Is Attendance an Issue?

This blog will focus on the apparent issue that some teachers have with a lack of attendance during the high school years of a student’s career. 

My high school year I had a teacher that had a serious issue with lack of attendance. If there was not a reason given a day prior to your late arrival or to missing class altogether he would reprimand you by handing out detentions. I personally never fell victim to the wrath that he imposed on many other students, but I witnessed it first-hand.

My peer had issue’s with waking up on time and would consistently show up late. The teacher would cause as much disruption as him when he showed up late, since he would address the student on his late arrival and his detention. The issue I found with this is that when he would hand out detentions to the students that would not give notice to their absences, he would be causing these students to stay after school. This was an issue because many times he would have handout’s that were not for marks, for the students to complete during detention and thus would not allow for other work to be completed. My peer for example would need to complete the mandatory workbook that would be handed out during his detention, and then have to go home and complete the homework that his grades actually did rely on. This puts students behind in other courses were they would need more time to complete the work that is actually for marks. 

I believe that attendance during high school should be treated the same as attendance during post- secondary. If the student fails to show up, then the teacher should have no obligation to seek out punishment for the student. The punishment should come from the student missing out on vital information being taught during class. Assigning detention’s in order to punish student’s not only takes away from the student’s by taking up more of their time, but it also

takes time out of the teacher’s day by having to schedule a detention with the student and the school. It seems counterintuitive for a teacher to put in more work and effort, especially if it is a student that doesn’t even want to be in the classroom. By removing the mandatory attendance, it allows for a more relaxed environment between the teacher and student, and also shows that the teacher trusts that the student will show up in order to learn and grow. The detention should be limited to use where the individual is being disrespectful or clearly in contempt of the rules, instead of being used as a deterrent for absences. The most effective deterrent for absences I’ve found, is by having constant new knowledge every day. This ensures that students will show up in order to learn these new concepts. Not only does this work more efficiently, but it better prepares students for post-secondary by putting more of an emphasis on the importance of responsibility. 

The Impact of Homework Outside of the Classroom.

Homework had originated as a form of supplementation for the content being taught in the classroom, but has quickly morphed in to the basis of some classes, and occasionally even the basis of entire courses. Throughout my middle school, and high school years I witnessed the benefits and cons of using homework as a form of supplementation for the classroom. I also witnessed teachers use homework as a basis for their classes, and experienced first hand the detrimental impact this had on my education. 

I had experienced many teachers who seemed to only be there for a pay check. They would read out the text book and then assign homework and your grades were based on the completion of the homework. While this may be useful to see where a student is struggling and what concepts they are grasping, it is not useful to base the entire grade of a student upon. I personally did not feel as though I learned anything in that class. Not only does it create disparities across the classroom, but the students who in fact do have a solid grasp of the concepts but do not hand in the homework are instead punished. What I saw happen is the students who were struggling in that class, were the students that had a different learning style that just doing work books. It impacts the grades of all the students in the classroom, and changes the atmosphere between the teachers and the students. Instead of looking up to the teacher as an educator and someone who can teach them, they look to their teacher as the supplier of homework.

This shifts the atmosphere of the classroom from a learning vibe, to a “show up and get the mark” type of class. Not only does this create less respect between teacher and student, but it also removes the seriousness of class and I saw more students fooling around and goofing off in that class. I felt as though that class was an enormous waste of time, since most times the worksheets the teacher would hand out would be found online in a matter of minutes. As the semester went on, the attendance of students began to drop and I saw nearly half the amount of students showing up to this class. You began to see the deficiencies of such a system, as not only attendance dropped but the class average during the very occasional tests would drop as well. 

Homework worked most efficiently for me when it was used as a formative assessment. This allowed me to get feedback from my instructor to really see where I was lacking, as well as to see where the teacher was looking to see more progress. It worked as a tool as opposed to the sole form of grading. Instead of making my marks dependent on the homework, it made the homework necessary to supplement my grades. This removes the obligation on the homework and makes it less of a chore. I found myself doing homework more often, and with more eagerness, when I knew that it was going to benefit me in the long run. I saw my grades rise as I did more of the worksheets, because I was able to consistently improve on places I was lacking. When the homework was simply booklets that were made in order for the teacher to hand out a completion mark, it made the homework a chore. In addition to making it a chore, it was all very redundant work that did not address any issues. In other words, it was easier than It could have been. I felt like I learned the most when the teacher was actually teaching, and using homework as a supplement to their teaching. 

