FLEX is a period in which teachers meet with various students to do activities or study halls. At ACE students get signed up for activities by their guidance teachers on every A day. FLEX is after the Guidance period for 70 minutes and some students think that is too much time for our FLEX duration, which is discussed more deeply in the article along with other ACE students’ opinions. For a lot of students, Flex is a time to unwind and do something that is not school-related during the day. For other students, it’s a good time to catch up on work or get academic support from their teachers.
Students were given a survey on their opinions on FLEX and how it’s running so far. The first question asked, what was the best and the worst of FLEX? In the survey, most students responded similarly saying some of the best things about Flex are the academic push you get with FLEX options (such as study halls, makeup classes, and work or quizzes), the variety of fun activities that they get to choose from, and just having free time and being able to socialize with peers. Now flaws that students think FLEX has are bad participation (kids not socializing when in best interest), the duration of it which has been one of the complaints from several students as well, loud peers taking advantage of quiet rooms, and that it is not a daily thing we do.
Improvements students envision are having a shorter duration, and having access to self sign-up. A great number of ACE students would prefer to have it every day instead of just B days. When asked if there were any activities they would add, they gave the following suggestions: sports, field trips, hikes and walks, theater-related activities, painting outside, learning money management, career help, extra credit and volunteer work, crime club/group, teachers activities (examples such as life and skills teacher Laura with yoga, math teacher Ashlee with crime), gaming, music/ book club, culinary activities (helping Dawn), dancing. Many students agreed it was nice just to go outside.
Overall, Ace students all enjoy the FLEX period and are in favor of having it and this is what this chart shows:
This article was written so ACE voices are acknowledged.
