Seminar time is a new addition to the Spring Lake High School schedule this year. It is a 40 minute period every Tuesday and Thursday from 9:58 a.m. – 10:38 p.m. that all students participate in. This period is intended for working on homework, studying and otherwise catching on up schoolwork. The questions remain: Do people enjoy the new seminar period, and are students using it properly to get things done?
Of 15 sophomores surveyed, three said that they use it to get homework done every time, eight said that they do homework if they have it, and four said that they use their phones during the entire period. A correlation I noticed during the survey was that students with more rigorous coursework tended to use the seminar time to do homework rather than other non-work related activities. When asked if they enjoyed the seminar, two said they did, six said sometimes, and seven said no.
Sophomore Matthew Kovicak said, “Sometimes it is fun… depends on the day.”
Another factor that seemed to affect the enjoyability of seminar time was the teacher that supervises the period. Different teachers have different rules, so some seminar rules may be more loosely enforced in some classrooms when compared to others, such as phone usage, talking, and even playing games on chromebooks.
When asked if it was beneficial, sophomore Jameson Morell said, “It allows you to get more done at school and relax at home, especially for those with sports practices.”
When asked what they would change about the seminar, Matthew Kovicak responded, “It should be three days a week towards the end of the day on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.”
Jameson Morell added, “I wish I could choose who was in my seminar class so I could be working on the same work as the people around me.”
Should we be able to choose who is in our seminar group? If people who were taking similarly difficult classes, or just who in the same grade, were put in a seminar group, it could create a great dynamic of focused people working on similar work and give them the ability to share their findings and ideas.
On the other hand, those taking less difficult classes that want to use the seminar as a break from school could be in the same classrooms. They would probably be less focused, but it could make the seminar more enjoyable for less achieving students instead of a time of silence rotting on your phone. You could also allow students to choose 5-10 students out of their class and choose the seminar times accordingly based on students that both chose each other or were in the same grade.
All of this information could be gathered through a Schoology survey and could be chosen accordingly. Seminar time is a different time for different people. For some, especially high achieving students, it is a time to get things done, but for others it is a time to watch their favorite Netflix show. I know that this distinction can be used very effectively to enhance seminar time to accommodate all students and to not only make seminar more enjoyable, but also a time to get work done.