On the other side of the spectrum was the teachers who would assign pages and pages of homework as a supplement to their teaching, but would also depend the

grades of their students based upon this. They had the right structure for the success of their students, but they failed in the way the marked the students. I had many friends in classes like this where they would still be learning, but be failed based on their completion of the homework. At one point, too much homework can also become an issue. It begins to take away from the main concepts begin taught by the teacher because they become overloaded with homework. I understand teachers attempting to prepare the students for the work ethic necessary for post-secondary education, but I think the focus should remain more on increase the content in class, as opposed to increasing the work outside of class. This way, if any studying is necessary outside of class, it's only to supplement or catch up on the content being taught in class. The homework should really be secondary to what the teacher is actually teaching. I've noticed it that the homework was most effective when it was used as a tool to gauge where the class, and where individual students needed more work on.

In essence the homework that most benefitted myself and my friends during middle school and high school, was the homework that helped us to see where we really needed to work. This was especially beneficial during the weeks before an exam, as it gave us a direct form of feedback that was similar in work to what we would see on exams and tests. I saw myself looking forward to these types of classes since I saw constant improvement as opposed to the classes where I was dreading attending because I knew that I wasn't going to be learning anything. All I anticipated in those classes were work books, followed by more worksheets as homework. It was an inefficient method for myself and some of my peers. 

Here is a short clip explaining how too much homework can stress out students and give them anxiety. 

The Hurdles Created by Technology.

With the introduction of technology to the classroom, many benefits of technology were brought to light. But along with the benefits, there are also some of the drawbacks. These drawbacks can include, but are not limited to, distraction caused by smartphones or other tools, cyberbullying that can occur in the classroom without the educator’s knowledge, cheating, etc. 

 In addition to the limiting of the internet, the very conversations that happen online are also harmful. Cyber bullying has become prevalent in our current society. This unprecedented issue has left administrators with a completely new form of bullying to deal with. Online, many students can become victims to the harsh words and threats from anonymous users. But a possible way to tackle this issue is through police intervention. The very words that are being sent to the victim, are being published in order for the victim to see them. These published and sent messages can now be used as evidence of bullying, and provide something for which administrators, parents, and police can use to punish bullies, and stop bullying after its happened. 

Another attempt at regulating technologies use in the classroom, is by putting it to use. By putting it to use towards something that relates to their school work, they are less likely to spend their time being distracted. Some tools that teachers can use to manipulate the technology in the classroom are games such as Kahoot work perfectly for this situation. With Kahoot, the teacher has a chance to see exactly who is “online” participating in the game. 

In addition to the issues listed above, cheating is now a prevalent issue with the introduction of smart phones. With smartphones students have the ability to research any topic within a matter of seconds. Every bit of information on nearly every topic is on the internet. This coupled with the fact that smartphones are relatively small and easy to hide, creates a perfect recipe for cheating. Here is a link showing how often this occurs.This was also shown through my high school years, as I have personally witnessed my peers very discreetly use their smartphones to google the questions on our unit exams. It worked flawlessly as they managed to get away with it and they passed with flying colors for the remaining exams.

In order to prevent this, teachers have begun asking for the student’s phones before each test begins. Although, this only works with the students that are honest about whether or not they have their phones. It is just as easy to lie and say you don't have your phone. So in order teachers to remain competitive against the cheating that is enabled through smartphones, many teachers only choice is to remain hyper-observant at the cues of smart phones being used to cheat. The many cues that can signify cheating can consist of very minute things such as constantly glancing down, consistently taking their hands off the desk top, etc. But in order to efficiently combat this problem, teachers can attempt to remove the internet by using the router to block the internet to the classroom during the tests. This only works on the students that rely on Wi-Fi, as 3G and LTE are also prevalent. So for those students that insist on using their cellphones to cheat, teacher can begin to provide punishments that will hopefully deter future use. But as of now, the most effective and tried method is by being hyper observant of the students during exams. This method is successful most of the time, but being that smartphones are a new tool for cheating, teachers will need to become more aware of the signs that were not very prevalent before smartphones.

Many of the attributes of smartphones, that can be used to allow students to become distracted, can be regulated through the school thus preventing unnecessary distractions. Although it may seem out of reach, there are possible ways to limit how much internet is being reached to the students. By limiting the internet usage through forms such as bypass routers and other methods, you remove the opportunity for the students to access distractions such as the internet and social media, but removing the internet connection.

With all of these negatives, there are still some positives. The positives are things such as being able to remind students about homework. There are apps such as "Remind 101" that allow you to stay in contact with your students. This is super beneficial to students and teachers. As a student, this worked awesome for me.

