Sharon sent me some questions about when kids are absent. Please add comments as you see fit:
First question: We’ve been back to school for two weeks, and I have not given one quiz! Two things I’m wondering about… first, how do you quiz the new vocabulary presented in a given class? If you have been working on just three words or phrases, do you ask for direct translation?
A. I never do direct translation of vocabulary. I don’t think it’s fair.
Q. Or do you ask things that have come up through [PQA]. so you can come up with 10 questions?
A. Yes but I always have the Quiz Writer doing that during the PQA or the story.
Q. I just don’t see how that always would be viable nor if it would be easy for a test writer to develop. (Right now, I do not have a test writer because of my doubts and because I don’t trust anyone to be able to do it well.)
A. The one to do that is the really smart kid who is also nice. When I go slowly enough, and my CI is clear and interesting to the kids, it all works. Beautifully.
Second question: I’m certain you have addressed the issue of absences somewhere on the PLC or in your books, and it seems to me that you stated that your policy is to drop the lowest quiz grade. That is what I have in my grading rubric. However, as we gear up for spring there are going to be more than one absence for school approved events. I mean even now, cheerleaders are called out of class early to get ready for pep rallies. Occasionally, the prom committee is called out 15 minutes before class ends for a meeting with their class sponsors. Band members go to instrumental competitions. I have one student who is allowed to leave class every day five minutes before the bell rings to be first in line in the cafeteria because he rides a bus to afternoon classes at the county vocational school.
Additionally, at this school we teachers are not told if an absence is excused or not excused; apparently it is not that important to the administration because only so many absences are allowed in a school year without other make-up consequences for the student (after school “time for time”). A “not excused” absence would make it easy to give any number of zeros. And even though I have explained to my students that the lowest quiz grade is dropped and quizzes cannot be made up because they are over the CI going on in class, the truth be told, I probably could work out something with stories that ultimately are written. I do have students who sincerely care about their grade.
Have you had any similar experiences and if so how do you handle it? or how I would you handle these variables? I will appreciate your feedback on this situation.
A. What I do is give the quiz, if we get to it, and if a child is absent, I put the zero in the book as if they were ditching school that day. Then, the next day, if they bring me an excuse from the attendance office, proving that they weren’t ditching, I x out the zero and it becomes a non-grade, since the nature of a CI class is that you have to be in class to take the quiz. I do this if there is any doubt as to whether the kid was ditching or not. In this way, checking back in with me the next day with an excused absense to get rid of the zero puts the burden of responsibility on the kid, not me. The main thing is that it be consistent. Does that make sense?