Classroom Management: Handling Absent Students

November 17th, 2008 By: Diane Trim in Articles, Teachers' Corner

One February the ’flu hit our high school and kids were absent for days at a time. When they returned, ashen-faced and fatigued, no one mobbed me for their missing work. They sat in their seats and worked on the sponge activity instead.

I had a system in place for absent students and their missing work, so everyone was calm and not coughing over me while I took roll.

In the beginning of the year, I had a stack of two-part half-page forms printed out. The forms had the place for the student’s name at the top, the date, and a checklist of the typical assignments I had in my class. At the bottom of the form was a place for special instructions and signatures.

I kept this stack, along with a pile of carbon paper at the front of the class. My students sat in pairs. While students were working on the sponge activity and I was taking roll, I approached a student whose partner was absent. I put a mini chocolate bar on the student’s desk, along with the two-part form, a paperclip, and a piece of carbon paper.

During the lesson, the partner copied the assignments onto the two-part form, collected and clipped handouts to the form, took notes using the carbon paper, and ate the candy bar. The partner gave me the stack on her way out the door.

The next day, while I took roll, I pulled out the stack of absentee forms from the class’s folder. While students were working on the sponge activity, I delivered the work packets to students who had been absent.

Upon delivery, I wrote the date everything was due at the bottom and initialed the two-part form. The student signed as well and I gave him the top copy and the paperclipped work and notes. Back at my desk, I stabbed the yellow copy on a spindle with the other absentee forms.

If there ever was a problem with the make-up work, I could just sort through the few forms at the top of the spindle for a reference.

Tags: absent, Classroom Management, flu