Hallways turn into traffic jams. Students and teachers are lost looking for their rooms. Rolling standing desks are moving through the sea of students. This is how the first week of school began.
The campus has changed not just by size but where teachers instruct as well.
English teacher Mr. Troy Varvel and science teacher Mr. Richard Muenich have been experiencing the life of being a floating teacher. A floating teacher does not have a permanent classroom and moves from class to class. To Varvel, floating is not unfamiliar.
“It takes me back to teaching at a college,” Varvel said. “It was kind of an adjustment at the beginning, learning which rooms I am in or moving into a room to the esports room, finding organization or structure there. Once everything fell into place, I was like ‘Oh, this is easy.’”
This new foundation has not only impacted teachers but students as well. Junior Taiye Olufemi speaks for the student perspective on the new change. As teachers travel from one class to another, consistency proves crucial for students.
“Sometimes I want to use the resources on the walls to guide me in an assignment,” Olufemi said. “But I can’t do that as often because they are gone.”
While this shift prepares students for the flexibility of college, it hasn’t come without challenges.
“It was hard for me to navigate where my classes were in general,” Olufemi said. “Teachers constantly kept changing classrooms and I saw Mrs. Little in one classroom and the next second, she was in another classroom, which was weird for me.”
Muenich was also chosen to become a floating teacher. Known for wandering the halls, Muenich is passionate for this new change.
“I am used to wandering,” Muenich said. “I have a little bit of a lack of focus sometimes, and sometimes, I just wander.”
While Muenich may have a tendency to roam the halls, he believes everyday is a new adventure.
The first week of school was filled with crowded halls and confusion, students and teachers are now finding a rhythm as school continues, leaving them to less chaos. The classrooms may shift, but the learning never does.