Students at DHS feel compounded stress when they are required to do multiple projects within the same few days, and they feel more stress when there are 3 or more tests on the same day.

The teachers space out assignments well, however, sometimes it gets quite hectic for students balancing a busy schedule.

“Students should be given no homework so they can have more time to become involved with more after school activities. This in turn improves the school reputation and allows students to discover new passions about themselves,” explains Julia Duggan, sophomore at DHS.

Christopher Hernandez, Freshman at DHS states, “I would be nervous if I had three tests on the same day. But it depends on the subject I’m being tested on, truthfully.”

Teachers do a fair job of spacing out projects and homework, but tests definitely need to be discussed amongst the teachers. One day at DHS, the students had 6 tests on the same day and that didn’t include electives. Some students even tried asking the teachers to change the date of the tests a mere day, but none agreed so students had to study for those 6 tests on the same night if they hadn’t studied already.

Some teachers here at DHS use homework and quizzes as a form of punishment. For example, “If you don’t finish this work then you’ll have extra homework,” and “If we don’t get through this section I’ll give you a quiz tomorrow.” Many students feel that teachers shouldn’t use homework and quizzes as a way to get students to finish their work on time. Homework is used as a way to make sure the students learned what they were supposed to in that class time, and that they’re comprehending it. Quizzes are used to check for understanding before a test.

Here at DHS, teachers are sometimes light with the homework load they assign. But it seems that if one teacher assigns a big assignment, the other teachers assign a bunch on the same night as well.

Julia Duggan agrees with some points. “I think teachers could improve on spacing projects out. Students are constantly ending up with one week full of projects. This puts a significant amount of stress on students because projects are worth a huge amount and it’s a lot of pressure. Students have to collaborate with each other if it’s a group project and have more than one. Plus finding time for their other projects and feeling terrible because they had to miss an after school activity because of the work.”

Here at DHS, many students wonder if teachers converse with each other. “As a teacher, I gauge my students’ understanding of what I’m teaching them in class by classroom discussion, socratic seminars, and code calling. Code calling is calling on students even if they didn’t raise their hand,” says Miss Nye, English II teacher. She doesn’t converse with other teachers regarding the date of projects and tests. As a teacher, she still assigns a test on the same day as other tests even if she knows about the other tests. “I usually give the students a few days notice before a test or quiz. So they know about it and can study a few nights before in case they have other tests or quizzes on the same day.”

Here at DHS, the students are under a considerable amount of stress from all types of assignments and tests from different classes. The assignments are spaced out relatively well, and usually so are the tests. But there are some times when the tests and assignments become too much and add even more stress to the students.