As students enter their morning classrooms sleep-deprived and stressed out, they brace themselves for another routine-filled and tedious day. As they trudge through the hallways of South Forsyth, a burning question tends to come to mind. If a chance was given to the students to play the role of a teacher, how would they change the classroom? This question has been asked many times before, and SFHS students have their own answers for it. Although South Forsyth’s education and teachers are some of the best in the state, its students still seek to improve the school and its methods of education.

“Not everyone learns the same way. I feel like, for some classes, there is some kind of approach that is taken for everybody. Y’know, a ‘one size, fit all’ kind of thing,” suggests junior Maggie Lonswyay. “I would personally provide multiple resources to learn. But, I would still lecture them and give them material to learn individually.”

As the years pass by, South Forsyth is becoming larger and adding more possible classes for students to take. With so many classes, teachers in each classroom need a certain criteria and curriculum to use. However, everyone’s brain does not fit the same way. Some people are kinesthetic learners, and some work better with audio or videos. Although not all of South Forsyth’s classrooms follow this trend, some teachers do teach certain subjects into a single kind of curriculum. This makes it very difficult for students who cannot learn material through lectures alone or learn through personalized learning alone.

“I wish teachers would teach the notes and not give busy work when they are finished with the lesson,” says freshman Livvi Philpot.

Although this point is actually two separate points in one, they still connect. Several students do believe that teachers in South Forsyth do not spend enough time teaching their material. There are some students are able to absorb great amounts of information in a short amount of time. However, not everyone has this ability and learning speed. Even for those who are able to learn quickly, some are not ready to immediately turn to homework or projects and require time to let the material sink in.

“I would use something like Quizlet more often because it helps me learn at my own pace. I prefer these over study guides because it helps me memorize better,” states junior Joshua Joaquino. “I would also hope they can make a way to make education more exciting and interactive, like learning outside, for one example.”

This point stresses the same type of issue as the first point, which is that not all students are able to learn the same way as others do. Online tools like Quizlet are proven to be effective to teach material and teachers can use them more often to provide students with a more personalized option of learning. This fact may vary depending on the teacher, but students have different ways of learning that work best for them. Experiences like letting the students work independently and learning outdoors can give teachers insight on what kind of teaching students prefer.

“I would make the practice work not graded. Some of my teachers this year do grade my practice work. But, I believe teachers should not take them as a grade until we get to the point where we fully understand the material, and not when we are in the middle of learning it,” declared junior Elijah Tagann.

Depending on the teacher, they give out practice work in the form of worksheets or online quizzes. After the teacher is done teaching material for the day, they usually hand out worksheets or quick assignments to the students in order to enforce the material. Even though this does help the students learn, many still have criticisms for this type of work. When students receive brand-new material, they need time and practice to fully master it. Students are bound to make mistakes in their practice work as they are still in the process of learning it. However, for this very reason, students argue for practice work to not be graded until they fully understand the current material. Once students master what they are learning, they are able to comfortably take quizzes or tests and be fairly graded on their work.

“Some teachers, especially the online learning teachers, keep using the internet as their only means of teaching. This can lead to unfair treatment and misunderstanding for both the teachers and students,” senior Jordan Brant pointed out.

The school and its teachers are constantly using the internet as a means to improve their methods of teaching and to reach out to the students. Websites such as Itslearning are a testament to this change. However, many students have noticed how some teachers over-rely on Itslearning to teach students or provide them with new material. In one perspective, using Itslearning this way can prove to be effective for the teachers and space out time in their schedules. Even so, this proves to be the opposite case for some students as they do not learn as effectively online as they do in the classroom. Also, with online teaching, students are not able to ask for teachers’ assistance as they could in the classroom. Yes, they could message or email their teachers, but the process is very time-consuming and teachers usually cannot respond back immediately.

“One of our teachers makes us use a notebook to keep all of our work in it, ” sophomore Aditya Diwakar suggested. “It’s honestly very hectic to keep everything the way she wants it. I believe teachers should let students choose their own organization methods.”

Having a folder, notebook, or agenda can prove to be very useful in organizing assignments and notes. However, a few teachers do require notebooks for their students and have their own methods of organizing notes and homework. Although this can prove to be helpful to some students who need a way to sort out their work, there are others who have their own methods of organizing or at least cannot work with the system the teacher provides. It would be more efficient to both teachers and students to let the student choose their own organization systems. Teachers can still suggest their recommended methods to the students but ultimately leave it to the students to decide.

“I think we should have fewer or no out of school projects. They’re time-consuming, stressful, and it can be difficult to communicate with teachers about questions and complications that arise during the project,” said sophomore Jordan Sul.

Even though teachers frequently use projects to give students a more engaging way to learn, there are several who find it overly burdensome and unnecessary. School projects can help students learn their material and review of upcoming tests, but they usually cause more problems and complicate the learning process. In turn, students end up trying to finish the projects as work to be rid of and not for the sake of learning or reviewing. In fact, projects usually wind up adding unnecessary stress on students and fail to serve their purpose of helping students learn in a more engaging manner, especially for group projects.

These are only a selection of the many pointers and suggestions by the student body to our teachers and staff in South Forsyth. From shifting the way the material is taught to changing what type of work to do, students in South Forsyth are looking for any way to make their learning environment less stressful and more comfortable for everyone. Even though their stay is for only four years, students still wish to improve the school and change the classroom for the better.