The independent student media site of West Linn High School

wlhsNOW

The independent student media site of West Linn High School

wlhsNOW

The independent student media site of West Linn High School

wlhsNOW

Half-day Wednesdays allow more learning for all

Students+play+a+jeopardyesque+game+in+Honors+Law+A.+Many+teachers+have+evaluated+their+teaching+plans+to+accommodate+the+half-day+Wednesdays.
Students play a jeopardyesque game in Honors Law A. Many teachers have evaluated their teaching plans to accommodate the half-day Wednesdays.

What students wouldn’t want a half-day every month? Beginning today, WLHS will be implementing a new system of half-day Wednesdays that will not only provide students with additional studying or recreational time, but they will also allow the staff more time for development and the students more time in the classroom.

“The days are meant to be set up for professional development for staff,” Lou Bailey, principal, said. “As a school and district, due to teacher negotiations and calendar, we lost several days of professional development for teachers.”

The days, implemented throughout the West Linn-Wilsonville School District, will allow students to have more in-school days as opposed to furlough days, according to Bailey.

The school calendar has two more days in it this year, and in addition to increasing the learning time for students, according to Bailey, these half-days will allow the teachers more time to think about their teaching and enhance their lesson plans.

“This gives the staff meaningful time to talk with and work with their colleagues about teaching and learning,” Bailey said. “This time is not time to sit in their classroom and grade papers, but a time to work professionally with colleagues and admin around higher levels of learning for kids and strategies to create more effective teaching.”

Students agree that this will be more beneficial to the staff at the school, according to Gabriel Weitz, junior.

“I think that these days will be more fair to the teachers, instead of the furlough days we had last year,” Weitz said.

One of the only problems that students have faced with these half-days is the way that they were communicated to them. The information was available in the student planner and on the website, but most students found out from their friends.

“I didn’t even know this Wednesday was a half-day until a couple of days ago,” Renton said. “I heard from other students, not from my teachers.”

On these half-days that started today, students will have a six period day with classes running 35 minutes long. They will be let out for lunch at 12:30 p.m., and the buses will leave the school at 1:15 p.m.

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Mary Earp, Co Editor-in-chief
Perfectionist, outgoing and busy are just three of the many words that describe Mary Earp, senior.   Earp heard about Amplifier from her eighth grade English teacher, and has been  a part of the staff since her freshman year. Currently, she is one of the three Co-Editors-in-chiefs of the paper. Most  people have goals that they would like  to pursue in their life, and this is a true statement for Earp as well. “I want to be a doctor, and I know this sounds cheesy, but I would really like to make a difference in the world,” Earp said.  After high school,  her hopes include attending either Pomona  College or University of California, Berkeley. Outside of school, Earp has a very hectic life which includes playing co-ed soccer, being a member of the school Mock Trial team and being  the President of National Honor Society.  She is traveling to New York in late October for an international Mock Trial Competition, Empire, where she is assigned to present the closing argument and both direct and cross examinations for the trial. Some highlights of Earp’s summer were hanging out with friends and taking a vacation to North Carolina, where she visited family and spent some time at the warm sunny beach. If Earp could visit any place two places in the world, she would choose “Italy and Machu Picchu, Peru, because the scenery is beautiful,” Earp said. Her favorite year in high school so far was junior year. “It  challenged me the most and broadened my horizons,” Earp said. So far in her senior year, the class Earp most enjoys is AP Environmental Science, “It’s very interesting, enlightening, and I have a great teacher,” Earp said. Earp’s senior year is  packed with AP Environmental Science, AP Calculus BC and AP English, leaving her with a long night of work to complete.   The most challenging part of taking these classes “is all of the work involved,” Earp said. So far, her last year in high school has been hectic and full of work, yet she is excited and looking forward to all of the opportunities that lie ahead in her future.
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Half-day Wednesdays allow more learning for all