I was able to get a consistent reminder from the teacher about any upcoming assignments. This allowed me to keep up on my homework and progress forward. In addition to being beneficial for the student, it was also helpful for the teachers to keep track of their students. It gives the teachers an opportunity to do an attendance check on the students who chronically don't hand in the homework. Another tool that is beneficial for both students, teachers and parents would be "Class Tree". This app builds on "Remind 101" in the sense that it updates parents on upcoming events, but it goes a step further by allowing teachers to attach and send the consent forms to parents. Not only does it move towards a more paperless solution to consent forms, but it ensures that parents are getting the consent forms by allowing the teachers to send them directly to the parents via smartphone. 

The advent of technology has progressed to the point where teachers should put in a significant amount more effort in order to be able to regulate the technology in the classroom. I've met many teachers who have very little understanding of the technology that they are being made to use in the classroom. Here is a link describing how teachers can benefit by using technology, but also how they can limit the negative uses by their students. Educating teachers on the many ways technology can be used in the classroom, as well as how to use it efficiently well give them a better chance at knowing what to look for when they need to regulate technology in the class. 

This is a short video on how technology impacts the classroom in multiple ways, and how can be seen as a positive and negative tool.

Event Report

My event report will detail when I volunteered at Holy Family School in Red Deer, Alberta. I helped assist in classroom activities for kindergarten students. I was able to participate in this for about 4 months, where I saw the students and teacher grow as a classroom, and witnessed how successful communication leads to progress. 

My experience as a student-assistant-teacher began by assisting kindergarten classes.

This experience was memorable due to the fact that it gave me first-hand experience into what it was like to be in the classroom. This experience was important to me because it solidified my decision in becoming a teacher. I had been slightly confused into what I had planned as a career, and had multiply routes to take. But in doing this volunteer project, I was able to see what the career of a teacher entailed, and what kind of responsibilities the job required. It opened my eyes to the work that must go in, and out of the classroom.

Each teacher I spoke to had a similar experience before they chose their career, in that they all were interested in child care. The deciding factor for me, came from working with the kindergarten class at Holy Family Elementary school. I witnessed how students learn and communicate with their peers and teacher in the class. This is where I began seeing how important these interactions are on the learning style for each particular student. I was able to see the students who learned best visually, as they would normally observe and then attempt to mimic. I witnessed the students who preferred learning hands-on, because they were the ones who were most often attempting to learn step by step. This is also where I learned the Importance of an honest, teacher to student relationship. I was able to see how this not only motivated the students, but also motivated the teacher to continue providing them with some kind of progress. It allowed for an atmosphere in the classroom that was conducive to learning and moving forward. The teacher would tailor a certain “station” depending on what was being taught that day. Each station would not only go through the different types of ways that her students learned best with, but also a different subject. She would rotate the subjects so as to prevent the student from learning one subject better than another subject. This method worked for her students, and although it was more work on her part, it saw very good results with her students.  In addition to witnessing how the teachers managed the classroom, I was also able to communicate with the students, and hear what they had to say. Being that it was kindergarten, nearly all the students were always excited to be a part of class, and looked forward to any new content. I asked in particular what they enjoyed and one reply that stuck with me was “I like how everything is new.” This stuck with me because, it reflected how the teacher always brought something interesting for the classroom. It gave the young students something to pique their curiosity and keep them questioning. To further the teacher’s relationship with the students, she would go around and have one on one conversations with each student. As she made her way around the classroom she would ask if they were struggling, and if they found the information for that day interesting. Although these seem like very general questions, they nearly always prompted a detailed response from the students. This feedback was then put into play the following day by the teacher. In addition to watching how the communication impacts the student, I also had the opportunity to watch and see how the teacher was able to address the students with academic issues. I was able to see how addressing the deficiencies of students allowed them to grow and succeed on their tests. Not only were they able to benefit the student individually, but the student would then contribute more to the class, and thus help the classroom progress as well. 

 I benefitted by being able to spectate and watch to see how successful student-teacher communication was conducted. By being more behind the scenes of the classroom, it gave me a first person perspective into what worked successfully in the classroom. I witnessed why these teachers had such excitement when they taught, and also understood why the students were always so interested in the content being taught. Seeing how well the students responded to praise and individual conversations motivated me to do the same when I had my own classroom. It motivated me even more to be able to give the students something to look forward to. I wanted to become the teacher that would be able to bring that excitement to the classroom. 

The ability to create an environment that is tailored to your career was also very appealing to me. I liked how the classrooms were decorated to suit each teacher, and how each student decorated their area with items that signified their uniqueness. This atmosphere is also what really drew me into education as a career. I liked how you were able to clearly see the identity of each student and teacher seep into their surrounds. The community that was created between teachers and students also really clicked with me, as it was something of a family. 

Due to my event taking place in a classroom I was unable to take photos of the students due to privacy reasons. Therefore the only photos I am able to add to this post will be artwork made by the students.