"Advisory was added to OSA’s schedule this year by Assistant Principal Ms. Zaugg."--Jif dillemuth
Advisory was added to OSA’s schedule this year by Assistant Principal Ms. Zaugg. She stated that the intention behind Advisory was, “The OSA Advisory program promotes meaningful relationships between staff and students while providing a structure to integrate all students into our school community.”
Many schools have advisories, and in changing to a block schedule has allowed time for advisory this year for the first time at OSA. When asked how advisories were picked, Zaugg responded, “We tried to balance the number of grade level students and introduce students to teachers/artists/musicians they would otherwise not know at OSA. In addition to grade, we looked at emphasis and wanted students to be in a different group of students than they usually spend their day with.” Zaugg explained that all advisors should be teaching the same lessons but they can be flexible to what their advisory needs.
Students display many reactions to the change.“I think OSA started advisory to help with not only homework, but also the social lives of kids, and to try to let the students connect more with the teachers. I don’t think it's working very well,” an eighth grade Literary Arts student at OSA claimed. A seventh grade Production Design student at OSA was also asked the purpose of advisory and answered, “It’s probably so all the kids could connect with each other from different grades and talk about what’s going on and OSA teachers to understand how to help us.”
When asked what a typical advisory class looks like, students from different advisories all had different responses. One student said because of staffing changes they haven’t had any lessons and they’ve just been talking to each other or going on their phones. Another student shared that they normally talk about how their week is going and then do a lesson. A third student communicated that so far all of the lessons have been different. Some days they don’t have to do anything, and some days there’s a lesson and people who want to share their opinion do so. Most students agree that it’s usually the same few students who talk the whole time and the shy people just listen.
Many students, however, communicated that advisory was not serving its purpose for them. They gave suggestions for what they would rather do with the time. Some ideas were having a study hall block where students could go to teachers from whom they needed help, or having a longer lunch or passing period since the five minute passing periods are too short.
Zaugg said that one of the intentions of advisory was for students to develop connections with teachers. However, when one of the students was asked who their advisor is she didn’t know their name. Zaugg said that she will be asking all students for their feedback about advisory at the end of the semester to find out if it is serving its purpose for students.
Many schools have advisories, and in changing to a block schedule has allowed time for advisory this year for the first time at OSA. When asked how advisories were picked, Zaugg responded, “We tried to balance the number of grade level students and introduce students to teachers/artists/musicians they would otherwise not know at OSA. In addition to grade, we looked at emphasis and wanted students to be in a different group of students than they usually spend their day with.” Zaugg explained that all advisors should be teaching the same lessons but they can be flexible to what their advisory needs.
Students display many reactions to the change.“I think OSA started advisory to help with not only homework, but also the social lives of kids, and to try to let the students connect more with the teachers. I don’t think it's working very well,” an eighth grade Literary Arts student at OSA claimed. A seventh grade Production Design student at OSA was also asked the purpose of advisory and answered, “It’s probably so all the kids could connect with each other from different grades and talk about what’s going on and OSA teachers to understand how to help us.”
When asked what a typical advisory class looks like, students from different advisories all had different responses. One student said because of staffing changes they haven’t had any lessons and they’ve just been talking to each other or going on their phones. Another student shared that they normally talk about how their week is going and then do a lesson. A third student communicated that so far all of the lessons have been different. Some days they don’t have to do anything, and some days there’s a lesson and people who want to share their opinion do so. Most students agree that it’s usually the same few students who talk the whole time and the shy people just listen.
Many students, however, communicated that advisory was not serving its purpose for them. They gave suggestions for what they would rather do with the time. Some ideas were having a study hall block where students could go to teachers from whom they needed help, or having a longer lunch or passing period since the five minute passing periods are too short.
Zaugg said that one of the intentions of advisory was for students to develop connections with teachers. However, when one of the students was asked who their advisor is she didn’t know their name. Zaugg said that she will be asking all students for their feedback about advisory at the end of the semester to find out if it is serving its purpose for students.
