As the quarter ends here at DHS, students from all grades check their Powerschool every time they get the chance, looking for any possible assignment that could help them get the grade they want. As for teachers, when it comes to focusing on grading those last couple of assignments and reading an abundance of student emails, time is crucial. Sometimes, teachers are overlooked by students during these times of the year, when everyone’s main priority is their grades. A couple of teachers wanted to give their opinion on this matter.

Teachers can find it stressful with a lot of assignments coming in, especially if they accept late work. Teachers’ main priority is to help their students pass, which could be hard when students don’t try to put the effort in. When asked “is grading a lot more difficult towards the end of the quarter?” Ms. Helmig stated “it could only get to be too much if I have a whole group of students that come up and try to hand me a whole month of late assignments, that’s where it can become difficult.’’ Teachers often still accept this late work to try and get students to pass. It can be difficult for teachers when they have so much to do. This is why teachers such as Mr.Williams, a history teacher here at DHS, have created Google Forms in advance for students to submit for late assignments. 

This year is also the first year since Covid that we’ve had the Credit Only policy. The CO policy affects students when they have 5 or more absences in a semester, causing the student to get a max of 65 as their semester grade. Teachers now have the responsibility to mark students as CO. when asked about this change, teachers said they felt the effects. As more and more students are absent, the harder it is to pass, making the CO policy a noticeable change in our school system, though most students who are absent a lot are already failing.

As students, we are always asking questions about how to get that grade we all want. Though many students don’t know the right way to ask how to get their grades up. When asked “what’s the best way to ask for help or an extension towards the end of the quarter,”  Mr.Williams answered, “I believe that being very early on stuff like this helps, you should be following your PowerSchool grade pretty often and if you realize that you are slipping or you see emails from us, your next thought should be about how to reach out. Waiting until the last minute is the worst thing you could do in terms of asking for help.” Teachers have a short amount of time between the end of the quarter and when grades are finalized, so being timely is important if you want to get those late assignments in.

Students are not the only people who are stressed during these times of the year. It is important to cooperate with teachers so we both get what we want.