The general consensus from the student body when we learned that FLEX would become one period for 90 minutes and have the name “priroarities” was negative.  Students were upset enough about Silent Sustained Reading (SSR) and did not want any further changes.  I happen to disagree, however.

Maybe it’s just because I’m a senior and have better study skills now than I did as a freshman, but I have never been as productive during eighth block as I have this year.  My problem was that, even if I was not planning on going to another teacher’s classroom, I couldn’t get settled in to studying before the class switch in the middle.  Obviously you’re going to be a little bit social if you have friends in the FLEX blocks for the day, you have to decide what you’re going to work on, find that work, get comfortable, find your headphones, and all this takes time.  When you switch in the middle you basically have to reset yourself as the new room might require you to set yourself up differently.  Additionally, that  teacher may need to go over something with your class and several other factors can be involved.

The other great side of Priroarities is the bliss that test-takers have knowing that they don’t have to run and tell their second-half-of-flex teacher they are in the middle of a test and run back and attempt to finish and try not to let stress affect your performance.  It is also now a part of the new policy policy that if your FLEX pass is for the retake room for a quiz or test, your teacher lets you skip SSR.  Many will also make exceptions to the one switch rule if you have recently missed a school day, letting you visit several teachers during priroarities in order to get back on schedule.

Lastly, I have been thoroughly entertained watching teachers attempt (or not attempt) the priroarities hand motion.  Social Science teacher Kira Hoilman’s all about it, Guitar teacher William Wells is not so much.

The switch from FLEX to priroarities was a big one for those of us accustomed to the two 45-minute blocks, but I think that priroarities is something efficient that we will eventually come to love (as much as one can love free period during the last block of the day.)