. Another major difference between the annotated bibliography genre and the previous genres I have written in this class is that you’re writing many different paragraphs evaluating different sources rather than writing a paper, primarily over one large topic.

Initially, I found that creating one annotation was a difficult process; however, once I was able to fully understand and retain each convention needed for a single annotation, this procedure became effortless and simply flew by. My justification as to why this process was initially difficult for me is that I had trouble remembering everything that I had to include in a single annotation. After completing about three annotations, I was able to fully remember the process and I was completing about three annotations in an hour. This assignment changed me as a writer because it gave me a different aspect on how to gather sources and retain specific information from these sources. I plan on taking the method of writing down what I intend to use each source for with me in future classes. This will help save me time and brainpower on future assignments. Overall, I am extremely proud of the work that I created because this is my first time writing in this genre. I hope that you enjoy reading about the various ways that I intend to use these sources for my future research paper.

Annotated Bibliography

“Four-day school weeks lead to jump in student crime.” District Administration, vol. 54, no. 6, June 2018, p. 26. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://go.gale.com/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=Magazines&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&s earchResultsType=MultiTab&hitCount=122&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPos ition=3&docId=GALE%7CA541890894&docType=Brief+article&sort=Relevance&cont entSegment=ZXAY-MOD1&prodId=OVIC&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE%7CA541 890894&searchId=R2&userGroupName=j061910001&inPS=true. Accessed 28 Feb. 2022.

The District Administration uses a variety of statistics and research from other sources to help prove that shortening the school week can cause an increase in adolescent crime rates. In this article, they argue that providing more time off school also provides more time for students to partake in criminalistic behavior. They speak of how, in the state of Colorado alone, the record of adolescent crime rose 20% throughout the course of 7 years. This administration also strongly urges all schools to think about the possible consequences of shortening the school week in an attempt to maintain the current adolescent crime rates across the country. I believe that the District Administration did a decent job writing this article. They used many credible sources, such as an assistant professor from Cal Poly State University, and many statistics to properly get their point across. However, I believe that they contradict themselves in some statements when they use a slippery-slope logical fallacy to state that all students will take part in illegal activities in their newfound free time from school. The majority of students will be spending this free time relaxing, sleeping, or catching up on schoolwork rather than taking part in illegal activities. Overall, I believe that they made a well-rounded argument. My only piece of advice is to focus more on crime rates that have actually occurred rather than assuming and primarily focusing on crime rates that haven’t even happened, and could not happen at all. I plan to use this source to provide a counterargument in my paper for the poor effects that follow having a 4-day school week. I will first start by stating how shorter school weeks have increased adolescent crime rates in the state of Colorado; however, I will quickly advert from this statement by speaking of the slippery-slope logical fallacy used in this paper and how it provides zero legitimate reasoning on the matter. I also plan to state the fact that the majority of students will spend this new amount of time sleeping, catching up on schoolwork, or just simply relaxing rather than partaking in copious amounts of illegal activities.

Gerber, Addie. “Shortening the Week Could Be Beneficial.” The Blockbuster Blast, 1 Mar. 2022, https://bhsblast.org/5269/opinion/shortening-the-week-could-be-beneficial/.

Addie Gerber, a staff reporter for The Blockbuster Blast at Burroughs High School, provides statistics and research from other schools that have switched over to a four-day school week to argue that a four-day school week is better for students, teachers, and parents. In this article, Addie goes over the many ranging benefits students gain by having more time to relax and catch up. Some of these benefits include catching up on sleep, gaining mental health breaks, and reducing the amount of time a student does homework in a day. Benefits for parents include getting to spend more time with their children and making it easier to schedule appointments for kids so they don’t have to miss school. The final aspect of benefits that she speaks about is the benefits for teachers and the school districts. These benefits include saving money for the school to spend on other things such as books, hiring subs, and new athletic equipment. I believe that Addie did a great job in convincing the audience that a 4-day school week is the best option for everyone. However, she did not provide very many sources to back up her argument. If she would have used more sources to back up her argument, she would have had a perfect argument to support shorter school weeks. I plan to use this source to support my argument that a four-day school week can improve students’ mental health. I plan to do this by using all of the benefits for students listed in the argument to prove that a four-day school week is a perfect way to help students.

Lee-Smith, Mel. “Why Colorado’s Four-Day School Week Works.” Study International, 9 Oct. 2019, https://www.studyinternational.com/news/why-colorados-four-day-school-week-works/.

Mel Lee-Smith, a reporter for Study International, uses statistics, reliable sources, and quotes from news articles to effectively prove why four-day school weeks have worked throughout Colorado. They first start the article by stating that it’s been proven shorter school weeks increase the levels of happiness and health of students and teachers. They then move into a list of simple facts about the requirements for Colorado’s schooling and transition into the history of Colorado switching over to a 4-day school week. These shorter workweeks then spread quickly throughout the states because of the benefits they provided to students and teachers. They then provide many varying statistics about the stress and anxiety levels in students in different countries around the world. Shortening school weeks help lower these statistics by allotting students more time to be kids. Lee-Smith then uses a variety of different sources to show the economic benefits for schools, parents, and students in having a shorter school week. Overall I believe that Lee-Smith did an amazing job in arguing that a 4 day school week provides many benefits to students to help aid in their mental health. I truly have no critiques for this article because they used reliable sources, provided a clear and valid argument, and the author never contradicted themselves in their writing. This is one of the best sources for my research paper that I have found so far because it checks all the boxes. I plan to use this source to prove that schools in Colorado have successfully lowered the number of students with mental health problems because the 4 day school weeks are enforced. I also plan to use many of the statistics from this source to help validate my argument.

