Teachers work to keep students engaged despite the walkout

PHOENIX – Teachers may be out of their classrooms, but that’s not stopping them from keeping their students engaged.

Some teachers are holding study sessions to prepare for upcoming exams while others are sending students projects and assignments to work on at home.

High school chemistry teacher Tiffany Christian said she wants to make sure her students are prepared for the upcoming AP chemistry test, which is scheduled for May 7.

She has been using an app called Remind to communicate with her students and invite them to attend study sessions at coffee shops. Since the teacher walkout began last Thursday, she has hosted two study sessions.

“We’ve been going over questions and addressing certain concepts that they need to know for the test,” Christian said.

She has also been posting notes and practice materials online for students in her general chemistry classes “so that they don’t fall behind.”

Meanwhile, several teachers are helping their students prepare for the upcoming International Baccalaureate exams.

Sarah Robinson, who teaches IB classes at Willow Canyon High School, said she gave her students several assignments that need to be completed before the exams are held in two weeks.

She also gave them study guides and plans to meet with them at the public library in Surprise to help them study.

“My number one priority is getting them to pass the test,” she said, adding that many of her students need to pass those tests to get into highly-competative colleges such as Cornell and Stanford University.

“I don’t want the fact that we need more pay and more money for our classrooms to affect their ability to get into college,” Robinson said.

Rebecca McGurk, a teacher at Estrella Middle School, said her students don’t have any major tests coming up. But she still wanted to provide them work to do at home.

She said she has been using Google classroom, which is a Google app, to send her students assignments they can complete as extra credit.

“I’ve had a few students that have turned in almost all of them and have asked me for more,” she said.

The walkout started last Thursday, with more than 50,000 teachers and supporters marching from Chase Field in downtown Phoenix to the Arizona State Capitol. Numerous school districts had to close their doors and some haven’t announced when they plan to reopen.

Leaders with the Arizona Educators United plan to continue the walkout on Tuesday and Wednesday.

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