Beginning September 18, Edina High School will be implementing collaborative time – a forty minute block of time where students can either meet with a teacher, go to Fick Auditorium, the Media Center, or the Writer’s Block for quiet studying, or go to the Commons or the Community Room for group studying – every Wednesday.

Approximately half of EHS’s teachers will be individually available to students one week, and the other half will be meeting in groups with other teachers. The next week, they will switch. Groups will be formed based on teachers’ respective classes so that they can discuss their specific curriculum and testing. The other teachers will remain in their rooms, ready to help students. A set schedule will let students know which teachers are free which week.

Students will be able to get help in any area they wish, or teachers can request meetings if they feel a student is struggling. If students don’t think that they need to see a teacher, they can go to one of the designated areas to have work time. They will not be allowed to wander around the building or leave campus.

To accommodate this block of time, there will only be two lunches on Wednesdays. First lunch will be from 11:07 a.m. to 11:47 a.m., the same time that students in second lunch will have their collaborative time. At 11:47 a.m., students will switch places and work until 12:28 p.m.

This idea came about as a solution to the frequent inability for students and teachers to meet. According to Elizabeth Nimmo, “Teachers within departments were struggling to find time to talk to each other. Students couldn’t always get to school early or stay after to meet with teachers because of activities and difficulties finding rides.” By creating a time during the school day where both students and teachers can meet, EHS hopes to eliminate this problem.