Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Making Up Late Quizzes and Tests... a Breakthrough!

Oh, yeah!
Source
Okay, I'm not sure that this is that dramatic. It's not even original, I'm certain. But ehrmahgerd guys, this has been revolutionary in my classroom!

You guys already know how I manage absent student information (or, if you don't, check out this post and this template), but I've still continued to struggle in keeping up with make-up quizzes and tests. For apparent reasons, I don't feel comfortable putting a blank test or quiz in my absent binder. I just never really came up with a good landing spot or a good system for dealing with this problem, so by the end of the quarter, the office is always dragging up these incomplete test scores and wondering what happened and I'm like oh yeah... Not good.

So, here's my new system. It is not stunning or ingenious and it's still pretty new, but it's working out beautifully so far. My landing spot for those blank tests/quizzes is a pocket folder hanging on the bulletin board. I put the kiddo's name on the test and put it in the pocket folder. The thing that's keeping me on track, though, is this little schedule hanging on my filing cabinet. I make a note in my Absent Binder on quiz/test days telling the students they need to schedule their make-up day. I put their names on the schedule when they are absent, along with the item they missed and the original date. Students just have to fill in the date they plan to make-up the missed item (within five days of the absence) and the time period that day they intend to take it (during advisory period, lunch, after school, or another time). Here's a sample below.



Like I said, this isn't earth-shattering or particularly clever, but my goodness it has been helpful! (Especially with all of this crazy snowy/cold weather.) If you've been looking for a solution like this one, I've added this schedule to my collection of templates. You can find it here.

Happy Teaching! We're getting yet another two-hour delay in the morning. :)