![Hosting the SCLA Casptone Mentor Dinner outside allowed for more attendees on September 27, 2021 at Silver Creek. This event would’ve usually been held inside. According to Lauren Kohn, a SCLA 12 teacher, “If we have a higher number of people, as long as we can host the event outside, then that seems to be keeping every[one] safe”.](https://schsnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/sxMAIGbSYGodZkqmrvTi5YWcJ1ssWA08ApkeMLpp-900x675.jpeg)
At the beginning of the year, staff members of Silver Creek High School estimated a number for the number of students who would need to learn English as a second language. In August, the estimation was much lower than the actual student population. These students require more than one section of English as a second language (English Extensions), which was all that Silver Creek offered this first semester.
Nikki Tobias is an ESL and English Language Arts at Silver Creek High School. She currently teaches Honors English 9, on-level English 10, AP Seminar, and ESL.
Tobias, being the only ESL teacher at Silver Creek, has a change of schedule coming up this semester to accommodate the students needing to learn English.
“The district provided us with an opportunity to expand the role for [ESL] and that means we can create classes that will help all those students to be more successful as they integrate into St. Vrain,” Tobias said.
The students learning English aren’t the only ones affected by this change, though. The students Tobias will no longer be teaching will have to adapt to a new teacher, Rebecca Hassanabad, next semester.
“Mrs. Hassanabad and I will be working together so that we can take parts of my instruction style and integrate it with hers, so that…hopefully [students] will come out with a really strong experience by having two different types of instruction,” Tobias said.
Sierra Dancy is a freshman at Silver Creek who is in one of Tobias’s English Honors 9 classes.
“I think [the switch] will be hard, but it’ll just take maybe a week or two of getting used to,” Dancy said.
There can be some negative effects that occur because of the new situation. Going through a sudden change of both teachers and location can be overwhelming for the students as they transition into the new semester.
“[The teacher change] might make me less focused, depending on the teaching style of Mrs Hassanabad,” Dancy said. “It‘ll take some time for my class to start respecting our new teacher, and so it might be hectic in the first part of the semester.”
While change can be hard, Tobias is working with Hassanabad to ease the transition and students will need to be patient while they settle into a routine again after winter break.
