Installment 1: Time management

Having taught at Rochester High School for 21 years now, I can tell you the dramatic changes that have been made since we completely converted to New Tech 5 years ago. And as a mother of two students at ZNT, a senior, and a sophomore, my perspective as a teacher/parent is unique as well.
Because our eldest is graduating, so many thoughts have been filling my mind about our NT adventure, and I hope to share them in a series about “Time”. And so I begin.

Our senior daughter, Taylor, has been preparing for a college audition this past week to be accepted in their school of music. Finding the time for her to rehearse her pieces for more than ten minutes has seriously been a real challenge for us the past two weeks.

I was really becoming concerned about her preparation last night. And then I thought about how our students at Zebra New Tech are really being forced to manage their time and it is a real challenge for many of them, but what a great learning experience before they enter the next phase of their lives.

Let me provide a few specific examples of students at RHS and what his/her school day looks like:

1. John: He takes 7 classes, one of which is a dual credit speech course through Indiana University, and a free course at Ivy Tech one afternoon a week. On that one afternoon at Ivy Tech, he misses three class periods. This means work he must make up. He plays soccer, basketball, and is involved in various clubs! Taking 6 high school courses and two college courses!
2. Samantha: She is taking 7 courses. Of these 7, two are AP courses and one for dual credit. And she is in two sports, has a job, and is dealing with her mother battling breast cancer.
3. Tammy: She is taking 7 classes, plus on online math course through
Ball State University and one AP course. She has the lead in the musical, is on the swim team, spends 7 hours a week leading worship at two churches and belongs to various clubs.
4. Missy. She elected to only attend school the first 4 periods each
day this semester. She then goes to Ivy Tech to take in intensive nursing
course that is from 4-9 four nights aweek.
5. Joe: He takes 7 courses, one of which is thefinal engineering
course through our Project Lead the Way program. He too has one AP course and one dual credit course. He plays soccer and is on the practice squad for the girls’ basketball team. He has a lead in the musical, and is fully engulfed in building a Robot for our school robotics team.

We have many students who literally are at school from 7 am until 10 pm three or four nights a week.

These students who I mentioned above are taking advantage of the many opportunities we offer at Rochester, and I see them at school everydayin my choral classroom. They nearly always have a book or a laptop with them, so that if their section isnot rehearsing, they can get in a few minutes of studying or homework. Time.They often work during lunch time.
And these kids rise to the great challenges they have taken on. It’s a big load for these students, but they continue to manage to do it all!

One lesson we have learned at home is that every studentmust know his/her limits. Sometimes the wealth of opportunities can cause over commitment. I think that happened to our senior daughter during the first semester. It’s been a difficult lesson. She may have let a few
people down, and at times worked herself into exhaustion.

Time, there seems to never be enough, but learning to manage it and prioritizing it is one of the most valuable lessons she has learned
at ZNT.

Perhaps students from other New Tech schools would like to share some of their best time management tips! Comments are very welcome!