In place of last year’s Teacher Office Hours (TOH), NDB implemented a revamped version of its former Collaboration program.  Students will still receive about one hour of time to study independently or collaboratively or to meet with teachers and other faculty or staff members. However, freshmen and sophomores must stay in their homerooms, while juniors and seniors may sign out of their homerooms and go to designated study areas, such as the dining room, the library, or other teachers’ classrooms.

Sophomore Jorja Fox shared, “I like this year better [than last year] because we’re more forced to get things done, instead of making our own decisions and then goofing off… It’s more productive and more organized.”

Social Sciences teacher Jonathan Tomczak drafted a proposal for this new collaboration model. In an interview with The Catalyst, he discussed the two opposite sides of the spectrum that the school has, in the past few years, tried with this “eighth” block and how, this year, NDB is trying to find the happy medium.

Tomzcak’s proposal is being reviewed by new Associate Head of School, Dr. Linda Kern and the faculty and staff and is being slowly implemented and reviewed for its effectiveness. The goal of the new model is for students to be productive, yet flexible.

Tomczak said, “What collaboration is, is that it’s a time where we want students to have the opportunity to make choices about what they need to do – the homework they need to do; the projects they need to work on;  sometimes, just taking a break from the long day.”

He continued, “Then, we’re trying to provide the structure and opportunity for them to make informed decisions on that time management, while also acknowledging that they’re going to make choices that don’t involve doing work all the time.”

Junior Dominique Gradidge disagrees with the new model, saying “I liked having it [free period] before school because it gave me the opportunity to go and see teachers before school, and now that it’s later, I feel like I do less and get less accomplished because I am more tired.”

She refers to a former model where TOH was held before school when classes started around 9:30am.

Senior Emma Marren shared this opinion, explaining, “I liked sophomore year [optional TOH before school] because we got to go in late.”

While students may have varying opinions about the new schedule, the Administration, along with faculty and staff feedback, has worked hard to give students the opportunity to be as productive as possible while still making their own decisions during this block.