I am trying to figure out a good late work/absent work routine. Basically what students are going to do if they miss a day of instruction. Last year, I had a tray of folders for each day of the week, and students who were absent simply took the work from day of the week they were absent, but a lot of our work was stuff you could only do with instruction and couldn't be done on their own. Also, it got to be hard to maintain because I would have to re-file all of the extras, add the new papers we worked on, and just keep everything in order ever day which was a lot of work. I've heard other types of routines as well: some teachers have all their work in digital form on their website and the absent student can just download it and work on it while they're away, or within a certain time after they were away. Some teachers have the students take Cornell notes on the chapter of the book that covers the material they missed. What do you do with your class? Would you recommend the Cornell note thing? It sounds intriguing to me. The website thing as well, but I'd need to work with that one a bit. Would probably be easier if I had all of my digital materials at the beginning of the year.
Last year I put the names of absent students on all work and then put a sticky note on top of those with a list of what they needed to do. It might include things like get notes from classmate, see me to make up quiz, etc... I wasn't thrilled with it because kids didn't remember to use it. I'm going to have separate folders for each period this year and just put all extras in there. I'm going to have them first check with a classmate before asking me what all they need to make up. They do have daily schedules so they know what was supposed to be covered when they were out. I actually started a thread about absent work not that long ago that had some great advice in it.
I have folders on the wall for the different periods. If someone is out, I put the work they missed in there with the student's name on it. If there's nothing in the folder, they are supposed to see me before or after class. Work, when completed, is placed in a wire basket where all other completed work goes.
I have a student in each class fill out a while you were away sheet. Then the student collects an extra of any copies and writes down any assignments. These are then placed in a folder for the student to get when they come back or sent to the office if parents want to pick up work.
My "While You Were Out" sheet is a simple checklist with possible options for the day. Hi ____, You were absent on _____. Here's the work you need to make up: The checklist includes a check off box and plenty of blanks to fill in like "handed in HW ___" ,"read pages ____", Took note, Completed lab, today's HW is ____, took quiz or test. If you have any questions, please contact _____ or Mrs. F.
What would be the pros and cons for assigning absent students cornell notes out of the chapters of the topics covered in class? Meaning, when I teach, I rarely do it from the book, and usually do it based on standards, and activities/labs I choose, so the book is largely unused, except maybe in this instance, where a student would do make-up work by completing notes from the book. I am thinking of doing this, since I was left a large amount of individual unit booklets (i.e. Electricity and Magnetism, Nature of Science, etc.), that they can take home and I think it may be easier for the student to create cornell notes to actively engage the reading rather than just copying the notes from another student or the worksheet. Would you recommend this?
^^^ great question I'd like to know as well. Our classes don't use the textbook much and classes consist of work that is not easy to reproduce in a makeup worksheet :/. (lots of tprs, communicative activities, extention work and collaboration) This topic is one of the things that has me hung up
I put it all on the student. As a new teacher I tried to keep track of who missed what and how I could teach them everything they missed in 70 minutes. I'd have a makeup day but someone couldn't be there due to soccer practice and another didn't have a ride home, etc. So I was teaching the same class over and over and over, then trying to teach two or three classes to one group of students when they showed up together. It was too much. When I offered these things admin made me do it on numerous days for those that chose to be somewhere else the afternoons I stayed after. So I stopped doing it. If you're going to be out, you figure out what you missed. YOU find a way to get the information that you need. Come to me with all the specific questions you have, as can anyone in the class. But I'm not going to give a class lecture over again. I post my lesson plans. It is the student's responsibility to get notes from a friend (or stay after and copy printouts I have) and get papers they missed from me. I realized that I don't open and shut a topic in one class period. I revisit it throughout the chapter. So one missed day isn't going to kill anyone. Students pay closer attention now. Students show up more now. I've actually had kids tell me that they were going to skip but decided to stick it out until lunch so they wouldn't miss any notes. I have students that never go out of their way to find out what they missed. Students that never get notes from a friend. Never come and get a missed worksheet or handout. But that happened when I was chasing after them too.
^^^^u have no idea how much reading this settled me! I love your way of doing it and will def use this and talyor it to my class mil gracias!
