Attendance

Do you take attendance in your class? I can't imagine not, for the following reasons:

1. We are responsible for knowing when the students stopped attending, etc. for financial aid purposes.
2. I want them there to participate and listen to other students' speeches.
3. I can't trust them to make the right decision about attendance without an external motivator. I'm not proud of this one, but I do know about our current generation of students is that they do very little without an external motivator. We have created them, so we have no reason to blame them.
4. It motivates me to learn their names. After the second week I do not call role. I find that demeaning and a waste of time, and there are ways to get around it.

I understand why some instructors do not take roll, however. Yes, it's really the students' responsibilities to learn, absolutely. I agree with all that but don't plan on stopping my practice.

Next post: millennials--a myth?

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