The extended time experience, why the change was made

PHOTO: Students find their assigned classroom for extended time with help from school administrators.

By Vikrant Prasad

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

Students were introduced to the new, and chaotic for some, extended time schedule on Wednesday, Oct. 26. Instead of being placed in their regular fourth period class, students were given the option to select which class they would like to join for the 32 minute extended time period on Wednesdays. 

With this big change, it left some students confused and some teachers stressed for its implementation, but overall most of the students, teachers, and administrators felt that the shift went fairly smoothly.  

“It went far better than expected,” director of instructional technology Scott Thomsen said.

Thomsen was responsible for much of the work involving the connection between students and teachers throughout the process, and making sure the schedule and needed information was easily accessible to students and teachers. 

Thomsen was nervous with the big shift. He had seen a similar format be implemented in Da Vinci High but with much fewer students, so he thought there might be some complications on a larger scale. 

Fortunately, there weren’t many major issues with the new schedule. There were some students that were confused and didn’t know where to go, but this was only a small portion. 

Most students got assigned to the class they wanted, but there were some who didn’t. This was because they either didn’t sign up at all or signed up late, after many of their classes had reached their 32 student capacity. .

Sophomore Rowan Dinunzio felt that it was confusing at first to sign up and understand what the purpose of this new format was, but as more emails and announcements were sent out, he got more familiar with the system.

“It’s good that you can have time to go to a teacher and talk to them and get help with things you need help with,” Dinunzio said. 

Sophomore Arnoldson Nguyen, also had an overall positive experience with the new schedule, and appreciated how you could choose what class you want. He didn’t have any struggles with the new setup and thought the canvas explanations helped a lot with the process.

“I don’t mind the new schedule. It’s not too inconvenient,” Nguyen said.

French teacher James Curley and Thomsen, who worked together in organizing the system, believe the intent of this change is to support the students. Curley wants to make sure that students find an “extended time home,” and can find a place that works best for them. 

“The objective is to provide students with an effective support time for their academic improvement and social and emotional feelings, or find a personal recharge space,” Curley said.

Curley says the purpose of this new structure is to “let them choose the best place for them, depending on their week.”

“Our number one goal is to make the student experience as seamless as possible,” Thomsen said.

Curley, Thomsen, and many others will continue to modify and improve the system so that students can feel like they got something out of this experience.