Loyola Academy Jesuit College Preparatory School
The Loyola Academy Prep Wednesday, September 27, 2017 A.M.D.G.
Volume K Issue I
www.goramblers.org
Students RAMBLE Around the Halls Emily Devyor LA News Editor With every new school year comes change, whether it’s a new haircut or some fresh kicks, but this year there was a big change for all of Loyola to get used to, a brand new schedule. Branded the RAMBLE schedule, students now have six classes a day, unlike last year where students had nine periods in a day. When this schedule was announced last year there were immediate questions from students and parents alike wondering – What prompted this change? and Is it really necessary for to happen right now? Understanding that there was going to be confusion as to how you could take nine classes and only have six classes a day, all the students were spoken to about how this change would happen and their questions got answered, for the most part. Now a schedule in theory and a schedule in action are two very different things, so when the day arrived to see the RAMBLE schedule in action, students and staff alike were on edge. The day came and went with a couple hiccups, showing up late to a class or two and many, many checks of OnCampus. After one day, the student body was decidedly unhappy with the new schedule with constant complaints regarding time for lunch and the new flex time. Junior Elizabeth Hallissey explained, “I don’t really know what to do with the flex time. I feel like they should have just given the
What’s Inside?
juniors and seniors like free time and not try to tell us where we can be when.” Many people seem to have a problem with the split lunch, because there are only certain areas that juniors can be when seniors are eating in the caf and vice versa. With the limited space, many people choose to go outside, where people can throw around a ball and really spread out, but with winter approaching soon and promised study rooms not opened yet, students are wondering where they will go when the cold comes. When talking to students it seems like the main problems with the schedule are the non-consistent, rotating class schedule and the half-caf/ half-flex lunch periods. However, no one seems to have a problem with the longer class periods that resulted from schedule change; the longer class periods that were extended from 43 minutes to 55 minutes seem to be working out for students and teachers alike. Teachers are able to cover more content and students are getting less homework because they’re getting class time to complete it. The extended class periods also allow students to have more time with teachers in case they are confused about a concept and need extra help. The push for longer class periods came from the math department, where teachers hoped that if they had more class time, they would be able to go more in depth with lessons so that kids could, hopefully, get a better grasp on what they were learning and receive better grades with this increased comprehension.
Natalie Huff, who is currently taking Algebra II and previously took AP Statistics had to say, “I feel like in math this year I’m going to get more done because we have more class time, but I’m not sure about not seeing my teacher every day to review what we’re learning.” Not seeing a teacher every day might be bad for some students, but for others it seems like not seeing your teacher every day is beneficial, because then you have a day to sit with the information yourself and perhaps look at it in a different way that your teacher didn’t originally show you. The math lab also recently changed its hours, so if students are looking for help on an assignment they can only go and see someone in the math lab from 7:00-11:00 instead of being in the entire day
to accommodate students. Another key point in the new RAMBLE schedule is now every student gets a lunch no matter what. In previous years, students would have Lab periods that would cut their lunch period short or they would have no lunch at all. Now, students have either A or B as their lunch in the brand new cafeteria. Although it wasn’t common for students to not get a lunch period, for the students who didn’t have lunch, it was very important that they got a lunch period and didn’t have to sacrifice their time to eat so they could go to a lab period. The last major reason that the schedule change was made was so that there were no longer late starts. Late starts happened so that teachers could have department meetings to talk with their colleagues about lesson
plans and the major themes that they would try to connect their lessons to so that students could learn most efficiently. Now, these teacher meetings happen during the school day, so that students don’t have to compromise their schedule every other Wednesday. This is especially helpful for students who have to make a long commute from the city and rely on public transit. Although students who live close to school might be annoyed that they don’t get 45 extra minutes of precious sleep, this makes the commute the people who don’t have cars a lot less complicated. In summation, everyone has their own take on the new RAMBLE schedule, and it seems there will never be one schedule that makes everyone truly happy and satisfies everyone’s wants and needs.
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Student have had positive and skeptical reactions to the new schedule. The biggest changes have been the introduction of flex and lunch time along with the house system for freshmen. Photo Courtesy The Year