Attendance Is Always A Focus

Having worked at the high school, middle school, and elementary school levels, attendance is always an issue. As teachers and administrators we are always thinking of ways of how to increase attendance and get kids excited to come to school. How do we do it? How do we show parents that the learning happens at school?
Be creative! Get kids excited to come to school and they will.

Many individuals think that to increase attendance at the three different levels you must: high school students forced to wear ankle monitors will work, give middle school students candy to show up, and at elementary hang some signs that say Every Day Counts. They don't work! We need to do more.

A local high school doing a school wide rock,paper,scissor tournament.
Rather than looking at punitive measures, we need to focus on learning environments that are engaging, fun, and different. If we can create schools that provide a wide range of activities, students will latch onto something that they love.


Create relationships! Build trust with your students and parents that opens the dialogue. Learn their story and be compassionate to them.

The only way that we can get kids in the seats is to be engaging! Have fun, get out there and be awesome for kids and the seats will be filled.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Interactivity and Engagement In Elementary School Classrooms

Image
  Interactivity and Engagement In Elementary School Classrooms School leaders should always be thinking about how to increase student achievement of every student in their school. Hiring the right teacher, having the right curriculum, and building a strong culture are all great ways to build a strong school of learning, but sometimes it is not enough to increase student achievement. When schools shut down during the COVID pandemic,  they suddenly transitioned to online learning which required a quick pivot to using 21st-century skills and utilizing technology to promote interactivity and engagement in education (Rivers et al., 2021). Classrooms across the country turned to game-based learning to increase student engagement, leading to increased student learning (Figuccio & Johnston,2022). When the subject matter is not engaging to students, they do not pay attention to the instruction, and learning gains are not evident. Teachers are faced with looking at their student's e...
Read more

The power of yes...

Image
1. Are you okay if I try something new? YES 2. Can I purchase some new technology for coding? YES 3. Can I go to this conference? YES There is so much power in saying yes to teachers. Obviously there are times that the answer has to be no. However when talking with teachers about expanding their teaching practices, I try to say yes as much as possible. If some teachers take the leap and try new things others will follow. Be the leader that never stops growing and helps their staff grow as well. Let's face it, schools, need to grow with the times. Teachers, principals, and other school leaders need to continue to grow and put students first. For so long we have been used to saying sorry, that is a great idea, but we do not have funding. Enough! Our children cannot afford us to make excuses and not deliver our best each and every day. Take time to develop as educators to make sure that we are teaching skills that can be used today and are relevant for the future. Teach wh...
Read more

Keep Them Moving

Image
Summer is coming to end for many teachers, parents, and students. Summer is a time for everyone to get outside, exercise, and enjoy each other. When school starts, no of that should change. We need to keep kids moving all year long. Too often as the year gets going, classrooms get busy and activity is not a focus. Getting students up and moving decreases behavior in the classroom and increases attention. Activity needs to be present in every classroom and no excuses should be made. Here are 10 easy ways to incorporate activity into every classroom without losing "academic" time.  1.   Introduce vocabulary words to your class on a daily/ weekly basis. Use a bone or muscle each day instead of saying the word "go". This allows students to learn parts of their body, increase their vocabulary, and work on their spelling. Incorporating vocabulary into the class gives the teacher another avenue for assessment. Teachers then can administer quick writes, ...
Read more