Titan Up=Productive?

           Is Titan Up really as productive as everyone thought it was going to be? Since the announcement of the PLA schools, it would seem that T.C. could really use this as a study block as both teachers and students.  After many weeks of talk and teachers going back and forth with which students they needed in their class, Titan Up finally got off the ground on March 10^th.  Unfortunately, it lost momentum when it was cancelled on March 17^th for the SOL writing exams.  So is the whole Titan Up thing really worth it?  Is it going to make that big of a difference for failing students?

            The Titan Up idea was hatched by Principal William Clendaniel as a way for students to study harder and more intensely with a teacher in a class in which they are struggling.  Although this idea sounds encouraging, the level of success will depend on to the intent of the teachers and the attitudes of the students.  “From my experience from Titan Up, it was definitely not [helpful for me],” said sophmore Margaret West.  “I’m not doing anything in there; I’m not even doing homework.”

Though many teachers seem intent on using this time for productive preparation, there are many teachers who seem only interested in letting kids do as they please.  Using Titan Up as a study hall is a good idea until either the students or the teachers give up on it.  “Basically we do nothing because she’s like ‘I don’t want to be here, I don’t want to babysit you,’” West said of her teacher. 

Many students who aren’t struggling are being put in classes that are used as a study hall.  The main issue with this is that there are no teachers there that can answer their questions.  How can a students get help on their math homework if they are in the Titan Den?  One student even says that she is failing one class but is in Titan Up for a completely different class where she has a B, so she isn’t getting help where she is struggling. 

Although Titan Up has been met with some skepticism, there are some teachers that seem to be making the best of it.  “Today they had some time to work on some of [their AP US history] long term projects,” said U.S. history teacher Hunter Hammond.  “Last time we met we did a fun review activity. So, most of the time I think I’ll use it to review for the AP exam because we lost a lot of time before because of the snow.”  Molly Freitag also uses her Titan Up block as a way to prepare her AP students, “two weeks ago the Titan Up was right after we introduced the new essay, so we worked on the essay.”

            There would seem to be a great deal of imbalance in the productivity of Titan Up There is no clear-cut system on what teachers have to do during that time so it is used for many things.  “We basically just allow for students to catch up on make up work,” says Maureen Tuchowski of her and Jessica Mickelson’s Titan Up class.  “If they are already caught up, which ideally they are, then they can use it for any other work they have for any other teachers.”

            It would seem that almost all teachers are at least making an effort to make the most of their Titan Up time.  Titan Up seems to be doing its job and the teachers appear to be executing it as best as they can.  Unfortunately there are still some students who seem to have slipped under the radar.  Many students are missing out on this opportunity because teachers can only teach one subject to a certain number of students at a time.  But for now, both students and teachers seem to be trying hard to adjust to this new form of tutoring.