California High School Adds an Eighth Class Period

High school students had a major change to their schedule when an eighth period was added. The eighth hour change was not different for the freshman class. They have had an eighth hour since they started middle school.

Freshman Tilly Watson said, "I really like it because that's what we had in middle school, so it wasn't much of a change."

The eighth hour class mostly affected the seniors and juniors, because they never had one, even in middle school. It didn't completely mess them up, but it did throw them off track a little with the classes being shorter.

High school teachers adapted well to the eighth hour change. One disadvantage is that teachers have more to grade and more to keep organized.

English and Theatre teacher Tiffany Brown said it is, "Fabulous for student, because they have a wider variety of classes but harder on teachers because they have more to grade and less time to plan and prepare."

In years past, students have had only seven classes of 51 minutes each. Now, to allow for an eighth period, school classes begin sooner, are only 46 minutes long, and school ends later.

The main thing students seem to be worried about is the fact that they have to get up earlier than what they were used to. Last year classes started at 8 a.m., now classes begin at 7:52 a.m.

Senior Melissa Olson said, "I like it because we have more classes with less time, so it's not as easy to get bored."

The eighth hour change was made for students to have more classes to pick from.

Cara Duenow, the California High School counselor said the goal was, "to offer more opportunities for students and help with classes sizes, and make them smaller." In the end, students and teachers both agree that the new eighth hour class period is good and effective.