Teachers adapt to less class time

By Charlotte Hood, Section Editor

The rigorous regime of AP teachers is difficult to compact into a single school year under normal circumstances, but now teachers are left with an even shorter window of time before the much dreaded AP exams rear their ugly heads.

The already condensed school year, due to block scheduling, was severed even further due to Hurricane Irma and the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.  AP teachers were then forced to adapt their lesson plans to prepare their students for the tests.

“I’ve been giving them…a lot of the work for them to do on their own,” AP Chemistry teacher Diana Zambrano said. “I’ll explain something, but we didn’t have enough time to do a lot of problems in class.”

Along with more independent work, teachers have also had to cut material to focus on the content that makes up the bulk of the exam.

“I cut a few things out that I figured weren’t as important,” AP Biology teacher Claudia Singkornrat said. “In the long run, I think you just have to adapt and do what you have with the time.”

Because of this chaotic schedule, teachers are sacrificing some of their free time to ensure their students know the necessary material.

“With rushing through there is a lot more grading in a shorter time period, so that .. .nighttime and weekends (I’m) spending extra time grading,” AP Human Geography teacher Lisa Gould said.

In the end, teachers believe that, after their own contributions, it’s up to the students themselves to put in the work needed to pass.

“I feel that the kids that do good…do good no matter what the circumstances because they live up to the requirements,” Zambrano said.

Posted: May 4