This year classes at HHS seem to be bigger and more crowded than usual.
“2-3 years ago they had to do a reduction of force because the district didn’t have enough money to pay all the teachers they had so they had to choose a subject to cut a teacher from and they chose math.”
For the senior Calculus class with Kirk Ortegren the classroom space is very cramped and limited. The problem with these “crowded classrooms” is that students may not be able to focus well or get the help that they want.
“A smaller class allows the teacher to give the 1 on 1 attention and if you need help you’re more likely to get it in a smaller class than in a bigger class.”
However, some students like the bigger classes because they feel that all the people know what the coming schedule is, and they can work in groups.
“It’s easier to connect with everybody in there when we’re working in groups it’s easier to help each other solve the problems if everybody knows each other there then we can text each like ‘hey how’s that problem going?’”
Even though group work can be beneficial, these bigger classes have the potential to do more harm than good when it comes to students grades.
“I think the size of the class does matter, I think it will affect what kind of grades the kids will get but not as much as the teaching as long as we use good teaching methods and stay on top of things as a teacher we can still achieve the same results as we could with a smaller classroom.”
Having these bigger classes also creates a hassle for the teachers with grading and getting things done.
“I like to pay attention to what the kids know and what they don’t know it does make it harder to keep track of that because when you give a quiz to 150 that you have to grade you have to keep track personally on how they’re doing so I do think that you lose some of that personal relationship with the students.”
The bigger classes have caused frustration and confusion, but can be beneficial preparation for larger college classes.
