On Thursday, October 3rd, the school tried out a new program called WIN time, which stands for “what I need”. This was designed to allow students a 50-minute period to sign up for something they feel they need at the moment. Options included academic classes, gym make-ups, study halls, and fun activities such as hanging out with the therapy dogs. This was the first time Warren has ever tried something like this so there are a lot of mixed opinions on it.
A majority of students liked it, with many claiming it was very helpful for them academically. For example, some students said that they used it much like a study hall, but in the class they signed up for so they can receive extra help from their teacher. Others signed up for classes doing review sessions or extra lessons on a certain topic to get prepared for tests and quizzes. The limitation on the amount of students that could sign up for a
class also made this more efficient because this way teachers could pay more attention to the small group of students. Others claimed WIN time was relaxing and fun. With multiple non-academic options, students got a chance to do something they enjoy.
On the flip side, there were some flaws in this. For example, to make time for this 50-minute period, all of the regular classes needed to be slightly shortened. Although this wasn’t that big of a change, many students and teachers wish they had this extra time in their regular classes, instead of combined into one extra class. It was stressful to get everything done in less time. Another unsatisfactory thing was that students didn’t know what to sign up for since the sign up date was over a week before the day of this extra class. Many students did not know what they would be doing in their classes so early ahead and if they would need help. Also, the window for choosing classes was so small and classes filled up so quickly that students who were in tech campus and other places did not get a chance to pick a class that they wanted and ended up being placed in a study hall. This way of choosing classes is not fair to all students. One more imperfection was that students disliked having to go to their last period after their WIN time. It was a confusing schedule and didn’t make much sense.
Overall, WIN time was a fun new experience, but there are certainly some things to work on. The next WIN time will be October 24th, so we will see how that goes and if there will be changes made to make it run more smoothly than the last. What do you think? Did you think WIN time was a win?
