{"id":8455,"date":"2012-06-08T12:03:27","date_gmt":"2012-06-08T16:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=8455"},"modified":"2012-06-18T11:56:33","modified_gmt":"2012-06-18T15:56:33","slug":"what-students-teachers-do-during-the-final-days-of-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2012\/06\/08\/what-students-teachers-do-during-the-final-days-of-class\/","title":{"rendered":"What Students, Teachers do During the Final Days of Class"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sarah Gonzalez \/ StateImpact Florida<\/p>

Shamika Jeff, posing with her younger brother, graduated from Miami Central High School on June 5, 2012. The 18-year-old says she did not go to the entire last week of school.<\/p><\/div>\n

Florida students have already taken all the big tests. They’ve finished their homework. But some students are still in school.<\/p>\n

So what do teachers and students do during the final days of class?<\/p>\n

Educators throughout Florida say teaching should be going on every day students are in school.<\/p>\n

But students say that isn\u2019t usually what happens.<\/p>\n

“In class I just hang out with friends and just remember all the memories that we had,\u201d says Sophonie Pierre, a 7th<\/sup> grader at Plantation Middle School in Broward County.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur teachers they just let us enjoy it and talk.”<\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

Graduating senior Shamika Jeff says she didn’t show up for the entire last week of school at Miami Central High School.<\/p>\n

“There was no point in going,\u201d she says. \u201cBecause you had already gotten your exit card and they gave you all your credits, so there was no point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tangela Mitchell is a 9th<\/sup> grade intensive reading teacher at Miami Central High School.<\/p>\n

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“I don’t think I would have been able to pass if it wasn’t for that week.”<\/p>\n

-Anthony Gutierrez, graduating class of 2012<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n

She says \u201cThere should be instruction going on up until the last day.\u201d<\/p>\n

But she admits some teachers close out their grade books early.<\/p>\n

Mitchell says teachers have to turn in all their student grades one day after the last day of class.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us to meet the deadline, some of us have closed them out,\u201d she says. \u201cHowever we would not express that to the kids because then they would think \u2018What is the point?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

But students are catching on anyway.<\/p>\n

Seventh grader Pierre says it\u2019s not fair that she has to go to class if teachers aren\u2019t grading students anymore.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re done with final exams,\u201d she says. \u201cSummer should begin already.”

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