Tuesday, February 26, 2008Cold and Flu Season
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It is cold and flu season, which leads to many students being absent from class.
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Student absenteeism is preferable to students attending class and spreading germs to all their classmates. Yet student absenteeism, or even the possibility of absenteeism changes the way I plan my lessons.
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I find it easier during this season to teach, as much as possible, self-contained lessons. Lessons that rely on students having covered material, which was taught in previous classes, are difficult to manage at this time.
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It’s actually frustrating, for both the students and the instructor, to have to re-teach points to some students prior to beginning a new lesson. The students who do not need to be re-taught, will feel the review is too long and the students who were absent will feel the points are being covered too quickly. The timing of lessons is thrown off, and it is not an ideal situation. I much prefer to teach lessons that can be taught within one day, during this time of year.
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Of course, in some situations this isn’t possible. The curriculum at some schools is structured in a way that lessons rely heavily on previous ones. In that situation, instructors have no choice but to proceed with the set curriculum. In that situation, I just accept the fact that parts of the lessons will have to be re-taught. POSTED BY Cecelia Sumi AT 11:09 PM
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