By Giovanni Camacho, Clarion Staff Writer
Finals were taken this year in person with the absence of distance learning. With finals week starting on January 24th through the 28th, students took finals in their classes on campus. In 2020-2021, the whole school year was in distance/remote learning due to Covid-19 cases rising in 2020. In that period students took finals not at school but in their own homes via Zoom, taking finals online from google classroom etc.
During that year teachers were required to come up with finals for their students in their class (or not if a teacher wasn’t planning to have a final), but issues would arise for the teachers as some students were unable to attempt their teacher’s final because of technology issues, internet etc. Students found various ways to cheat during their final as students weren’t present on campus and the teachers inability to physically keep track of them. Students' willingness was an issue because the only forms of communication for teachers to talk with their students were through online sources..
This year, students took finals not in their own homes but in their classrooms. This resolved most cheating methods as teachers had the ability to be able to keep an eye on them and because students are to take finals on campus there shouldn’t be any excuses of not attending unless it's an emergency matter, covid, family issue, etc.
Teachers were able to create their finals for their students without the problems of distance learning – they were able to make finals normally and have normal regulations without the annoyances when presenting through Zoom. With no online regulations teachers had a normal experience creating finals this school year with the return of in-person learning.
Throughout the finals period, Kennedy students may have had some responses to finals this year and last year (if anyone were present in distance learning during last year) and may have intended to say something during the period of finals week and may have some thoughts with the comeback of finals in person or their experience from last year and any other comments regarding the week of finals.
Joe Spatafore, Kennedy 12th-grade English teacher, stated, “My students never had any technology issues during distance learning last year.”
Spatafore also mentioned that there were rarely any issues between him and his students during last year’s finals and also made “sure that my assignments and finals were done in a right way”.
From his responses Mr. Spatafore at the time around last year for his classes finals didn’t seem difficult for him, and his students during last year and it went just as a normal finals week would have been like if it were in person.