Megan Masshardt

The 8th grade class at St. Robert has changed one major thing: transitioning from the 2024-2025 to the 2025-2026 school year. Their entire grade has merged into one class of twenty seven, having previously been separated into two distinct homerooms in previous years. 

The learning environment always changes when kids move from one grade to the next, but for the eighth grade class, the change this year has been much bigger than any other year. Addie, one of the students in the eighth grade class, said that “…there [is] a bunch of yelling and distractions [due to the larger class size]. Sometimes it is funny, but usually we have a lot more homework because we don’t get through everything.” Addie does point out that sometimes the distractions from the learning are positive and funny – breaks from the daily stress of school – but usually these distractions result in more homework and not getting through all of the learning set aside for that day. Ms. Masshardt, the 8th grade homeroom, science, and religion teacher says that she thinks that there are negatives to the singular class in eighth grade: “…it can lead to more distractions during the learning when students aren’t busy.” Ms. Masshardt thinks that since all of the students are in one classroom for most of the week, they can easily distract each other students, hampering the learning process and environment. Because people who really don’t work well with each other cannot be separated into a different homeroom, people in the class struggle to focus on the work and tasks at hand and instead distract others or pay more attention to others’ distractions than their own learning. Sadie, an 8th grade student in the class, mentions, “the one class is usually just bad in normal classes, but sometimes the split classes in gym and art can be annoying. I don’t get to be with all of my friends, and if I had the option, I would switch which other kids are in my class. I only get along with a few of them the entire time.” The split gym and art splits people up, and can sometimes make the teams unfair. 

“It’s nice to have everyone all together to experience the same things throughout the year,” explains Ms. Masshardt. She thinks that it is nice to be able to teach the whole class as one unit, and that nobody misses out on anything, allowing the group to be more unified. Plus, there is no longer a concern that one class is ahead of or behind the other. “In the split art and gym, it’s nice not having everyone crowded in the room, and the smaller selection of kids can allow for more fairness in gym class.” Sadie points out that having less people in the class causes it to be less crowded, a general space issue that would be expected with a large class. She also says that this positive change causes things to be more fair in the gym.

In conclusion, the eighth grade class being all together this year has had many effects on both the teachers and students, both positive and negative. The eighth grade class and their teachers will continue to forge forward, finding a balance that will bring them a quality education and overall positive experience despite the challenges that they may be facing.