As Connect for Success comes to an end for the year, it’s time to reflect on whether it really helped students or not. I don’t feel that there was any real positive effect of it because the activities we did in the program were not engaging.
Connect for Success was a new program that started for all students in CCPS, being implemented from kindergarten to 12th grade. We had to attend classes every Tuesday and Thursdays for 35 minutes.
I personally had trouble trying not to zone out during the videos and presentations. I tried my very best to at first since I realized that the district had put in a lot of time and effort in this but it was so hard since it was boring. The videos sounded very scripted and didn’t sound realistic at all. By the end of the program, it was just my teacher briefly going through the Powerpoint presentations while everyone was on their phones. If the presentation or video asked us to talk to a partner or group, no one talked by the end of the program.
This program was created as a result of a survey we took last school year. The results of the survey showed that students felt like they couldn’t connect to their peers and that there were many differences.
Although the program sounded like a good idea at first, it didn’t work out like we expected it to. The activities were not engaging enough for students as many students were ignoring the lessons. One of the activities we had to do after most Connect for Success classes was to fill out a reflection journal answering some questions and about the presentation we were given. Personally, it’s hard to pay attention to a presentation that isn’t about anything interesting and then having to answer questions about it later is worse. If the activities were more inviting and engaging, perhaps more students would have participated.
It’s understandable that the county created this program to help us better connect with our peers and school; however, it didn’t work out at all.
Many students didn’t interact with each other, many of the students didn’t know others in the class. It was more awkward for freshmen as many didn’t know some kids in their class as many were from different schools.
From each class period, five minutes were reduced for Connect for Success. The time that was wasted could’ve been used for more academic time or another lunch period.
With that being said, We shouldn’t continue with Connect for Success next year.
