Mrs. Forecki becomes Northstar student for a day!

Please enjoy this guest post from Waukesha North Art Teacher, Christina Forecki:

When I heard that we could be a “Northstar for a day”, I thought that it would be a great opportunity to see what students were like outside of the classroom and to see things that other teachers do differently.
I asked one of my sophomore students if I could follow her around for the day and was happy that she didn’t mind me tagging along. The classes that I went to were AP History, Drawing & Painting, Gym, Chemistry, Spanish, and Geometry.

Even when I was asked by students if I am a new student or a student-teacher, I had fun and feel like I learned alot. Students like the smaller classes better because it isn’t as noisy, they can get more help from the teacher, and transitions go smoother. They like being given choices, even if it’s between two things that might not be fun to do, and I was impressed with how much all of the teachers did that. In other classes, just like mine, iPads are great because students don’t need to carry around books and can access materials, but it’s difficult when the iPads are restricted or not charged. I also got to watch students review for a test, using a website that I had never seen, called “Kahoot!” where students could answer the same question using their different iPads. They enjoyed that a lot, and it seemed similar to some of the trivia-type games many of them have on their iPads.

I was impressed with how respectful students were – both of each other and the teachers. When I was walking around the halls as one of the students, I didn’t see students being loud or inappropriate – even during lunchtime in the commons, which can get very crowded. It’s great to see that the school norms really are in place, and I think that the students’ responsible behavior speaks volumes to their good relationships with teachers.