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Teachers face challenges after break
TUES. | 11-29-21 | FEATURES
Students are now well into the school year and more than halfway through the first semester. Since there have not been any holiday breaks thus far, students are starting to get very stressed and tired, but Thanksgiving break is just around the corner. The excitement is beginning to rise around the school with students talking about their plans for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but a week or two off of school can really mess up students’ schedules and make them lose some of that motivation they have been building up all year.
Rose biology teacher Michael Walter has been teaching for 24 years and has been at Rose for the last 14 years.
“My favorite part of teaching is interacting with students, sharing information with them that they have never heard before, and because it's science trying to connect the real world to what they see in the textbook and notes,” Walter said.
Teachers and students both notice a loss of motivation and lack of participation right before or after a long break. With Thanksgiving break coming up and Christmas break shortly after that, several of them have been expressing their concerns.
“The current work ethic of my students is getting better,” Rose math teacher Nicole Leary said. “I think in the beginning, everyone was still in a COVID coma, where they expected to not have as much work and the stamina wasn’t there, but the work ethic is getting better and I can tell they are working harder.”
Walter says he has noticed a pattern in the work ethic of his students depending on what type of classes they're taking.
Photo by Averi Simpson
“The higher level classes seem to have less motivation than my standard classes, and I think it's because they are craving what they had last year with COVID,” Walter said.
Though students’ work ethic is acceptable right now, it may drop soon with the anticipation of the break coming up.
“All they can think about is [how they’re] about to have one or two weeks off and they don’t want to do anything,” Leary said. “I myself lose motivation, thinking about Christmas break with my kids and not having to be at work every day and just being able to stay in my pajamas all day.”
The return after a break is not always easy, as it can be hard for some students to adjust.
“Usually after a break it does seem to always be a little more of a refreshed sense,” Walter said. “Always dragging a little bit, whether you're a teacher or a student.”
It can be frustrating for teachers when their students are not putting in 100 percent, however, the teachers have learned how to come up with ways to help their students.
“I try to find fun incentives to motivate them so they want to do their work.” Leary said.
Walter also has ways to help his students.
“Routine, routine, routine, I try not to wait too long to jump back into what they were doing the day we left,” Walter said.