In a school year full of change, HR students and teachers have become increasingly flexible and adaptive to anything that is thrown at them. After finally getting some consistency with the way classes were run, after the new year, the system was changed yet again in order to get the most education out of the unique circumstances students have experienced this school year. What was once something students and teachers were getting used to, was changed at the drop of a pin.
During the first semester of the 2020-21 school year, HR followed a hybrid schedule where three days a week would be synchronous, or active guided learning, and two days a week would be asynchronous, also known as unguided school work. This meant that students who were at home would do work assigned to them online while teachers could focus on the students in person. “During the first semester, I think the schedule was great. It really was helpful when teachers only had to focus on us in class instead of both the in-person kids and the kids online,” said Nolan Schroder, senior.
At the end of the first semester, Douglas County School District was moved back into a full online learning model due to the increase of COVID-19 cases in the area. In this model, depending on your class and the day, students would attend specific classes for either 5-10 minutes or the full 50 minutes. During asynchronous days, students would check in for 5-10 minutes and then be let go and allowed to work on their assignments while synchronous teachers would get the option to host up to 50 minutes of guided instruction. This allowed students to not be overwhelmed with sitting in front of their computer screen for up to 7 hours a day.
As the district emerged out of this all online model and back into hybrid, a new model of hybrid learning was implemented. In the most recent model, whether online or in person, teachers have the option to keep students synchronous for the full 50 minutes. “Moving from last semester to this semester was a big change,” said Jack Templeman, junior. “I feel like with all the change we’ve experienced in the past year I’ve forgotten what normal is like.”
While this change has been tough on students, some teachers have been able to adapt to this change very well. “For me personally, the change between the two forms of hybrid hasn’t really affected my classes. Since the beginning of first semester I would instruct both my online kids as well as my in-person students,” said Mr. Sierra, a business teacher at HR. “I actually think that my classes have benefited with being taught whether in person or online. I record all my lessons so now instead of having to reteach if a student is absent, they can refer to the video from the day they missed.”
While Mr.Sierra was apple to find a bright spot in the cloudiness of these times, many students still aren’t loving this new way of learning. “I really dislike this new version of hybrid, and hybrid in general. I wish we could just go back to regular school,” said Jack Chiavacci, junior. Although it seems as if everyone wants to go back to the way things were, that option is unfortunately out of reach, but that all could soon change.
With the introduction of the first COVID-19 vaccines, the world has started to take its first steps back to normalcy. In addition to this, the DCSD school board will be hosting a meeting on Tuesday, March 2 to discuss next steps to returning to school fully in person.
Jake West, Staff Reporter
