No More What You Need Wednesdays

At Timberlane Regional High School, when we were in a hybrid model, there would be what you needed Wednesdays. On this day students would have all eight classes of their classes instead of having 4 classes a day that switch every other day. Teachers would give their students the class time to get caught up on work. Teachers would not give any new assignments. This would allow students to be able to have a day when they could relax and be able to work on assignments that they needed to complete.

Since we have returned to school in person five days a week Timberlane has gotten rid of what I need wednesdays. Now they have returned to block scheduling Monday-Friday. One of the schools reasons for getting rid of what I need Wednesdays is because some teachers have said that it will give students another day in the classroom with their teachers learning new material. There have been students who were upset by this, but in the long run it will hopefully be beneficial to students and staff. 

Students have enjoyed knowing that they would have a day in the middle of the week when they would be able to get caught up on class work and have a more relaxing day. Many students were upset to hear that they would be getting rid of what I need Wednesdays after having them since mid-November. Junior Alida Bates said “ It was a day for students to be able to decompress and have time during the school day to get organized and work on whatever assignments they needed for each class and not have the pressure of being given more assignments.” These days were added because students’ grades were lower during the first quarter than usual. Since then students at Timberlane have relied on what I need Wednesdays and now all of a sudden are going to school in person if they choose all week. This is a big transition for students to make and will take some time to adjust. 

However this decision was made and students are having to learn to adjust. The school made this decision to give students and teachers more time in the classroom. It gives them another day of class and provides teachers with more time to teach their curriculum to their students. It also provides a sense of normalization of what life was like before Covid. Students are starting to adjust to no longer having what I need Wednesdays.