I just wanted to say my high school was on trimesters and I liked it. It helped me finish Spanish 4 by the end of my sophomore year among other benefits.
And about the exams, you probably don't really have more exams. We had 5 classes per trimester which means a total of 15 exams a year. A neighboring school district (on semesters) had 7 classes per semester equaling 14 exams a year. Thats only 1 more exam. I'm not sure how your school is doing things but I would bet that if you do the math, you probably dont have more exams, they're just more frequent.
I understand what you are saying. I really like the trimesters, but then again, I never got to experience what it was like the other way.
Before we were on block scheduling, where we would have 6 classes split up over 2 days, the first three on one day, second three on the next, and each class was I think 90 minutes, then we would get seminar at the end of the day, which I think would be really nice so we could get work done and all of that, but still it's a trade off we had to make for trimesters.
But as far as exams, we do have more than with the other schedule because the requirements have changed. We now have to have 4 years of all four core classes, and we now have to have an exam in EVERY class.
So with the block scheduling, we would only change classes out 2 times a year opposed to three, so we would only have 2 sets of exams a year, but there were 6 classes instead of 5, which adds another exam. But, it depends on the classes because last year we didn't have to have an exam for classes like band and foods and choir and all of that, and this year we do. I can't speak from experience when I say that would mean more exams myself, but that's what we were told by the administrators anyway.
I like the trimesters, I just think it wasn't as thought out as it should have been. It does give us more options in case we fail a class or want to test out and things like that, but there should have been more planning behind it, you know what I mean? The end of the trimesters this year is horrible, since nobody is used to it so the staff just keep on their normal curriculum like the would with the blocks, then the final couple weeks of the tri the teachers realize SHOOT, IT'S THE END OF THE TRIMESTER AND WE AREN'T EVEN CLOSE TO COVERING ALL THE MATERIAL.
So then it all gets loaded onto us to learn the required material in that short time before exams.
I haven't really been satisfied with my high school this year, I mean I love it, but it doesn't keep the students or the parents informed very well. They always pull last minute stuff on us, cancel this meeting this day, hold a last minute meeting after school the next day with little notice, it gets really irritating. It seems like they think that everyone can just la-tee-da drive around to school all day, but some of us can't. And the parents feel the same way, some parents never even found out about parent teacher conferences because they don't send mail out to parents anymore.
Which is another big deal to us, it's ridiculous. This year everything has moved ONLINE, grades, notices, schedules, everything. They don't send out report cards, progress reports, notice to students and parents about exam schedules, conferences, meetings, dates with school/no school, and all that, and I think they should. They want us to use the school web site like a bible, and some people don't have access to that. It requires a user ID and password given to them by the school, well they weren't exactly handing them out to everyone because it was the beginning of the year and they weren't sure if the new site would be reliable to use for the whole year, it was sort of in testing stages. Well, now it's almost March, and the people who didn't get them at the beginning of the year because they didn't go to the school meetings over summer, well, they were being told they are SOL up until last week when we started doing next years schedules.
Well, now we do schedules online too, and it's from the students ID, not the students AND parents ID, so the parents don't get to see what classes their child is taking unless their child shows them, which for some parents is a big deal, but not really to my parents. A lot of people are taking classes behind their parents backs. My parents weren't THRILLED when I wanted to take French, for whatever reason, but I took it anyway. They aren't keeping the parents as involved as they should be IMHO. I understand that high school is about preparing you to be on your own, but at the same time the school shouldn't be keeping people in the dark.
Some examples that I can think of off the top of my head:
Parent teacher conferences were last month: We don't get letters telling us when they are anymore, so it's all based on spoken word and the website, which, to be honest, a lot of times isn't updated.
Believe it or not, some students don't have a computer, or a computer with internet access. We live in a VERY rural area, and a lot of us are stuck with dial up.
Anyway, the day of the conferences we had a snow day. Well, they were cancelled despite the line of parents who showed up anyway outside of the door. They were rescheduled for the following week, but how did the parents find that out? Their children. How did the children find that out? Some friends. How did the friends find that out? A teacher. See where i'm going? It's all spoken word, and I don't think that should be happening. We used to be sure on these things.
Some of us never found out they were rescheduled, including myself.
Lets face it, parent teacher conferences aren't exactly the talk of high school students.
Anyway, the next week came, and that day just happened to be the day international club went to go see step in the imax (loved it), which they had been planning for MONTHS, so the french teacher who ran the international club couldn't be there, nor could the students going. And band festival is going on that day too, so the band teacher was gone too, which again, was planned months ahead of time.
It didn't seem like a very logical day to make PTCs, so in the end I guess it wasn't the end of the world that me or my parents didn't find out about the conferences, but they should be smarter about that.
Example two, well this is short, but my mother decides to hassle me for weeks about when my report card is coming in the mail like it usually does. I didn't know, the teachers didn't know, I don't know who knew. Come to find out, that's when they decide to tell people that they aren't sending report cards out anymore, that instead, the students grade will be posted online as soon as the site is back up due to technical difficulties, and if they wanted to see their current grades they should have attended parent teacher conferences which after being rescheduled nobody knew about.
Well, my mom has a bit of a mouth when someone does something stupid, so let's just say she gave the principle a piece of her mind, and her mouth too! I later heard from a friends mother who works in the office that the school has been getting calls just like the one from my mother.
I could go ON and ON even more than I already have about why my school (And other schools), and I could if anyone wants me to, but i'm sure nobody does (If you have read all the way to this point, than sir/ma'am you are a trooper.), but I just feel like the things that seem minor to the staff, are actually MAJOR to the students and parents have been cut out due to budget cuts. It's a sad truth, but the Michigan economy is like a hand in the snow without a mitten, dead. (Anyone catch my excruciatingly lame joke there?)
Long story short:
New Requirements+New Scheduling+Overworking and understaffing+MAJOR budget cuts=An interesting school year.
I apologize in advance for this post, mostly due to length, but it's been on my mind for a long time, I needed to post it somewhere, just to joke myself into thinking someone reads it. ;D
PS,
For spring break I will most likely be driving to Missouri to visit my great grandmother. We went last year, and we stopped at many sights along the way, including a fascinating Abe Lincoln museum and the Gateway Arch, and it was fun. But money is tight, and by the time the gas tank is full, the wallets will be empty, so who knows. It was a relatively cheap trip last year, considering the cost of flights.
But it was awfully crowded in the little ford windstar last year crammed with 8 people (one in a car seat) from Michigan to Missouri, but in the past year my mother has bought a GMC Safari, so that's a bit bigger, but worse on gas.
Cram 8 people into a little van for HOURS, let alone from MY family, instant reality TV.;D
What would everyone do on their spring break ideally (meaning cost aside)?
It must have worked because I am feeling much better today!
