Photo Credit: Ethan Dayton

With every new school year comes new changes, and advisory class at Fossil Ridge High School is no exception.  Starting the 2012-2013 school year students will no longer be able to visit teachers during advisory like they were able to in previous years.  If a student needs to visit a teacher they can visit them during their off hours, before or after school, or at lunch.  “Teachers can’t build a relationship with their Advisory class while half of them leave to meet with other teachers,” English teacher and advisory coordinator Amanda Jones said.  “Also we can’t have students wandering in the halls during class.”

Advisory will also be used more like a study hall, and students will have more time to work on their assignments for class.  “We want academic time to be refocused and we want to run it like a study hall,” Jones said.

Freshmen and sophomores also will not be able to go to flex labs to work on homework because since  they received laptops at the beginning of the school year and they haven’t needed to visit the labs except to print papers.  Juniors and seniors will still have access to the flex labs during Advisory on certain days.  Each class will receive three passes to go to the labs, which is very similar to how study hall was run.

Some parts of Advisory however, like the Senior Service Project, will remain the same. “The Senior Service Project is about trying to figure out how to leave a legacy on the community,” said Jones.   The Senior Portfolio will also remain the same, but it will be more organized.  “The portfolio is an artifact,” Jones said.  “It can be used for colleges, scholarships, and jobs,” said Jones.  She went on to explain that the portfolio was something students had been doing bit by bit without really knowing why.  Also, Rachel’s challenge is being put into the curriculum with Chain Reaction day and in Advisory class.

For the past few years Advisory has been curriculum driven, but this year it will be more relationship driven.  Students will have the chance to get to know their Advisory teacher and fellow classmates better because they won’t be out in the halls or visiting other teachers.  “It’s sad that students don’t know everyone’s names in their own Advisory class,” Jones said.  “I’m very hopeful for how it’s going to turn out.”