Flex Fridays offer freedom and flexibility

Flex Fridays offer freedom and flexibility

Allison Boyd, Staff Writer

Schools already look a lot different thanks to COVID-19, one of the many changes has been WSFCS moving to Flex Fridays instead of normal zoom classes on Fridays. Flex Fridays were created to allow students to get extra help with teachers if needed, and to complete and make up assignments. Many students have found this to be extremely helpful in staying on top of their work. 

“I love Flex Fridays because it allows me time to finish up my work for the week without a lot of new assignments being added to my workload,” sophomore Hope Martin said. 

Even though there are no scheduled zoom classes, many teachers offer office hours on Fridays to allow students to get one-on-one help if they need it. Students can go to whatever classes they need, but are not required to go if they do not need any extra help. 

“I go to my Pre-Calculus teachers office hours the most and they’re very helpful,” junior Molly Hignite said. 

Different teachers have had different expectations as far as how much work students will have on a Friday. Some have assignments due that Friday, some just allow students to make up any missing assignments and some use it as a way to allow students to get ahead on weekend homework. 

“Students are assigned a chapter from the book that we are reading in for class along with reading guide questions each Friday,” history teacher John Reynolds said. “This reading is due the following week and there is typically a quiz or discussion based upon the information in the reading guide.”

While students enjoy Flex Fridays, it can be difficult for teachers who are used to having more days to teach. For many, losing this amount of time is very challenging but it also gives teachers extra time for other things. 

“It is a bit challenging losing Fridays, but it has its advantages too,” Reynolds said. “The challenges of losing Fridays for new content are that in my course we cover close to 5000 years of history in about 3 ½ to 4 months. Losing Fridays has cost us 20% of our instructional time during 1st quarter and could potentially continue to do so during 2nd quarter. That being said, having Flex Fridays has made it much easier to grade assignments quickly for students, plan/create online assignments, conduct our weekly meetings, and schedule opportunities for tutoring with students.”

Many students at RJR also attend the Career Center for some of their classes. Flex Fridays are set up very similarly and both allow students to get any extra help they may need. 

“Flex Friday at Career Center involves asynchronous learning through a variety of learning opportunities provided by our faculty,” Career Center Principal Nancy Martinez said. “Teachers provide students with assignments as well as opportunities for tutoring and small group instruction.”

While Flex Fridays look very similar between the two, there are some differences specifically involving attendance. 

“It’s a little different, at both [RJR and Career Center] they have office hours where you can communicate with the teacher,” Hignite said. “But at Career Center they do count for attendance so you have to have some documentation that you were present that day so we usually get assigned some work that is due Friday during our class period.”

Overall Flex Fridays have helped students to be able to get the help they need and stay on top of assignments throughout this difficult time. Flex Fridays make navigating online school much easier and allow everything to run smoother.