I had the same classes all last week. Seventh grade world history. Advanced.
(Their teacher was the chaperone for the annual Washington, D.C. trip. So, out of town and hopefully having fun, but working, too.)
The "advanced" means they were the good kids. While they were not 100% on task (they had computers--their assignment was online--so some played more games than did work), they were not doing the sorts of things that generally make for good blog posts.
On Thursday, their acceptance letters to be in a leadership class next year were delivered to period four. So, with my trusty seating chart, I passed these letters out to all the kiddos. There were only about ten.
Passing back papers is harder for me as I don't know the kiddos. Generally, I just call out names. They raise their hands. And then we meet half way.
But, as I knew I had the class all week, I had made myself seating charts. It made roll go that much quicker. And it was useful in keeping track of who was who, especially if there were any "special mentions" I needed to make in my note to their teacher.
I passed out all the letters but one. I remembered marking Savannah absent, so I held on to her letter.
Sixth period the teacher was a coach. The season is over, so the kiddos are just hanging out in class. One girl noticed the letter on the desk. She was oohing and ahhing over it. I mentioned that the girl it belonged to was absent.
"She better not have been..."
Turns out the girl was Savannah's sister, and she knew that Savannah had been at school. (They're on the same campus, so they had arrived together.)
She knew what class Savannah was in sixth period, so she went to take it to her. And it was then that I realized what had happened.
There were two Savannahs in period four. I had forgotten this fact while passing out the letters. I remembered marking a Savannah absent, but I didn't check the last name.
Oops. Glad her sister was there to fix my mistake.
I would have thought Savannah would have been an unusual name. Obviously not, huh?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I would want to be a chaperone on a trip to DC. My sister got married years ago (30 to be exact) in the DC area on Memorial Day weekend. We obviously went to the wedding. The hotel we stayed in had a group of middle schoolers there for their field trip. Talk about not getting any sleep until whenever their curfew was. Running up and down the halls, screaming, laughing, having fun. I'm not sure who was in control if anyone :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lynda, Savanah doesn't seem that common of a name to have two in the same class. Glad you were able to catch the mistake though and get it fixed in the office.
betty
That's interesting that there were two Savannahs. I didn't think that was a common name.
ReplyDeleteNot her real name. Student names are always changed to protect the minors...
DeleteWhen I was in school there were plenty of Debbie, Susan and Kathy
ReplyDeleteCoffee is on
So, was the real name fairly common?
ReplyDeleteHaving been a parent chaperone on some high school trips, may I express my sympathy for the teacher?
Her actual name is. I don't think you'd be surprised by it.
DeleteOOPS.....at least sis did not get home and tell mom that Savannah was out that day!!
ReplyDeleteIf sis did tell mom, then they could go to the online parent portal, and there they would have seen that that Savannah was marked present for the day. (Yup, it's all online nowadays, and they can check attendance.)
DeleteI loved having a parent portal when mine were in school. It was fairly new technology (older daughter graduated from high school in 2008, younger daughter in 2010), so the teachers were inconsistent in their use of the portal, but wow, does it make a difference!
DeleteOh yes, the portal is great. Some students have figured out a way around it, though. They keep their parents ignorant of it. I'm not sure how they manage, but a couple have claimed that their parents can't get a password or they can't get their password to work. (It's too bad I can't talk to those parents, as I would tell them who to contact to get it to work :)
Delete"She better not have been", yup, those are the overachievers.
ReplyDeleteHappens! Lucky her sister was around and spotted the letter.
ReplyDeleteVery lucky, indeed.
DeleteYay that Savannah was invited and not absent! Love that her sister said "She better not be!" when you said Savannah was absent. lol.
ReplyDeleteShe would have been in so much trouble if she had ditched.
DeleteThe advanced students got your back.
ReplyDeleteYup, pretty much.
DeleteThat's the problem whith several kids having the same name!
ReplyDeleteInteresting it's online and they can check attendance. We just get a text if they are marked absent at the start of the day and the school wasn't notified.
ReplyDelete