By Amanda Young, ’11, News Section Editor
After three years of trying out a new advisory system, the Upper School History Department has decided to return to the old advisory structure for the notorious junior paper. The two American history teachers in the Upper School faculty, Mr. Peter Fossett and Mr. Eldrich Carr, will be in charge of advising all 11th graders as well as grading all their papers.
The department is also instituting changes in drafts and due dates. College prep students will continue to submit two graded drafts, a rough and a final. However, AP students will turn in only one final draft. For the latter, the whole process will be finished before spring break, allowing AP students to focus on studying for the AP exams in May. “The assumption is because the writing process involves revision, that juniors in the AP class will engage completely in the full writing process and draft and revise before turning in their final paper,” Mr. Fossett said.
The change results not from failures in the piloted advisory system, but instead from “staffing changes” according to Mr. Fossett. “Because of the large sophomore class, sophomore history teachers took on extra classes. Also Mrs. Luebbers is teaching English and Dr. Martin is teaching humanities, so we moved away from the advisory system.”
“Each system has its advantages,” Mr. Fossett said. In the trial advisory system, all members of the History Department as well as Dr. Gregory Martin, who was then the technology and media services coordinator, and Mrs. Luebbers, upper school head, each advised nine to ten juniors. According to Mr. Fossett, the system was implemented so “kids would get more guidance [and] more attention.”
Yet, the traditional structure is a CCDS tradition. “When I was a student here, American history teachers supervised the entire thing,” Mr. Fossett said. “Because the American history teachers have all the students in class anyway, there is more of a connection. American history teachers have relationships with the students.”
To give students some of the additional guidance offered through the trial advisory system, Dr. Martin and Ms. Andrea Owens, the current technology and media services coordinator, helped out with one research checkup in October.
Juniors overall are generally satisfied with the changes, but some are slightly worried about less guidance. “I think feedback is important because if you are going in the completely wrong direction, you do not want to write a completely wrong paper,” Ali Breneman, ’11, said. “Fewer checkups may hurt some people that don’t organize very well,” Will Duncan, ’11, added. Duncan also said, “I think it’s fair for everyone” with students all being advised and graded by the same two teachers.
While Breneman is content with the changes, she feels “the junior paper should really be a senior thing. Second semester senior year, you have nothing to do, and it should really be moved until then.”
Illustration by Kaitlyn Morgan.