Saboorian, Jasmine. “School Weeks Need to Be Shortened from Five Days to Four.” Calabasas Courier Online, 19 Dec. 2019, https://chscourier.com/uncategorized/2019/12/19/school-weeks-need-to-be-shortened-fro m-five-days-to-four/.

Jasmine Saboorian, a sports editor for The Calabasas Courier, uses sources such as NBC News and provides knowledgeable reasoning and research in an attempt to better coerce her audience that four-day school weeks are more beneficial to students’ mental health. Jasmine starts off her argument by stating that a 5-day school week puts a great amount of strain on both students’ and teachers’ brains. Students are relieved to actually have time to catch up on homework and rest. She states the many benefits that both students and teachers gain by the shortening of the typical school week. Some of these benefits include more time for lesson plans, higher quality of work from both teachers and students, higher attendance rates, more time to study and catch up on homework, and so many more things. She ends her argument by stating that shortening the school week will incredibly boost both students’ and teachers’ mental health and improve their lives for the better. Overall, I believe that Jasmine did an incredible job in clearly stating her argument, not contradicting herself, and providing a solid argument with a clear solution. However, she solely relied on her own evidence rather than providing evidence from other sources to fully support her article. If she had used more than one source to support her paper, she would have had a perfect argument. I plan on using this source to list varying benefits to both students and teachers as well as to further argue why a 5 day school week is so straining on students.

Sawchuk, Stephen. “4-Day School Weeks: New Research Examines the Benefits and Drawbacks.” Education Week, vol. 41, no. 11, 27 Oct. 2021, p. 7. Gale In Context: High School, https://go.gale.com/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T003&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&search ResultsType=SingleTab&hitCount=208225&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosit ion=1&docId=GALE%7CA680903763&docType=Article&sort=Relevance&contentSeg ment=ZEDU-MOD1&prodId=GPS&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE%7CA680903763 &searchId=R2&userGroupName=j061910001&inPS=true Accessed 4 Mar. 2022.

Stephen Sawchuk, a writer for Editorial Projects in Education, Inc., uses many different forms of research as well as statistics from many reliable sources to inform his audience of four-day school weeks and what they entail for school districts and the student body. He first

goes into detail about when the four-day school week started becoming popular and then moved into a broad picture of what a week looks like when it’s being shortened as well as important observations found from schools taking part in shorter weeks. One of the primary observations they noticed was that a shorter school week costs about 3% less than a 5 day school week.

Sawchuk then uses his research, along with others, to describe in detail the breakdown of how a four-day school week works and the effects it has had on student learning. He uses a one-sentence counterargument about how decreased learning time might be the reason that some students’ learning is affected; however, he shortly after puts this contradiction to an end by stating that this cannot be determined without this assumption being tested. Overall, Sawchuk did an exemplary job writing this article. This article provides a great amount of outside, reliable sources, as well as an intense amount of information to properly inform its audience. I do not believe that there are any suggestions I can provide to make this article better because he did a great job in explaining what a 4 day school week entails in all aspects. I plan to use this article to provide background information as to what a four-day school week entails and to further justify that it has not yet been proven these shortened weeks are poorly affecting students.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Mental Health.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,  12 May 2021, https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/mental-health/index.htm#:~:text=Mental%20Health% 20Is%20A%20Growing%20Problem,-chart%20bar%20icon&text=More%20than%201% 20in%203,a%2044%25%20increase%20since%202009.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) uses a plethora of statistics as well as variants of their own research and advice as a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to bring awareness to the staggering mental health in students. This source primarily wants to bring awareness to students and teachers of lowering mental health in students to provide happier lives for adolescents. CDC first uses a small paragraph to explain the major issue occurring in today’s society and ends in a call to action towards parents and schools. They then move into a plethora of statistics on the mental health in today’s adolescents to bring the harsh reality to the rest of society. CDC then provides a great amount of advice in the form of bullet points for schools, parental figures, and healthcare providers to help raise the mental health rates in students in today’s conforming society. Overall, this source did an amazing job of getting its point across. I liked that they used a Think-Piece type model for their work and I believe this was the best way for CDC to properly and effectively get their point across. This source also uses many other sources from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help validate their advice and statistics. Because the CDC takes a wide variety of sources from around the country to construct their research, I believe that this source alone is plenty sufficient. I truly have no critiques for this article, it was well organized and well written to properly convince and bring awareness to its target audience. I plan on using this source to provide statistics on the mental health levels of students and use the advice in the schooling section to further my research on my topic.

Walker, Mary Beth. “Pace: Does Shortening the School Week Impact Student Performance?” Policy Analysis for California Education, 14 July 2015, https://edpolicyinca.org/newsroom/does-shortening-school-week-impact-student-perform ance.

Mary Beth Walker, a professor at Georgia State University, uses evidence from many other schools as well as previous researchers to explain the benefits of schools partaking in 4-day school weeks. She states that these four-day school weeks have been slowly sweeping across the nation in primarily rural school districts. Some of the major benefits listed in this article are lower schooling costs, more flexibility in teachers’ daily lesson plans, significant increases in math academics, and possible increases in attendance rates. This article also does list some of the drawbacks of having a four-day school week. These drawbacks consist of increased fatigue and stress for teachers, longer school days, and possibly being worse for students in the long run. Overall I believe that Walker did a great job in listing both the pros and cons of school districts taking part in four-day school weeks. Regardless, this article also seemed to be a little back and forth rather than stating a clear argument on whether or not a four-day school week is good or bad. This article does however provide many different sources to properly back up their reasoning and research. The only suggestion that I have for this article is to simply make their position on the subject more apparent to the audience. I plan on using this source to provide insight on the many different advantages there are in having a four-day school week. I also might use this source to help provide a counterargument with insight and examples of the disadvantages that come with a four-day school week.