Excerpts from Reflective Journals | Excerpts from Literature | References

Some students may need more individual help and support in achieving regular classroom attendance. As a teacher, you need to reflect beforehand on what your attendance policy will be (perhaps the program has specific requirements) and what you will do to help students meet their attendance goals. Often circumstances arise that make it impossible for family literacy participants to make it to class. Think about the following questions: What will you do when that occurs? What if it becomes a pattern? How much does their attendance reflect upon you as a teacher, or upon the curriculum?

Excerpts from Reflective Journals

• February 28th, 2002 (Wave I) – “Okay—I had called everybody on my roll previous to the class, so I was truly hoping we’d have a better turnout. Well…I arrived at the Public Library at 6:30 and began to wait. I had asked my students to be there at 6:45. Eva arrived on time—she seems GREAT and enthused. Then, a bit later Clara arrived. I was thrilled about this because I actually wrote a question mark by her name after our phone conversation.”
• April 4th, 2002 (Wave I) – “Before class today, I called one of my students (Victoria) to ask her why she hadn’t made it the last two days, and if she would be there today. She was so apologetic, and she said she was going to rest all afternoon so that she could come. She has been having false labor again, so she hasn’t been going out too far—I guess I can’t blame her!”
• April 30th, 2002 (Wave I) – “Oh dear, time to make some more phone calls. Neither of my two faithful ones showed up again. I am guessing that Estela had another downward slump, and Marisol…I don’t know what she could be tied up in. I will have to call them tomorrow or Thursday to find out what’s going on.”
• April 23rd, 2002 (Wave II) – “Okay, so today I took time to call a bunch of the people who said they were interested in this class (ones who didn’t come last week…that’s almost all of them), and I reminded them about the 5:00 to 6:00 class tonight. Most of the ones who I could actually get on the phone gave me some sort of excuse for why they weren’t there last week. Okay—so, the interest is still there. Great! And most said they’d be there tonight… Well, the phone calls seemed to pay off. By the end of class today, I had 13 students attending! What excitement! I worked hard to make it worthwhile for all those participating, even those who were there for the second time (three of them)—trying to avoid too much repetition.”
• May 14th, 2002 (Wave I)– "I actually made the conscious decision to NOT call these two women before class; I wanted to see if they would come on their own. Unfortunately, they did not come—and I am left with many, many questions. I know that they have really enjoyed our classes together, and even felt like they were progressing. They made remarks like those in our classes. But, now I am thinking that life again has taken over, and struggles—big and small—are abounding. Now, I will call for sure to see what their plans are. I told them that the 16th and the 23rd I would not be able to do it, and that our last day would be May 28th…so, we’ll see."

Excerpts from Literature

• Paratore, 1994, “We demonstrated concern and respect for learners by calling them when they were absent to offer support and assistance. There was a fine line here. Some parents found this practice to be intrusive. We learned to be somewhat selective in implementing the policy” (p. 211).
• Paratore, 2001, “To assess the effectiveness of the program in general, the daily attendance and program completion of every learner are monitored. As a matter of policy, when a participant is absent for two consecutive days, one of the teachers makes a phone call to inquire about the family’s health and to make certain all is well” (p. 52).

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