During the 2022-2023 school year, Tutorial was implemented into the SCHS schedule in an attempt to give students easier access to resources and support from teachers. Inspired by student support hours utilized during distance learning, these 50-minute periods every Wednesday and Friday allow students to go to one of their current classes to complete work.
Since then, the period has become an efficient solution for many to work on missing assignments, meet up with teachers or even retake tests. Freshman Avika Shukla reflected on Tutorial being beneficial to students who have commitments outside of school.
“I think it’s a very effective tool for students to be sort of on their own pace,” Shukla said. “A lot of people have active work days and stuff that they need to put aside time for.”
As Tutorial continues to be developed and adapted into the schedule, many have suggestions to further maximize the benefits. Math teacher Christopher Gallick believes that tutorial would be better with a greater amount of time provided.
“It’s unfortunate that there’s only two tutorials in a week at a maximum and sometimes not even two because tutorial period is consumed with assemblies and stuff like that,” Gallick said.
For sophomore Dawud Ayub, expanding tutorial time would also promote focus and productivity for students to get work done.
“Honestly, I wish the tutorial was a bit longer. It’s around 50 minutes, (but) I wish it was more of the same length as a block period,” Ayub said. “For the people that actually want to get work done, it’s hard to get in the right mindset in such a short amount of time.”
Like Gallick and Ayub, other students share similar sentiments about different ways that Tutorial can improve. Freshman Yifan Zhao feels that the inability to switch between classes during Tutorial hinders his completion of certain tasks.
“The disadvantage is if you’re wanting to switch a class in the middle like I had to do that one time because of the field guide (a science project), but I wasn’t able to,” Zhao said.
Though Shukla acknowledged the potential benefits of switching between classes, she mentioned how this may be difficult for teachers to manage considering aspects of organization.
“I think it would have been useful if I had to communicate with other people through the classes for stuff that required me a lot of time, (but) for administrators, it would probably be easier to have everyone just stay in their classes,” Shukla said.
While Tutorial has its pros and cons, it is ultimately up to students to work efficiently during this time. Gallick brought up how effectiveness can vary depending on the student.
“Students who don’t need the help are going to be fine no matter what, so hopefully, they use their time wisely during tutorial. But I think it’s beneficial for the students who need a little bit of extra help or need to spend 30 minutes making up an assignment or a quiz,” Gallick said.
Despite Tutorial being a relatively new process to SCHS, it has potential to continue to support and facilitate many in their learning beyond class time.
“There’s students who have the opportunity to meet with their group mates or teammates for various projects where they would not otherwise be able to do that during class,” Gallick said.