Advisory: Is it Helpful?

In light of COVID, the advisory period was removed from the schedule last year along with several other items. This year the school was able to add it back into our routine to allow us time for meeting with our teachers. However, advisory was brought back with several changes that were meant to promote community building. These changes included Monday advisor meetings and Wednesday club meetings. On other days, students have time to study, retake tests and get help. 

There are many positive effects and many teachers and students find it useful and can use the time productively. However, even with the possibility of extra help, many students still find that they could be using the time during advisory for more productive things than what is scheduled. After interviewing students and hearing opinions from every grade, we learned that many students would prefer advisory without scheduled activities such as clubs and meetings in advisor groups.

Many have held the complaint that mandatory club Wednesdays are not helpful for them. Some students are willing to participate in clubs that meet during lunch or other days of the week and don’t have a club they want to go to on Wednesdays. Many have also raised complaints about Monday advisory meetings. They believe that there are activities that can provide community building without having weekly scheduled meetings. For example providing balls to play four square on the tennis courts, or having outdoor games similar to P.E. games played in middle school like capture the flag flag flag, or crossover. Or for those who are less athletic, providing board games and cards. Many students want more time to socialize with friends, especially those without free periods or extra curricular activities.

Students say they want the ability to control the way they learn as much as possible. When looking at students’ opinions on the topic, it indicates that certain aspects of advisory should be changed to accommodate more freedom.