Students sound off on the Wednesday “class”

As the year progresses, parents and students alike are becoming frustrated with what feels like a constant change in procedures and schedules, Wednesdays being a big topic of discussion.

To get an idea of what the students thought about the Wednesday schedules a few juniors and seniors were asked their thoughts on Wednesday synchronization becoming more strictly enforced.

“I definitely like the asynchronous schedule better than the new enforcing. I’m taking a lot of harder classes this year and their work takes more than 45 minutes to complete if I want to get it done right. I think having teachers assign work on Wednesday is completely fine but the time limit is a little ridiculous. if teachers want quality work then give students an appropriate amount of time to complete it instead of having them run through it.” -Mollie Crabtree, Class of 2021

Students are noticing that previously on Wednesdays, work was assigned at the beginning of the day and they had until 2:25 -for some teachers- or the rest of the day to complete the assignment. And now, many are seeing that they are required to complete their assignments during the corresponding class’s block.

“I don’t like it. I’m a really driven student so I don’t need the school to enforce the schedule on me. I wake up, get my work done early, and have a chill afternoon. I know that some people enjoy waking up later and doing their work in the afternoon, and I think that’s fine! As long as it gets done what’s the difference? Plus the schedule is already so confusing, and online school is so stressful. It’s bad for our eyes and our mental health and I don’t think this is going to work out long term.” -Rachel Davis, Class of 2021

Now some teachers have opted for requiring their students to meet during their block instead of assigning them asynchronous work. Many students have varying opinions on meets instead of assignments.

“I like the asynchronous work better I’d say, just because sometimes it’s the only class I have to join, and I don’t feel like I learn much. I also don’t like the new enforcements for Wednesday’s because the teachers give assignments that I cannot get done in the allotted amount of time.” -Ella McDonough, Class of 2022

Although the students feel as though there has been a change, according to OA principal Mr. Paul this is the way Wednesdays were always meant to be.

“Wednesday’s learning experience is synchronous and therefore must occur during the class time frame. The experience may comprise a number of formats: a specific assignment that can be accomplished in 44 minutes, a google meet class check-in, a jam board, a project status submission or an activity log are all acceptable options.”

And while the teachers are required to have some method of synchronous work during the allotted time of their blocks, Mr. Paul did specify that it is up to the teachers’ discretion to accept late work. This seems to be new information to some of the student body.

“I believe that it’s more of a rush for students to get in the work and more sloppy work than actually good quality work. It’s already a stressful year for us and it’s adding more stuff in our classes.” -Ryan Moore, Class of 2022

Thankfully the reason behind this model is indeed explained in that,

“Without period by period accountability, the day would not be viewed as a School Day but rather a day of Homework and we would not be given credit for Wednesdays counting as a school.”