"How do we create an environment where students want to attend school?"
George Couros summed up what I've been thinking about for the past two months in two questions.
Attendance is a complex issue and there are many reasons why students miss class time, including truancy, illness, mental health, school activities, parents, work is too easy/too hard, etc. Chronic absenteeism in itself is a major issue, but it's an issue that is the result of other factors. As teachers, we don't have a significant impact on what happens outside of school, but as Couros suggests, we can control what happens in school.
I believe that many schools, including mine, do amazing work in terms of school-wide activities that help to challenge students, promote collaboration, create community and a sense of belonging for all students and staff. We recently held our first-ever Innovation Week, we have close to 100 sports teams and clubs, there are dances, coffee houses, fundraisers, weekly masses, homework club, assemblies and the list goes on. Our students like coming to school, chronic non-attenders included; however, many would rather hang out in the lower forum than attend class. As absences continue to increase, I wonder what we could differently to change this trend?
I think the first thing that we need to ask ourselves is how are significant numbers of students, who miss more than 10% of class time in a semester, earning credits? Two reasons that quickly come to mind are technology and pressures from above. Google Classroom and D2L make it easier for students to miss class time, but still complete assigned work. There is also constant pressure on teachers from administrators and the ministry of education to continuously increase credit accumulation and graduation rates. My concern is that work completion, credit accumulation and graduation rates are measures of achievement that do not necessarily reflect what a student has learned.
According to cognitive psychologist Steven Katz, learning is "the process through which experience causes permanent change in knowledge or behaviour." He goes on to ask, "Is it learning if they learn it just long enough to be able to do well on the test, but then it's gone?" The answer is yes and no. No in the sense that if the learning is gone after a test, it's not permanent; but also yes (though unintentional) because many students permanently learn the skill of "just long enough."
Teachers and administrators do not want a "just long enough" education for students and I believe neither do our students. An education should lead to growth and the development of skills that will help lead to success in school but more importantly in life. The global competencies are a starting point to rethinking what teaching and learning looks like. As we start to focus more on the global competencies, we will also see an improvement in education, permanent learning and in attendance.
We can create an environment in our classrooms where students want to attend school, but are we willing to change our practice to make it happen?
Attendance is a complex issue and there are many reasons why students miss class time, including truancy, illness, mental health, school activities, parents, work is too easy/too hard, etc. Chronic absenteeism in itself is a major issue, but it's an issue that is the result of other factors. As teachers, we don't have a significant impact on what happens outside of school, but as Couros suggests, we can control what happens in school.
I believe that many schools, including mine, do amazing work in terms of school-wide activities that help to challenge students, promote collaboration, create community and a sense of belonging for all students and staff. We recently held our first-ever Innovation Week, we have close to 100 sports teams and clubs, there are dances, coffee houses, fundraisers, weekly masses, homework club, assemblies and the list goes on. Our students like coming to school, chronic non-attenders included; however, many would rather hang out in the lower forum than attend class. As absences continue to increase, I wonder what we could differently to change this trend?
I think the first thing that we need to ask ourselves is how are significant numbers of students, who miss more than 10% of class time in a semester, earning credits? Two reasons that quickly come to mind are technology and pressures from above. Google Classroom and D2L make it easier for students to miss class time, but still complete assigned work. There is also constant pressure on teachers from administrators and the ministry of education to continuously increase credit accumulation and graduation rates. My concern is that work completion, credit accumulation and graduation rates are measures of achievement that do not necessarily reflect what a student has learned.
According to cognitive psychologist Steven Katz, learning is "the process through which experience causes permanent change in knowledge or behaviour." He goes on to ask, "Is it learning if they learn it just long enough to be able to do well on the test, but then it's gone?" The answer is yes and no. No in the sense that if the learning is gone after a test, it's not permanent; but also yes (though unintentional) because many students permanently learn the skill of "just long enough."
Teachers and administrators do not want a "just long enough" education for students and I believe neither do our students. An education should lead to growth and the development of skills that will help lead to success in school but more importantly in life. The global competencies are a starting point to rethinking what teaching and learning looks like. As we start to focus more on the global competencies, we will also see an improvement in education, permanent learning and in attendance.
We can create an environment in our classrooms where students want to attend school, but are we willing to change our practice to make it happen?
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