AP Government students change teacher midyear

Ms. Dellefield teaches her new Economics students during 4th period. Photo by Kelly Guan.

AP Government students were simultaneously upset and relieved when they found out they received a new teacher for the second semester. It's been quite a challenge adjusting to the new expectations and workload.

“This situation is not ideal because it's hard to have to transition from one teacher to another in the middle of the school year,” said Senior Judy Zhen.

After Mrs. Hill stepped down in January, the school had to find a replacement for Encinal's 4th period AP Government/Economics class. Students in the course feel as if their time was wasted during the first semester and complain that lessons were poorly planned and they had to teach themselves.

"I found the course structure almost too free flowing which, honestly, did the opposite of what it was supposed to do and fueled my procrastination," said Senior Gabby Benaquista.

Part of students' frustration is geared towards the previous course's structure. Assignments did not receive traditional A-F grades, so students were unclear about their progress. This led to students researching on their own to learn from the web. Encinal’s administration had to coordinate behind the scenes to keep the AP government class going. History teacher Ms. Dellefield chose to step to fill the need, giving up her 4th period prep.

“It's important for AP classes to have continuity, and that's hard to do with two different teachers teaching it,” said Dellefield.

Dellefield was already teaching three other sections of AP Government before taking on a fourth.

“First semester I was gathering information and putting together a big report for the school (WASC) but that was submitted in December, so I have free time this semester,” said Dellefield.

In addition to taking on more responsibility for the curriculum she is excited to get to know more of the class. Although learning under a new teacher might be a good change, students won’t be able to make up for lost time.

“She should understand that our class has a bit of a gap because we haven't been learning the same things as her other classes,” said Zhen.

For now, 4th period will just join where the curriculum is at. Students accept the changes, knowing the school has their best interests in mind.

“Considering the circumstances...I think [Ms. Dellefield] doing an awesome job. It's great that she just took us under her wing on her own,” said Benaquista.

New teacher Mx. McGreehan was hired to also fill a gap and will teach three sections of Government/Economics as well as a Psychology course.

Erik Soltero is a senior on Horizon's staff. Read more about him here.