Drastic increase in student absences

[RDCanecutter 26284]

40 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

 

The woman that was reporting all of this on the radio the other day specifically spoke to this. It’s not because of one child.  But she specifically said that the curriculum is slowed for everyone because of the kids that can’t keep up, and they are covering incrementally less material each year.  

Yep. With a good solid class, you can build up a level of group knowledge, where when the inevitable questions from last week's work crop up, instead of having to stop the whole class for the Authority Figure to backtrack, their classmates can set them straight in a couple of minutes.

There's an art to figuring out how to pair the students up in small groups, but when it runs, it runs well. And if your slower kids are caught up, you can share some deeper insights into the material, get away from zombie worksheets and such.

On the other hand, a small class where people miss a lot is just broken. Turns into tutoring sessions for the ones who do show. Hell, I'll tutor. I'd rather teach them all.

[Dahobbs 17449]

16 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

ohh burn. Nope to the homeschool. Unlike most UT students (at the time), I went to a small, poor Texas ISD with a single high school. 

FYI, the term homeschool didn't exist when I was in junior/high school. Those were called dropouts and in my town, they went to work. For elementary kids, the only alternative that I was aware of was a few religious based private schools. The main one being an hour away. 

No burn intended. Homeschooling can be done well (it just often isn't). My nephews and niece were homeschooled until high school and are absolutely thriving. Your comment just doesn't make any sense to me. Teachers don't start over because kids miss a few days here and there. Students missing <10 days out of a year isn't going to cause schools to not "work" or be "worthless." That's just ridiculous.  

Edited April 4 by Dahobbs

[Nice Guy Eddie 13414]

1 minute ago, hobbes2702 said:

I don’t think he’s trying to burn you. He’s just asking because you seem to think the teachers start over because a kid is out of school.

I don't know what teachers do when kids take vacations during the school year. It wasn't a thing when I was in school. and I'm not talking about college. Of course some colleges and even a couple of my UT classes had mandatory attendance. It was rare at UT but not unheard-of. 

Both of my parents were teachers in secondary and college level so it was an impossibility for my family to take off during a school year. But I have zero recollection of any classmate doing so outside of illness or a death in the family. Christmas and Spring Break were vacation times along with summer. It would have been an unexcused absence where you most likely received a 0 for missed work. I realize I'm old but that is how it was. Sorry if my experience doesn't match yours.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13414]

1 minute ago, Dahobbs said:

No burn intended. Your comment just doesn't make any sense to me. Teachers don't start over because kids miss a few days here and there. Students missing <10 days out of a year isn't going to cause schools to not "work" or be "worthless." That's just ridiculous.  

hobbs and hobbes - you're putting words in my mouth and validating by the other agreeing that I said it. I don't understand why you don't move on. Have fun on your once in a lifetime trip to Hawaii.

[Dahobbs 17449]

2 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I don't know what teachers do when kids take vacations during the school year. It wasn't a thing when I was in school. and I'm not talking about college. Of course some colleges and even a couple of my UT classes had mandatory attendance. It was rare at UT but not unheard-of. 

Both of my parents were teachers in secondary and college level so it was an impossibility for my family to take off during a school year. But I have zero recollection of any classmate doing so outside of illness or a death in the family. Christmas and Spring Break were vacation times along with summer. It would have been an unexcused absence where you most likely received a 0 for missed work. I realize I'm old but that is how it was. Sorry if my experience doesn't match yours.

Right, so you're missing perspective, which I what I said. When I was growing up people missed school here and there. It didn't cause class to collapse or start over. I missed school here and there. It wasn't a big deal. 

[Dahobbs 17449]

2 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

hobbs and hobbes - you're putting words in my mouth and validating by the other agreeing that I said it. I don't understand why you don't move on. Have fun on your once in a lifetime trip to Hawaii.

How so?

4 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Not an attack on you but I don’t see how K-12 grades work if there are always kids out of school for non-emergencies. Or has school become completely worthless and now operate only as babysitters?

 

3 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

If one kid misses 5 days? No. If random kids are out every week? Yes. I don’t see how new lesson plans are taught if the teacher constantly starts over.

I'm sorry if my meme offended you. I was just being snarky; it wasn't meant to be serious. But I don't think I'm misrepresenting what you've said, which is that schools can't work and must be worthless if kids are missing a few days here and there for thigs like trips to family vacations. That is just such an over exaggeration for what was being described by Hobbes (i.e., kid missing 5 days). Now, if we're talking about kids regularly missing 15-20% of school, yes, I can see that being very disruptive. 

[Incredulity 11555]

35 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

My daughter reports one of her classes (split day) is very unruly, and the other is fine.  We have to work with her considerably more in the subjects where the class is unruly.

This has been a huge problem for my kids classes starting after about elementary school.  The inability to firmly discipline and or remove students cripples the entire class.  A majority of the teachers(and some with specialists) time is spent dealing with the kids with behavioral problems.

 

 

[ztejas 43266]

2 hours ago, SimonBolivar said:

God bless my high school and our hour lunch breaks. 

Oh I smoked during those, too.

[F250 28691]

12 hours ago, UT_OB1 said:

 

Exact same on both of these. And I wake up feeling terrible and be like I need to be medicated. I don’t think I’ve actually gotten to play a snap in any of my dreams the last 20+ years. 

Yeah, I've never actually played football in one of these dreams. It always takes place before the game. Might be some Uncle Rico "If I could just go back in time" desires driving these dreams.

