A Test Makeup

It was week three in Mr. J's classes, and I'm starting to get my feet under me. That means that certain things I may not have noticed initially (while I'm trying to get a handle on the bigger things) are now catching my attention.

Jordan is in my second period class, but I hadn't seen much of her. In fact, I hadn't really seen her at all. 

I first noticed Jordan's absence when I was getting the quarter grades taken care of. She had pretty much taken the month of February off. And she was doing the same for March. Her grade was fine, but that was only because no one had input the grades.

Once I finished getting the grading caught up, Jordan's grade dropped to an F. 

I checked her attendance. It appeared that she was attending school every other day. As the school is on a block schedule, that meant that while her first, third, fifth, and seventh period teachers were seeing her regularly, her fourth, sixth, and eighth period teachers, as well as me, weren't seeing her at all. 

Thursday was an odd day. During passing period, Jordan showed up at my door. (I was at the door greeting students as they entered. The administrators encourage this of the teachers.) I knew who she was because the seating charts have photos. 

Jordan said that her grade had dropped because she was missing a test. (She was missing two tests and five or six assignments, but I didn't point that out.) After expressing displeasure that I hadn't just automatically cancelled the grade for her, she wondered if she could make up the test. I told her of course she could. Then she was on her way to her fifth period class. 

(There is a way to make an assignment not count for a student. I did this for a student who was out for a while after a suicide attempt. I will do this for various students who already completed an online course on how to job interview which I'm assigning to a couple classes. I will not do this for a student who ditched class for a month and now sees that her grade dropped.)

Did Jordan show up to take the test later that day? No, she did not.

Jordan did show up to class the next day. So, I offered her the opportunity to take the test right then. 

She wasn't that quiet, although I think she thought she was, when she said something along the lines of, "I don't want to do this now." I suppose I could have pressed the issue, but I gave her the out of taking it later in the day. She said she'd be there.

And then a meeting I needed to attend ran long, so I got back to the room late. So, of course Jordan wasn't there. Had she been there at the time we'd agreed? 

Well, I double checked her schedule. She does, in fact, have an eighth period when she said she didn't, so I kind of doubt that she was there. 

She can still make up the test and all the work she's missing. I'm accepting all late work. 

But will she? Will she get that work made up? 

We shall see. 

(So many of them did little while Mr. D was covering the classes, and somehow they thought the work didn't count. I had a couple weeks of students scrambling to get assignments in once their grades plummeted after I got those assignments input in the gradebook. Some still have not done anything.)