The new year brings big changes, and for some Chamblee students, math blocks were their first new adventure of the 2018 school year.
“It only took me out of one class,” said senior Camryn Martin. “It took me out of weight training and put me in advanced algebra.”
A math block is exactly what it sounds like, a block period of two different types of math, taught back to back for a two hour long math extravaganza.
“It is two different maths so we are learning two different things,” said Martin. “So the time [in class] really doesn’t bother me.”
Math blocks were incorporated into some students schedules in order to accommodate a missing math credit needed to graduate.
“I failed a class in ninth grade and now I am catching up because I would have been behind half a credit,” said Martin.
Though math blocks are meant to be beneficial to the student, some teachers were surprised to see students they had first semester missing from their rosters.
“I lost two students,” said orchestra teacher Earl Kuutti. “I hate to lose them, because I don’t know if they’ll ever play again.”
But not every student was taken completely out of a class. Some students were simply moved to a different period of a certain class in order to make room for their new class.
“I then had about four or five switched,” said Kuutti. “Fortunately those four or five that were switched were able to stay with their intermediate groups.”
Though double math periods seem to be the block period talked about the most, double classes of the same subject are happening for every subject, especially for seniors.
“Right now my schedule is pretty hectic,” said senior Bintou Diallo. “My fourth period is US history, my fifth period is world history, and my sixth period is Econ.”
Though many students had schedule changes for second semester, it was also possible to take two classes of the same subject last semester.
“Last semester I took both American literature and British literature,” said Diallo. “Once I had a reading check in Branca and somehow started writing about something that we were reading in Welser.”
Though taking these double classes is meant to help make up credits, it can be very stressful for students to manage their schedule.
“Having a teacher like Tinnell, who isn’t really easy, it’s hard to remember one event that happened in world history and another that happened in US history,” said Diallo.
Ultimately, having to take block periods of one subject or double classes of another can prove difficult for some students. But the Chamblee counselors work hard to help students graduate, especially seniors. It may be stressful and a lot to handle at once, but the final goal of graduation proves worth it for most Chamblee students.
“It’s a lot, but there’s nothing I can really do about it because I do want to graduate and I don’t have much time left in school,” said Diallo. “But the whole double and triple classes thing is a killer.”
