AHS teachers answer survey about asynchronous Fridays

During the 2020-2021 school year, Arrowhead was in its transition period from completely virtual to completely in person. During the 2020-2021 school year, the second and fourth Fridays were asynchronous, meaning that teachers either gave out assignments the day prior, or assigned things online to be completed at some point throughout the day.

These days were implemented to give teachers time to catch up and reorganize between their virtual and in-person classes.

On Monday, March 7, 2022, a survey was sent out to a random selection of 31 teachers, and 15 responded (anonymously).

Out of these 15 respondents, 15 (93.8%) reported that they benefited from these days, and one (6.3%) said they did not. 

The teacher who reported not benefiting did not give a reason; they just answered with “How would I even benefit from this?”

The other 15, however, reported having time to catch up on grading, communicate with and meet with students who needed extra help, collaborate with other teachers, modify lessons, and make needed adjustments.  

One teacher says, “The asynchronous learning days made me a better teacher.  Period.”

Thirteen teachers (81.3%) say that they believe that their students benefited from asynchronous learning days, and three (18.8%) do not believe that students benefited.

The majority of teachers argued that their students were able to catch up with work, as well as focus on their emotional and mental well-being.

The teachers that argued against the students’ benefit said that students “were able to look up answers and not learn,” “did not do the required work,” and “took advantage of the day off.”

Teachers assigned different types of activities for these days. About 81.3% of the teachers assigned reading assignments, 56.3% assigned research assignments, 43/8% assigned quizzes on canvas, and 18.8% assigned take-home quizzes or tests.

Some teachers’ activities fell into an “other” category, some of which include virtual labs, random acts of kindness, tasks to practice vocabulary, and individual student meetings.

Respondents were also asked if they would be in favor of Arrowhead returning to having asynchronous days twice per month.  Approximately 69% would be, and 31.3% would not.

Due to the origin of the asynchronous days (managing virtual and in-person learning at the same time), Arrowhead has no plans to incorporate  them in the future.