Teachers need to stop ignoring GMS

Members+of+Good+Morning+Staples+film+an+episode+of+their+biweekly+show.

Photo taken by James D'Amico

Members of Good Morning Staples film an episode of their biweekly show.

The unpleasant bell sounds off at 8:25 a.m. as my peers file into my math classroom to begin the tiresome second period of the day. Sure, this long period is brutal to sit through, but at least it’s Wednesday and GMS is airing, so there’s something entertaining to look forward to. But as soon as my teacher says, “Take out your homework,” my hope for a relaxing viewing of GMS is destroyed.  

Extended period has a set communication time in the beginning of class. Teachers in all courses, excluding sciences, are required to watch Good Morning Staples (GMS) when it’s streaming on Wednesdays and Fridays. However,

I find that in a lot of my classes, teachers are ignoring the production and beginning class right at the dreadful bell. This is unfair to the students both on and off the show.

GMS gives students important updates on school events, rundowns on previous and upcoming sports games, weekly weather reports and regularly incorporates segments to make the students laugh. As there is no homeroom each morning at Staples, GMS is where I get most of  my information to stay actively involved in our school. The show also provides nationwide news. I rarely ever find time to update myself on the issues our country is facing, and the Morning Show helps me become aware of current global events.

The production also gives me an opportunity to relax. Second period lasts a lifetime of 80 minutes and when teachers unjustly decide to disregard communication time, it makes focusing in that class much harder. For me and my peers, being required to sit still and pay attention for a period can be challenging, and when that period is a half hour longer, the task becomes almost impossible.

Teachers claim that the times GMS airs are inconsistent and the show sometimes faces technical difficulties with live links that don’t always work. The constant stream of emails are “annoying,” teachers claim,  and purportedly waste precious time that the teachers say they could be using sufficiently. 

What these teachers don’t understand, however, is that GMS is created by the students: they write scripts, film, host, edit and produce the entirety of their show. Airing a show twice a week for the whole school year is a lot to handle, but they do it for the benefit of the student body at Staples. So, teachers executively deciding to skip GMS is inconsiderate to the hard work of the show’s staff, not just an inconvenience to me.

GMS is produced by students for the students, and teachers need to respect that.