Varied Class Sizes A Problem For Teachers
Hannah Berliner
Everybody remembers the first day of the trimester. Walking into each class anxious to see if you will have any of your friends in it, or if your super cute crush will sit next to you. Well imagine walking into your class to notice that every desk is taken and there are over 30 students in it. Then you walk to your next class to see a measly size of six. This is what many students at VHS have to deal with this trimester.
There are 526 students currently enrolled at VHS. Government teacher, Cindy Powell has 126 students throughout four periods of the day, which is almost 25% of the student body seen by just one teacher.
“There’s nothing educationally viable about having such big classes and since we use a Socratic method in discussions, it’s hard to explore in depth political issues when there’s not two sides to the issue,” said Powell.
Powell also mentioned that the hard thing about having such big classes is that it limits the amount of work the teacher can do and the amount of attention the teacher can give each student. It’s hard for the teachers to be available for the students if all 30 students need help.
Due to scheduling issues this trimester Spanish teacher Kathy Kirkland has 56 students throughout four periods of the day.
“Having such small classes is wonderful because you get to teach to the students individual needs and the students have more time to participate in class,” said Kirkland.
Many of her former students, especially juniors, had trouble fitting Spanish into their schedules due to American studies. Also, many of Kirkland’s students had to take Spanish through TCC or BYU. Next trimester, Kirkland’s class size will return to about 100 students throughout the day.
Right behind Powell, art teacher Amy Dubin has 124 students during the day. Although Dubin has almost as much as Powell, she feels very fortunate to have so many students.
“I am happy to teach as many students as I can because I understand that at the school the electives are limited and I know how important it is for students to have art in their lives. Although I love having a lot of students, I run out of room in the art room for bodies and artwork, and I also run out of supplies quicker,” said Dubin.
New to the school this year, American studies and world history teacher Mike Zecher has the second lowest amount of students ranking in at 62.
“Since I am just getting adjusted, I appreciate the few students because I can get to know them as individuals. I think having a small class can be hard depending on the mix of students when you are teaching history because you can have a lack of diversities in opinions,” said Zecher.
Although Zecher and Kirkland enjoy having such small classes junior Leslie Reynolds opinion differs.
“It’s hard being in Ms. Kirkland’s fifth period class of six, because with such a small class it can become really boring when there is so few kids to participate. It’s also hard because I am the only junior so I am not as close as the other students are to each other,” said Reynolds.
Whether you’re in a class of 30 trying to squeeze into the jammed packed room or a class of six enjoying the empty desks, realize that you are not the only one in the school who wants a normal size class.
Two Students Win P.I.E. Grant Acoustic Shell
Micah Sohl
At the beginning of the year Literary Journal encountered a problem with Open Mic. After their first meeting, Open Mic was moved to the gym due to overcrowding in the Theatre. The problem was that the gym was not a hospitable place for Open Mic. Two juniors, Greg Pendergast and Reece Lazarus did a little research on their options.
“We knew the acoustics were bad in the gym, so we wanted to find a way to make the gym be more like the theatre but still fit everybody,” said Pendergast.
They found some sound shells that would work and would help improve the overall sound.
“The sound in the gym has a lot of reverb and has a lot of echo. The shells should cut down on the echoing effect, direct the sound towards the audience, and add more clarity to the overall sound,” said Pendergast.
A problem arose, when they looked into buying the sound shells. The cost was a little over $7000.They asked Ms. Hanson what they should do about the cost. Her advice was to write a Partner In Education grant to purchase them. After filling out the questions for the grant they had Lit Journal advisor, Greg McElroy sign it and sent it off. P.I.E responded stating that they would pay for $7035 dollars of the cost. Lit Journal paid off the little money that was left over.
The sound shell can be used for other various activities as well as open mic.
“The reason that P.I.E. approved them is because we could use them for different activities. They can be used for anything that involves an amplification system or even events like graduation have the option of using them. They are very easily portable so they can also be used at McMurray or Chautauqua,” said Pendergast.
Thanks to P.I.E., VHS now has a great new asset help the current Open Mic and other activities. The shells should arrive this week which will make them available for Open Mic on Friday, January 20.