She believes that a key element to success as a teacher is connecting with students and getting to know them, just as a teacher would in a core class. In addition, Kehaias articulates that a main benefit of the new program is that small, standard class size of about thirty students. Kehaias believes the one-teacher system will benefit Parents’ Night in October as well, so that parents will be able to meet the teacher they know their student is learning from, rather than meeting all four, some of which their child may never have. “Your Spanish teacher wouldn’t grade you for english, right?” Kehaias metaphorized.

Each student’s activity teacher will be the one grading their portfolio, which evenly distributes the workload among teachers and ensures that the teacher teaching the activity is the one grading it. portfolio system, by which students are graded, is mostly unchanged, but rather adapted to fit the modern class. Now, the student will have a teacher assigned for the semester, so that teacher can be reached directly, through iPass. For example, last year, if the administration needed to call down a student, they would radio a teacher, who would then have to figure out which activity the student was in at the time, and then reach out to contact him or her. WA administration had discussed the restructuring concept before, especially because it simplified the process of locating students. “You’re not getting different instruction from different teachers teachers teach differently,” Kehaias said, emphasizing the new, more streamlined process. teacher Scott Brown’s classes include golf and floor hockey, for students who may be more interested in competition. For example, Kehaias conducts mostly non-competitive activities, such as yoga and fitness while P.E. When picking their teacher for the semester, students take the type of activities the teacher instructs into account. This arrangement allows teachers to teach their strong suits, and it grants them more flexibility with their classes. “We said, ‘Look at the sets of activities and pick based on what you like to do,’” Kehaias said. classes, historically, have had each student participate in six activities over the course of a semester with a variety of teachers, choosing new activities on designated “Switch Days.” Though the new system still allows students to engage in six activities, they have only one teacher throughout, and are grouped with the same students. The new system is a stark contrast from previous years. This year, the WA Physical Education department is prototyping a brand-new class structure in which students select only one teacher at the start of the semester and stick with him or her for the remainder of the class. “We decided we needed to get a better system than we had in years past,” said Meredith Kehaias, one of WA’s long-time P.E. with a completely revamped class structure. However, in the 2019-20 school year, returning students will take P.E. Every student that passes through the doors of Westford Academy is required to take a total of four semesters of Physical Education classes.

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