Several students have emailed this morning to ask if we are having class on Zoom today. (All the Zoom info is now here.)
To
answer that in a way that makes any kind of sense, it's important to
remind ourselves what we're doing all this for in the first place.
Every
student who has written me or talked with me so far has indicated that
they want to learn new ideas and improve their writing, reading, and
speaking skills.
To do that, we need to start GTD (Getting Things Done - this is the title of a great book on the subject and also nicer than the traditional GSD, which I probably shouldn't spell out on a family-style blog :)
I
believe very strongly in supporting you as you get started. So, if you
haven't created your course blog, or gotten a notebook and started your
journal, or started typing "did it" as you complete tasks on your
period's Google Sheet, you need to meet with me today during our
scheduled time so that I can help you.
If you HAVE
created your blog, started your journal, and typed "did it" for at least
a few of the tasks on the sheet, and you feel pretty confident that
you're off to a good start, today's online meeting is optional.
The word attendance goes back to the 14th century (!) and means, "the act of attending to one's duties." The word attend goes back to the same time and means, "to direct one's mind and energies."
I
have no interest in demanding that you sit still on a Zoom meeting
while others catch up, any more than I would demand you sit in a
classroom while others catch up. I want you to work in a way that
prepares you for success, and if you're off to a good start, I want you
to continue.
Bottom Line: This is Week 2. If you have
questions or need help getting started, please plan on being online
during your class period. If you are GTD, I'll see you later in the
week. You're always welcome to email or schedule a meeting if you think
of something later.
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for the win(ter break)
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I feel like school forces us to attend in class though I feel like it should be attend school when you are ready to get things done and attend school when you are ready to improve skills.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion school focuses so much on attendance & not grades itself. Is our attendance the thing that is going to get us to graduate?
ReplyDeleteSchool forces us to attend school but sometimes we just go school to socialize and we don't do anything my point is why attend school if where not even going to pay attention.
ReplyDeleteAttending school isn't always useful, There are days that I have attend school and yet not learned a single thing. so, why enforce it?
ReplyDeleteAttending school everyday is pretty important, but sometimes it doesn't seem necessary to attend to. Yes we always learn something, but not exactly everyday. Plus, 5 days a week for 7 to 8 hours each day? Sounds pretty draining.
ReplyDeleteI feel like school focuses more on attendance rather than grades and student's mental health.
ReplyDeleteSchool isn't built to make successful people so they just focus more on attendance then really trying to help the students and their futures
ReplyDelete