1. However good the teacher, kids won't learn school stuff if they're not at school. Absenteeism is an issue that has to be addressed.
2. The first hour of the school day is the most important for little kids. A lot of at-risk kids are chronically late for school. It takes some management skills to get the family out the door in the morning. If the parents don't have themselves together, they will not make the school bell. If a prep child is half an hour late each day, he or she will miss the majority of the literacy teaching.
3. If kids come to school without having had a proper breakfast, their learning will be compromised. The teacher has no control over this.
4. Some parents really want to do a good job, but have very little idea how to. If schools are to help these parents, they will need to be resourced for this.
5. There is no excuse ever for dropping music out of the curriculum to fund something else (however good.) Don't even think of it!
So I have a question about absenteeism. Sally missed about 3 weeks of school last year (Syd for staff conf, MYC and sick days). Is all absenteeism the same? If I tell the teacher in advance and she gives me stuff to do with Sal, is that just as bad as random days missed here and there? B/c I feel like this is what I want to do a lot. MYC is important to us as a family, and for our ministry here. And the Uni hols and school hols don't match up very well. She's in grade 1 this year, and will prob miss more this year than she did last year, b/c of the cheap flights we've already booked!
ReplyDeleteIs this bad? Am I doing it all wrong? Or does it not matter at this stage, but it will later?
PS She's not a genius, but the teachers are pleased with her progress and say she's not struggling at all.
I think it's always worth remembering that the school curriculum is sequential and that what they will learn tomorrow builds on what they learned today and yesterday. If a year one kid missed my music lesson this week (for example), then they missed out on the final (for now) lesson in a series teaching them how to write out (in crotchets and quavers) the rhythm for some simple songs we've been singing. In this lesson, they got to do by themselves what we've previously been doing as a whole class. It's possible that the child would be able to do the task fine without this lesson, but most clearly needed it. I could see how they were going and help them individually. When we come back to rhythms in a few weeks, the kid who missed my lesson today will probably have a gap - but if they listen up they should be able to catch up on what they missed.
DeleteBut there are some kids who are away one week out of three. Those kids will find it hard to catch up. If they don't understand crotchets and quavers, then they won't understand semiquavers. Before too long they will stop trying to catch up and just zone out.
Overall, three weeks of planned absences during prep for a child who is pretty much on top of things is probably okay. I think you need to keep on talking to the teacher about what she is missing and try to cover the important stuff. (Of course I think that music is important! Very few parents come and ask me what they are missing in music! (My middle and upper primary kids did last year - I had them trained!))
The absenteeism I am talking about here is probably more like 2 days per week. And it normally happens with kids who are at risk anyway.
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ReplyDeleteRe point 2 - if lateness is an issue for a lot of kids, why not rotate the times different skills are addressed from day to day, so kids don't constantly miss out on something really important?
ReplyDeleteJon - The first hour of the day will always be spent on something really important. Our old school had a policy that the first hour and a half of the day had to be spent on literacy at least 4 days a week because research shows (and every teacher knows) that that is when the kids are most focussed.
DeleteI agree with Simone that the first hour is very important. I always started with reading first when they were very young as I felt that was number one priority. As they got older and were reading confidently I switched to doing maths first but English after that (after a break). My experience with teaching reading is that it's a waste of time trying to begin after 10.30 am in the morning.
DeleteMusic rocks. L is being extended through music (they gave her early entry to one program without me even asking!) in a way that is much harder in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought of music being used as an extension activity in a school. What grade is L in? How does that work in her school and do they do this early entry for other students?
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