Every Tuesday and Thursday, students at EF Academy have a 35-minute office hours session where they can meet with teachers in a one-on-one setting. Although office hours are provided for students to ask questions and receive support from teachers, are office hours indeed helping students?
The dedicated time during office hours allows students to catch up on assignments or clarify anything that they are unsure about with teachers. Through recent interviews, both teachers and students have shared their real intentions and thoughts concerning office hours.
According to Dr. Khoystyan, office hours are intended to “support and help students” with time for extra explanation to ensure their understanding of what they have missed in class. In addition, Dr. Khoystyan emphasized how it is “an extra opportunity to succeed.” He wants students to utilize office hours by “asking more questions and seeking help.”
Mr. Eyobel believes that office hours are “a pleasant opportunity to give advice or suggestions to students, especially for those behind on the topic.” He insisted that “office hours should be a lot of discussions” and would like “students to be more active.”
All the faculty members expressed a strong desire for students to attend office hours, indicating that they are looking forward to students showing up during office hours. Every faculty member is “very happy” and “proud” when students show up during office hours since they are in the classroom, waiting for them to come.
Ms. Victoria mentioned that “it shows a lot of responsibility and diligence on their part” when students attend office hours, which makes her feel proud of those students. Mr. Eyobel also feels “proud and happy since students are taking advantage of their resources.” Furthermore, he stated that, “I appreciate students’ efforts and how they care about the subjects when they show up in office hours” and he can see a “growth mindset.”
Although every faculty member believes that office hours are an important resource to support students, what do students actually think about office hours? The majority of students said that office hours are “helpful” and “necessary.” Students feel more comfortable talking with the teachers compared to the class time.
Daniel, an 11th grader, mentioned that he feels more “approachable” to teachers during office hours since he can ask questions “in a private environment, where it’s one-on-one with the teacher.” In fact, when he had to sign up for a math competition, he received help on taking a reservation, and received “suggestions on things to prepare.”
Max, an 11th grader, attends office hours every week and he appreciates “the occasion of being able to have a one-on-one conversation with teachers” since he can deepen his understanding of the subject with clarification. For instance, even though he was having a hard time in AP English Language class, after attending office hours, he was able to comprehend each definition of rhetorical devices and how to use them, which was a topic they were covering in class at that time.
Maria, a 9th grader, said that office hours had “absolutely” helped her. She attended office hours before the Spanish test and she was able to “receive significant tips to be prepared for the test.” Therefore, she was confident about the test and demonstrated great accomplishment.
Yuto, an 11th grader, feels comfortable asking questions both during class time and office hours. Nonetheless, during class time, most of the questions he has are similar to classmates, but after classes, he has more independent questions so he uses office hours to ask those individual questions and delve into the topic with teachers.
Additionally, when Yuto was absent for a few days, he used office hours to “catch up” on what he had “missed in class.” Office hours helped him to indeed bring back on missing assignments and projects and was able to join class again with no confusion.
Faculty members certainly observe students’ improvements both academically and personally as a result of attending office hours. Ms. Victoria has seen a student’s improvements in their “engagement in class, understanding of the material, and communication skills.” She and the student were able to sit down and take their time to go over multiple examples which contributed to the student’s overall improvement in their performance.
On the other hand, more than half of students have never used office hours before. However, those students are utilizing office hours in different ways. Aina, a 12th grader, has never used office hours before but since she wants to “rest during office hours,” she spends class time wisely by “asking questions to teachers during class time.”
Emma, a 9th grader, has never attended office hours before, but she spends time in office hours effectively by “doing homework” in order to ”reduce the amount of time I need to work at home.” Ai and Hijiri, 11th graders, mentioned that although they had never used office hours before, they thought “office hours are a very valuable and useful opportunity.” Hijiri added that “being able to have a break is very helpful, especially when I’m tired” since “classes after lunch are exhausting.”
In addition, Daniel, who usually uses office hours, mentioned that whenever he does not have any questions for teachers, he tries to “make more progress in my projects and assignments” using office hours. Thereby, he can diminish the amount of time he needs to spend on homework and can have more “free time” after school.
Hijiri pointed out that since sometimes teachers are not there during office hours, she wants “a class group chat and let students know if they will be in the room.” In addition, Aina mentioned that “my teachers are usually not in the classroom during office hours.” From that point, ensuring students know whether or not teachers will be in the classroom may improve the structure of office hours.
Faculty members are expecting more student’s faces during office hours. Since most of the students are not taking advantage of office hours yet, Ms.Victoria said, “I would like to see more.” Moreover, Dr. Khoysyan is always looking forward to students visiting office hours and emphasized how “I’m here for them.” Every faculty member is waiting for a student’s visit, being greatly opened to support them.
Besides the academic improvements, office hours also encourage better communication with teachers. Ms. Ju said she can “definitely enhance communication and relationships with students throughout office hours.” Moreover, Dr. Khoystyan stated that “office hours are a great opportunity to get to know each other” and “can be more friendly with better communication.”
Yuto enjoys “chatting with teachers during office hours” and said, “I just show up and talk about random things” that are unrelated to the subject as well. He strongly agreed with how office hours further build up better communication and relationships between students and teachers.
Overall, office hours are indeed helping many students to develop themselves both academically and personally. It is a great opportunity to receive help and extra support from teachers to clarify or deepen understanding, and build better relationships with teachers. They are valuable resources. Despite the fact that there are still a lot of students who have never attended office hours before, students have been applying the effectiveness of office hours and utilizing them reasonably in their own ways. All the faculty members are always here for students, willing to support and help them throughout the valuable resources of office hours, giving an extra opportunity to succeed.
