Absent Student Procedure

The procedure that I implemented affects whole class student learning because I am able to more efficiently use my time. Instead of taking time out of my day to get the Absent Folder, find all of the work that belongs in the folder, and place it on the student’s desk, I can spend time teaching students. Since all of the absent student’s work is in one place, when the student returns, he is able to look through the work and ask questions when I am free, thus freeing up my time to spend teaching the whole class. The responsible student’s job was understood by the students and they were also excited to have this new duty of taking care of the absent student. I feel that this procedure gives the students some responsibility which also builds their confidence and their feeling of being a part of the class community. The goal of this …show more content…
They understood what was expected of them and they understood where the work would be when they returned to school. As I was explaining the procedure to the class there was one boy who was not excited about this responsibility. He said he did not want to get the Absent Folder for an absent student or collect the student’s work. Listening to this student tell me his feelings, made me realize that while most students were excited to take on this new responsibility of taking care of their neighbor, there are students who do not feel this way and feel that this is just another job. The same student also said he didn't want to do the work that he missed if he was absent. This made me think that this student would not come to me to ask for help or ask when the assignments were due if he was absent. I realized that there will be other students like this in my future classrooms. I think in the future, I will add that if a student does not want to be the responsible student for their absent neighbor, they can choose to give the responsibility to someone who can handle