Listening to the complaints of my fellow GAs in Monday morning class I am at least relieved to find that I am not alone in my frustrations of the absent students. Yet, I still am on my own as to how I choose to deal with my students. What I want to tell them is that my students last semester struggled most, according to what they wrote on their own evaluation, with the textual analysis. Thus, I am trying to do a better job this semester preparing my students by giving more thorough examples and going over texts in great detail in class. However, if many students are absent, then they do not gain from my well-planned lectures and explanations. Also, when the classroom is half empty the students who did come to class appear to feel that class in going to be boring or a waste of their time since so many of their peers decided to not bother showing up.
I had a student email me explaining that she was not in class because she had the flu, and she would not be at the next class for the same reason. She then went on to ask me if we could meet and if I could catch her up on what she missed. I am glad that she is concerned about what she missed, however this student has missed class before without any explanation. Also, I do not have the time nor feel it is my responsibility to recreate two fifty minute lectures to one of my students during my office hours!
Lastly, I want to make it clear to my students that when they are in class and I can see they are working hard and trying I am more likely to reward their hard work through their paper grade. However, if they are frequently absent and do not seem to be exerting much effort, there will be no way for me to be able to reward hard work.
However, all of my ramblings are things I want to say to a full classroom of students. It will do no good to preach to the choir: the faithful bunch I know will be in class today. I can only hope the ones who need to hear the message will be present to hear it.
About Me
- Charity Gibson
- This semester I am taking 603 Practicum in Teaching (of course)as well as 621 Theory of Basic Writing, 692 Linguistics in Rhetoric and Composition, and 503 Advanced Writing: Poetry. Things I do outside of school: Dance, pilates, piano, spend time with my husband, church activities, family and friends
3 comments:
I think what you have to say is very good. Of course, the ones who need to hear it are the ones who won't be there, so you can tell it to the students who are in class face-to-face, thus making them feel appreciated for being there. Then, send an email targeted to the rest. Use Bearmail and make sure it has a "receipt" that tells you when it arrives and when the student opens it. It's good to know such things.
I hate it when students expect you to "catch them up." I make it a habit NEVER to email assignment sheets or handouts to absent students. If they want to get started a class period later than the others, then I have no control over that. I think that the spring semester will certainly harbor many absences, regardless of the reasoning. Perhaps we should all be a bit more strict when it comes to these things!
Charity,
One thing that struck me about your latest entry was the concern that those who do show up feel class is boring and wasted since so few are there. On the contrary, I look on the bright side when I see twelve students instead of twenty. Although I would like for all of them to be there, I appreciate the opportunities for smaller, more intimate discussion (using intimate in the loosest sense of the word).
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