There was an episode in the Sopranos where Tony had a sequence of dreams and one of them was the football dream.

 

[UT_OB1 2200]

1 minute ago, F250 said:

Yeah, I've never actually played football in one of these dreams. It always takes place before the game. Might be some Uncle Rico "If I could just go back in time" desires driving these dreams.

There was an episode in the Sopranos where Tony had a sequence of dreams and one of them was the football dream.

 

Yeah, I’ve wondered about it too, but I’ve come to the conclusion it’s much more anxiety based than Uncle Rico based. The football dreams started after high school, and the test dreams didn’t start until after college. There’s nothing happy about them. I think it’s just that we spend 6 or 8 years of our lives with that being one of the most time consuming things in our lives, and while there was a lot to enjoy, we (or at least I) had a lot to stress over too. Guess the mind just isn’t done stressing yet. 

[Blotto 23434]

18 hours ago, ztejas said:

Yeah - what a bunch of bitches.

I skipped class in HS for important reasons - like smoking weed and fucking my girlfriend when our parents weren't home.

Those are skills you can fall back on your entire life. 

[F250 28691]

3 hours ago, Incredulity said:

Probably took my subconscious 20 years to stop getting anxiety when the peak summer heat is raging in late July/ early August because doubles are starting soon.

Yes! The dread of two a days in the Texas summer heat. That feeling came back the first time I took my oldest son to his h.s. two a days. The smell of an early morning summer combined with the sound of players quietly walking from the parking lot to the field house at sunrise really took me back.

[Pescado_Rojo 19331]

2 hours ago, High Plains Drifter said:

 

My daughter (8th grade, no pics) is in band and sports. She misses school all the fucking time for band concerts, track meets, volleyball games, whatever. 

I realize that is all extracurricular, but if schools are that worried about kids missing school, then maybe some of that shit should be on saturdays. 

The message is "don't miss school, but actually its ok to miss school for (all these relatively unimportant reasons)." Wtf do the schools expect? If its ok to miss two days for a volleyball tournament, and a day for a band recital all in one week, then why isn't it ok to miss for a family vacation, or a wedding, or whatever?

 

 

Or in the evenings after school, when parents don't have to move mountains to get out of work to attend. 

Signed: Guy who is about to leave for the district track meet an hour and a half away. 

[F250 28691]

10 minutes ago, UT_OB1 said:

Yeah, I’ve wondered about it too, but I’ve come to the conclusion it’s much more anxiety based than Uncle Rico based. The football dreams started after high school, and the test dreams didn’t start until after college. There’s nothing happy about them. I think it’s just that we spend 6 or 8 years of our lives with that being one of the most time consuming things in our lives, and while there was a lot to enjoy, we (or at least I) had a lot to stress over too. Guess the mind just isn’t done stressing yet. 

My football dreams vary between stressful and a sense of aging. Sometimes I don't have a uniform, cleats, or haven't been to practice all season. Other times I am aware of my age but still want to play. I recently had one where I realized my own sons haven't played high school football in years. There was a big WTF moment and I woke up.

[Incredulity 11555]

5 minutes ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

district track meet an hour and a half away. 

track meets as a parent are the absolute suck.  hours of waiting for a few minutes of your kids event then wait an hour, next event....  brutal

[Pescado_Rojo 19331]

10 minutes ago, Incredulity said:

track meets as a parent are the absolute suck.  hours of waiting for a few minutes of your kids event then wait an hour, next event....  brutal

High School meets are better than AAU meets, but yes. My daughter runs track and my son swims. Swim meets are similar, but usually a bit better organized. 

Last year at UIL swim regionals my son was in the 2nd event and the last event. And the meet was at A&M. Pure misery. 

Edited April 4 by Pescado_Rojo

[F250 28691]

2 hours ago, High Plains Drifter said:

 

If schools had this same attitude for English and Math class as for softball, maybe kids wouldn't miss so much school. 

 

 

The same with high school baseball. Games scheduled for 1 PM during the school week at a field that is in Kerrville means the players get the entire day off from school. Fortunately, the school provided a coordinator to work with the teachers and students regarding assignments, quizzes, tests, etc...

[TexasEd 8064]

On 4/3/2024 at 12:51 PM, DixonHur said:

And have her sell the test questions?  

That's a no for me, dog.

 

On 4/3/2024 at 1:06 PM, Nice Guy Eddie said:

 

I know of a similar story that occurred with an Astronomy 301 final in the late 80s. 

 

On 4/3/2024 at 1:10 PM, RDCanecutter said:

They're cheating the fuck away no matter what, giving one exam just makes it easy. Check into Chegg, it's full of everybody's tests.

Mrs. Canecutter uses a program that spits out similar chemistry problems but they all have different variables. She dances on their academic graves when they copy answers from the wrong test.

Once, early in my first Hell Job (teaching 9th graders with no training) I laid a whammy on their cheating ways. I gave them a multiple-choice test that appeared to be two versions- one had a cartoon dog at the top, the other had a cartoon flower. There were actually 4 versions that I had collated so when I handed them out, nobody had the same version as anybody near them. All answers were similar length. Told em not to copy.

BWAHAHAHAHAH

Got back A's, B's, and a shit-load of low F's. "Why did I get it wrong when Derek got it right?" "You had two different answers. Let's go over why this answer was the one."

Did the same thing a couple of times more until they learned that Mr. Canecutter was evil and crazy. Then I would just make one version, but with 4 different pictures at the top. Maybe somebody clued in. But that's OK, they were thinking.