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.