As a sophomore at Notre Dame, I have experienced advisory this year and last year. Although I have had the same advisory group of people and the same teacher, the structure has been very different in a not-so-positive way.
This year, advisory is supposed to be a time for this group of kids to bond through things like playing a game, having discussions on “be well” topics each month and more. I think that the idea of what it should be could have worked, but since we experienced a free-for-all last year, nobody wants to do this somewhat boring and unproductive class.
During one of my advisory classes, we were supposed to watch a Christmas movie, and we would get yelled at for talking during the movie. But advisory is supposed to be a period of bonding with those classmates over the years at this school. I think that advisory should be a period of “loose” study hall, so the kids can talk with one another. On the very rare occasion this year that we did have some study hall time, we aren’t allowed to use our computers, which is hard because a lot of the homework we get from teachers tends to be online.
If there is something important that needs to be announced among each grade, I think it would be okay to talk about those topics in that class, but it also doesn’t need to be a weekly thing of us doing not-very-fun activities that feel like a waste of time to most students and maybe even some teachers.
Teachers always complain how they don’t like the shorter advisory schedule because there is less time for them to teach us, so if we have to have something like advisory, I think we should change it to make the lost time worth something for the students.
Another situation that has occurred is some advisory classes get to have food, but in my advisory we aren’t allowed to have food. I think that it’s okay to have the rule of no food during advisory, but I think that it should be consistent throughout all the advisories, or just be allowed for every advisory to have food.
Last year, every advisory would just be like a study hall where we could talk, or do homework. Sometimes, that was very helpful for last-minute studying for a hard test, especially during busy times in the school year. This time would also be an available time for the students to go and ask the teacher a question because their schedules would align with free time to talk. It can be hard to find the teacher’s availability to correlate with your available time.
In conclusion, I think advisory could be more fun and beneficial than what it is now. I see that it is intended to be fun, but there is nothing exciting about playing a random kahoot that no one knows the answers to.
Some ways I think we could make it fun is doing something with arts and crafts or playing board games or having free time. In our stressful high school lives, I think it would be nice to have time like this, which is what advisory is supposed to be. Also, what’s wrong with bringing in a treat for everyone? Not even the teacher has to do it, the students could pitch in each time.
