When can high school students see their class schedule?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is it so hard for them to stay assigned to the same teacher for both semesters? Five out of my kid's seven classes have different teachers listed for Semester 2.

If your child chooses to go to college, they will not have the same schedule or professors both semesters. The “semester shuffle” is a great way to prepare for college. Any type of schedule that isn’t ideal is great prep for the real world. You should hope that your kid gets the less-popular teacher, or classes/lunch without all their friends, or PE at the worst time of the day for them. Great way to make them resilient for the rest of their life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is it so hard for them to stay assigned to the same teacher for both semesters? Five out of my kid's seven classes have different teachers listed for Semester 2.

I find this odd also. Only the case for 3 classes, but it seems weird.

It's not weird. It's partly because there are some classes which are 1 semester only. And it's beneficial. My kid had a terrible Math teacher in semester 1 last year and a fantastic one in semester 2.

It can be beneficial, but I do think it is weird. I understand that there are some 1-semester-only classes, but if a student is not taking any of them, it would seem reasonable to try to keep the same teacher for both semesters. My 9th grader will have two different English, Math, Science, History, and Spanish teachers this year, and none of those are 1-semester-only classes. My older kid had a similar phenomenon in 9th, but it was less of an issue in later years.

I think it's that the scheduling software considers the "A" and "B" semester classes as two separate, un-linked classes, so essentially all classes are 1-semester-only. It just hasn't been configured to prioritize finding a "B" class teacher that matches the "A" class teacher.

I don't see why it matters.

Different teachers have different approaches. It can be hard for some students to adjust in January to a new way of doing things. To be equitable, either no one should switch teachers or everyone should switch teachers.

I disagree. Sometimes it’s good for kids to switch at the semester because a different teacher might work better for them

But for every kid who gets a better teacher, there's another kid who gets a worse teacher.

And that is what I'd call "fair"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is it so hard for them to stay assigned to the same teacher for both semesters? Five out of my kid's seven classes have different teachers listed for Semester 2.

If your child chooses to go to college, they will not have the same schedule or professors both semesters. The “semester shuffle” is a great way to prepare for college. Any type of schedule that isn’t ideal is great prep for the real world. You should hope that your kid gets the less-popular teacher, or classes/lunch without all their friends, or PE at the worst time of the day for them. Great way to make them resilient for the rest of their life.

You make some reasonable points. Still, I think if it is the norm or the expectation to switch teachers/class periods for the 2nd semester, then that plan needs to be explained ahead of time to rising 9th graders and their parents. It is very different than middle school. This explanation could be part of the sessions when the HS counselors visit the middle schools before course registration, or a summer parent meeting. When my oldest kid was starting HS, neither they nor I had any idea that this shuffling was a thing until seeing the printed schedule of both semesters' classes.