Formal Reflection 5

I had a very interesting event arise in one of my grade 8 classes.

During the week there had been a large presentation put on by the language
department: Cultural Week. Each day had a different theme: French Canada,
Germany, Japan etc They would serve traditional foods in the cafeteria,
have events during lunch and host performances in the afternoons. It was
these performances that caused the issues. They were during the block after
lunch and in order to generate an audience they language department
opened up the performances to the entire school with the proviso that
students had to sign up, take a permissions slip and get it signed by their
teacher.
For one of these performances I was teaching during that block. Two of
my students had come several days before and I had signed the slips. I
believe in supporting school community and the arts. I also feel that these
events can be valuable learning experiences for our students. However on
the day of I had several students come at lunch for me to sign the forms and
I did sign them with the stipulation that they all come after school to receive
the materials from the lesson that I taught.
After school however, two of the students failed to show up and I had a
great discussion with me SA. For the students who are doing well there is
usually know issue with them attending an event like this and they are
usually responsible enough to come get the wok that they missed. But it is
our responsibility to ensure that we do not sign permission forms for students
who should not be missing class. These two students were already missing
assignments and struggle with the material. Although it would be nice for
them to see a concert they would be better served by attending class. They
need our attention the most to ensure they do not fall any further behind. I
took this learning experience and applied it the next day during another
performance. I had 5 people bring me slips to sign but 4 of the 5 students
were in the bottom quarter of the class and all were missing assignments. I
refused to sign the slips and explained clearly to them that I felt they were
missing too many assignments to miss class and get farther behind,.
Although the students were disappointed they completely understood. I
believe I handled this correctly because if I had not explained my reasons to
the students they would have been disappointed and resented me leading to
issues in class. Instead I actually received increased output from them for the
day.
This issue relates directly to goals 6 and 7 because this directly
impacts my relationship with the students and my ability to do what is best
for their learning and development. I also learned exactly what responsibility
I take on when I sign permission slips or excuse students from class.