Several teachers instruct more than one course at once. They have two curriculums in the classroom during the same hour at the same time.
While the teacher instructs students from one course, the other students are left on their own to work or practice.
“On A days, [Mr. Matt] Beazley will probably come out for about 30 minutes a class and spend the other hour with the Guitar 1 kids,” junior Sam Winter said. “On C days he usually just gives us an assignment and expects us to practice on our own.”
The Guitar 2 students spend the remainder of the class working on their own in the hallway on book songs, theory pages or other assignments.
“It requires very independent students,” Beazley said.
Though they are usually productive, there is some wasted time, according to junior Matthew Bernstein. Despite this, Winter believed the situation may be beneficial.
“We get more one-on-one time with him outside of the class because it is just us two working with him rather than him just hearing the whole class,” Winter said. “I don’t think it would benefit me as much if I were in a class with all of the Guitar 2 kids because this gives me the opportunity for more one-on-one help. He can specifically help me with what I’m doing now rather than just critique what the class is doing wrong.”
According to Bernstein, on the other hand, there are some slight downfalls.
“We’re still able to learn music and theory well. We have to work harder on our own. We don’t have as much time to play as a group or work in whole songs, only specific trouble spots,” Bernstein said. “Without another class, we would be better off with theory worksheets and the note-learning aspect. We would be able to master songs quicker, especially strum patterns.”
Similar situations are prevalent in other classes as well. Journalism teacher Ms. Tara Stepanek teaches Radio & TV and Advanced Broadcasting seventh hour. Freshman Jeffrey Eidelman is a student in the Radio and TV class.
“Ms. Stepanek spends more time teaching us, then lets us work on our projects. We can ask her questions when we need to,” Eidelman said. “I don’t think it affects us all that much. It’s tough on her, we can see that. I understand what she’s teaching just fine, and from what I can see everyone else does too.”
Though Eidelman does not consider the split attention an issue, he did acknowledge the possibility of differences if only one class was held at a time.
“We’re given a lot of freedom,” Eidelman said. “There’s some messing around sometimes, so if we were the only class there’d be a lot less of that.”
