Revised half-day comes to a halt
Photo: Juliana Wall
Students practice yoga poses during a half-day session. This half-day session is another session that will no longer be meeting on half-days, as well as others.
The administration has decided to cancel the upcoming revised half-day and return to a normal half-day with seven 30-minute classes.
“Close to 200 high school students didn’t show up that day,” said Mr. Will Bladt, Associate Head of School. The revised day was canceled because of the vast number of absences.
The administration looked back to the number of absences on last year’s half days and then compared them to this year’s.
“It [the number of absences] doubled. It was just under 100 kids and it went to about 180,” said Mr. Bladt.
The staff then realized that the half-day did not have the effect on the students they would have liked.
“We had almost 100 kids sign up, but we had only about 20 kids show up,” said Ms. Juliet Hellman, the eighth grade Spanish teacher.
Back in May after the 2013-2014 school year ended, the administration had their annual end of the year meeting to discuss the previous year and how they may want to improve it.
“We reflect on the previous year and imagine what we could do to make it better for the following year,” said Mr. Bladt.
The meeting was opened with the question of how half-days could be re-imagined. Mr. Bladt felt that it was just a day of accountability and that the students were not really learning anything.
“We wondered what we could do […] if we had an hour and a half or two hours,” said Mr. Bladt.
The administration wanted to offer classes that would be extensions of class activities and were experimental in nature.
“To me, it didn’t really matter because I already take art classes, so I’m just not going to have that art time,” said junior Courtney Tipton, when asked how she felt about the day being cancelled.
Tipton had gone on vacation the Thursday before and missed the half-day. She was signed up for Studio Time, which was taught by artist in residence and St. George’s art teacher Ms. Rose Doherty.
“We had to pull back and say ‘this is a good idea but perhaps where we’ve placed it on these half-days right before vacation is in fact a bad idea,’” said Mr. Bladt.
Mr. Bladt sent out a survey to the students for feedback about the half-day schedule, and around 200 students responded to the survey and the overall opinion about the day was positive.
Source: Will Bladt
The graph displays the data and responses collected about improvements of the experiential half day program. The half day program went well after the first day; however, the lack of attendance has caused the program to be canceled.
“That was the best time ever,” said sophomore Elle Vaughn who took Book and Blanket in the Library as well as Comic Book Production with Mr. Andre Miller, another artist in residence and art teacher.
“I think it is a good thing [that it was cancelled] for other people though, who didn’t want to be in the things they were put in and then they were stuck there for two hours,” said Tipton.
“It was a fun experience and I would love to do it again,” said eighth grader Jordan Blakely who did not like that the half-days were cancelled.
“The community seems to be split. Half the people are sending their kids to school and the kids there are overwhelmingly saying that this was positive and then there’s half saying that they’re not even coming,” said Mr. Bladt.
Some students were excited about the day while others did not want to give it a chance; possibly because they had no interest in the class they were assigned.
“If you didn’t take the survey you got put in a spot,” said Mr. Bladt.
Mr. Bladt had sent out a sign up sheet weeks before the first half-day so that students could select the top five classes they wished to take.
“We’re going to do it at least one more time, and we’ll do it with the same offerings. People will stay in their same groups; it’s probably going to be after the Winter Break,” said Mr. Bladt.
The administration would like the revised half-day to be a hit, so they plan to improve it and find solutions to the hiccups.
“I hope that we can have half-days that are a little bit more organized,” said Ms. Hellman.
“We would like to give teachers more time to plan it [their class] out, and to think about how to make it dialed into experiential learning,” said Mr. Bladt.
The administration wanted to give students an environment where they could develop and organize something they wanted to do with a teacher who would facilitate and help them meet their goals.
“The teachers put themselves in the position of the students and really thought about what was going to tap into their curiosity,” said Mr. Bladt.
Mrs. Kristi Schultz, the upper school Chemistry teacher, and Mr. Michael Masters, who teaches Biology, AP Biology, and AP Chemistry, taught Meeting Scientists. Because the students had reached out to the scientists and set up the times to meet with them, the administration allowed them to go on the field trip they had planned for the half-day.
“We thought it was really important to honor the work that they had done and say go for it,” said Mr. Bladt.
Mr. Bladt hopes to see future half days that are important learning days that the student body is strongly invested in and values.
“I would love for the students to continue to work to dream this with us to create some really amazing experiential learning opportunities,” said Mr. Bladt.
