Sultana Hybrid Learning: A Review

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Mrs. C instructs her in class and at home students.

Alyssa Arenas

For the final quarter of the school year, Sultana welcomed students back to campus with open arms and a list of guidelines to follow. Although many parents, students, and teachers were glad to have something of normalcy in the world again, there were plenty of students and teachers that had mixed feelings about having to be back at school.

Students:

Sultana student Kaitlyn Griffin, a sophomore, expressed her feelings by saying, “In person, I can talk to my teacher privately., I can ask questions without a lag, or glitch, and understand hands on instead of just listening to them.” Kaitlyn’s feelings towards online-learning reflect that she is glad to be back to in-person instruction.

Another Sultana student Majorie Jones, a junior, after answering her preference for online or in-person learning, said, “I’m a visual person, so I like seeing what the teachers are doing and asking questions in person. (Distance learning) doesn’t really benefit me in that part, cause I don’t get that one on one interaction with the teachers”. She expressed to me how the Hybrid program/in-person learning has benefited her in being able to have a real and helpful interaction with her teachers.

Majorie Jones even stated how her grades have “improved a bit as opposed to before I went to Hybrid”. Not only does she receive one-on-one help, her grades have improved much more, even if it is a little, by in-person learning.

Mathew Mendes, a senior at Sultana High, says “I prefer in-person, but I’m not opposed to online learning.”Though he favored in-person and the help it gave him, Mathew expressed no resentment from online learning and saw online as a necessity. 

While the overwhelming majority of hybrid students are glad to be back on campus, hybrid is not without its challenges. Sophomore Sara Downs stated, “My schedule got a lot more hectic. I had to actually start getting dressed in the morning and looking presentable.”

Teachers:

Fashion Teacher, Nancy Koltoniuk, had expressed discontent with online learning. When asked why she’d prefer in-person, she stated, “Because I knew they were there and that listening. On Zoom, sometimes they’re not there”. She expressed that Zoom does not work for her type of teaching but she was glad that the school allowed different groups, A and B, to be on campus.

Mrs. Hughes, a substitute teacher for US History, stated that “…it depends on the student. It depends on the style, some people are very visual and some people are hearing learners. It depends on how you learn best…”. Mrs. Hughes explains  how she feels that online and in-person learning are both beneficial for the students whose learning.

Mr. Griego, an AP Chemistry teacher at Sultana, wasn’t satisfied with either modes of learning from this year: “…because I couldn’t see my students and  I couldn’t tell who knew and who didn’t know what…Hybrid is worse than [regular schedule and distance] it’s twice the amount of work”. Shifting to  Hybrid was a lot of work for many teachers.

Although there are no definitive plans for next school year, the likelihood is that Sultans will be back on campus. Hybrid was a learning experience that showed the students just how much they missed being on campus and how much they have to look forward to in the future.