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Individual attention may be key here - like I said, she's getting left behind.
Individual attention is the key for A LOT of kids. I'm fortunate that I work mostly with kids who are legally allowed to receive completely individualized instruction. But within most contexts, it's not an option. If she requires lots of individual attention to succeed, extra tutoring is probably the answer.
But, from your post, I would almost guarantee that the real problem isn't lack of ability or truly requiring individualized instruction, it's that when attendance is sporadic, it's nearly impossible to stay caught up.
Individual attention is the key for A LOT of kids. I'm fortunate that I work mostly with kids who are legally allowed to receive completely individualized instruction. But within most contexts, it's not an option. If she requires lots of individual attention to succeed, extra tutoring is probably the answer.
But, from your post, I would almost guarantee that the real problem isn't lack of ability or truly requiring individualized instruction, it's that when attendance is sporadic, it's nearly impossible to stay caught up.
This is really a shame. I used to work at a charter school where we had a modified block schedule. It worked out that one block per week was left over so that was used for remediation (we had to teach part of the hour so we could count it as school instead of study hall but we used most of the period to work with students who were struggling in our classes.). Kids were assigned to the teacher they needed to see the most. It was also a good time to send kids to make up tests and there were no excuses for not doing so. I loved it. The kids loved it. Even the kids who didn't need it loved the chance to get some of their homework done in school. Too bad this doesn't count as "instructional" time. We taught ethics for the first 15 minutes so we could claim we were using it to teach. The sad part is is this did more to help struggling students than more "instructional" time would have. It showed in our test scores too.
As to attendance issues, this is a serious problem. I work for a good district and on any given day can count on 5% of my students being out of class either absent or out for school reasons (the charter school was more like 10%). For some reason, I can't seem to get through to my students that they need to make up the work they miss when they are absent BEFORE they come back. The school, officially, gives them one day for every day they were absent and they take it. What they don't realize is that missing one day impacts the next day if they don't, at least, attempt to reveiw the material before coming in. You can't play catch up and keep up at the same time. I average 1-2 students absent per class per day. Half of those absences will be the same half dozen students per class (I find the top 6 in each class average 3 times the absences of the rest of the class). You can't keep up if you don't come to school!
It amazes me when I have a student come up to me, during a test, to ask, "I was absent for this. What should I do?". My students do not think they should be held accountable for material they were not present to learn.
The plain truth is that for most students, if they do not attend regularly, they will not reap the benefits of attending and risk falling behind. That's not the fault of the instructor. You can't fail to show up and pin the blame on the teacher when you're unable to stay caught up.
It amazes me when I have a student come up to me, during a test, to ask, "I was absent for this. What should I do?". My students do not think they should be held accountable for material they were not present to learn.
I teach college students and adults and they do the same exact thing. Worse, when everyone else is working on whatever, they'll sit there in their seats doing nothing at all, and when I notice and ask why they aren't working, they'll say they don't have the handout from last time because they were absent. Infuriating on numerous levels, among them the fact that I put every single handout, class lesson and homework on Blackboard after every single class and checking it is supposed to be a requirement.
And you know what? Don't blame American education - I teach international students!
Accountability is a dying concept, in many contemporary contexts. I work with adult professionals who don't always grasp their personal responsibilities, and expect others to help them work it out when they have dropped the ball. If adults haven't learned accountability, you know they're not teaching their kids by example.
The plain truth is that for most students, if they do not attend regularly, they will not reap the benefits of attending and risk falling behind. That's not the fault of the instructor. You can't fail to show up and pin the blame on the teacher when you're unable to stay caught up.
The new teacher accountability and funding plans don't take attendance into account. All that matters is whether or not the students can pass the tests. In some districts, I hear that most of the math instruction that is measured on the tests is actually taught in out-of-school tutoring centers because the parents have lost confidence in the schools' math instruction programs. So the schools are getting high ratings in math even as they fail to teach math to their students.
This 11 year old still uses her fingers to count (even up to 10).
FWIW: Many of my high school students (not just SPED kids), when they can't get their hands on a calculator, still count on their fingers and/or use TouchMathâ„¢.
FWIW: Many of my high school students (not just SPED kids), when they can't get their hands on a calculator, still count on their fingers and/or use TouchMathâ„¢.
Mine will do that and some will cry. I'll usually also have a thumbsucker or two every year. I teach mostly Seniors in a middle class rural/suburban school. Parents are generally civil servants with a smattering of military (both senior enlisted and high ranking officers) and blue collar trades.
She did not attend 'sporadically', but did have a couple weeks out at various times in the year. Her grandfather is active duty military. Her grandmother was unable to get a job here when he transferred, so she commutes, but is only home for the weekends. They didn't know anyone and the school was unable to refer them to any help. They did not provide any instruction for the lessons she missed. As her parents (grandparents) are ESL, though she is not, they (the school) send her for additional help/tutoring, but according to the girl, they play games, but it didn't correspond with what was happening in the classroom.
Now that we have found each other, we will be able to help them out and she won't miss anymore school unneccessarily.
I do not want to teach. I have no desire to be a daycare provider. I wanted to stay home and raise my kids, not 30 others.
Of course, now I'm taking the other side of the fence. Parents suck too. I guess I was just angry about these summer school 'teachers'... who taught her nothing. But I will be homeschooling my kids from now on, to ensure they get an education... no more rolling the dice.
Last edited by sskkc; 08-02-2012 at 06:16 PM..
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but we used most of the period to work with students who were struggling in our classes.). Kids were assigned to the teacher they needed to see the most. It was also a good time to send kids to make up tests and there were no excuses for not doing so. I loved it. The kids loved it. Even the kids who didn't need it loved the chance to get some of their homework done in school. Too bad this doesn't count as "instructional" time. We taught ethics for the first 15 minutes so we could claim we were using it to teach. The sad part is is this did more to help struggling students than more "instructional" time would have. It showed in our test scores too.
