The Habitual Absentee

Behavior

• Misses class and school for countless reasons, from illness to the excuse that parents need him/her at home.  
• May be uneasy about his/her absence. More often than not, however, does not believe his/her absence should cause teacher any problems or upset.  
• Thinks he/she shouldn't have to make up work and feels persecuted if teacher thinks differently.
• When present, often so far behind that he/she can't do class work.
• Doesn't know what's going on in class.
• One of the hardest students for both teachers and administrators to deal with. That's because this student is likely to be doing nothing even when he/she does come to school. In a sense, this student is absent even when he/she is present.
• Likely to act bored by school. May be either bright or dull intellectually, and thus may be bored for either of two completely opposite reasons.  
• Usually defensive. Therefore, refuses to look at him/herself as the problem.

Effects

• How behavior affects teachers, classmates, and parents in the school learning environment and the home family situation.
• Teacher may be upset if this student is achieving far below his/her potential. 
• Teacher is continually subjected to the inconvenience of bringing this student up to date academically. Because the student may be so far behind, this can seem insurmountable. 
• Classmates may ignore, reject, or make fun of this student. 
• Class may recognize this student only as a "partial" member. 

• Unfortunately, teacher may choose to be happy or relieved when this student doesn't show up for class, and "half mad" when he/she does. Therefore, teacher mood and disposition may be altered.

Action

Primary Causes of Misbehavior

• Power 
• Being absent continually may be an act of open dissent against the school.

• Self-Confidence 
• This student escapes from school because of a feeling that he/she can't do the work.

Primary Needs Being Revealed

• Escape from Pain 
• This child could be a poor student and might find it too painful to attend class. By being absent, he/she gains an excuse for being behind.

Secondary Needs Being Revealed

• Aggression 
• This student needs to be involved in school in some way that makes him/her feel a part of the school. Absenteeism may be a negative form of assertion.

• Achievement 
• This student must experience some little successes.

• Power 
• The habitual absentee is demonstrating his/her power through the school's inability to keep him/her in school. Somehow the power need must be met by giving this student authority of some kind.

• Status 
• Every effort should be made to make this person feel his/her importance in being present in class. 

Actions to take

• The first goal should be to get the student to make a steady attendance in class.
• Make it about TODAY, not yesterday or tomorrow.
• Check with other staff/administrators to see if there are any special problems.
• Do not compare the student with their classmates.
• Schedule some kind of make up work for the student to get back on track. 

Mistakes

• Forming our own opinions of the validity of this student's reason for absence-regardless of the formal excuse he/she brings to class.  
• Giving the student a "disbelieving look" after reading his/her excuse.
• Getting angry and withholding information regarding academic make-up work. 
• Showing that we dislike the student as well as what he/she is doing. 
• Saying such things as "You're worthless" or "You'll never amount to anything." 
• Failing to welcome the student to class when he/she comes. 
• Allowing the student's nonattendance to be our reason to judge him/her a discipline problem.
  

Using Apps from Web 2.0

Hulu is one of the most useful free video websites that are out there. I have used it many of time and they have always met my expectations of having the shows, movies, and documentaries that I was interested in seeing. The purpose of the website is to replay current and past shows and movies in all different genres. I could possibly use this website in my PE classes by having kids look up and watch different types of fitness and nutritional documentaries to watch. There wasn't anything that was working improperly and everything worked out right. The website is intended for every age group. They have genres for every type of movie and show. 

Twiducate is a very useful way to get information and resources out to students in a social networking way. It is a way to share ideas, resources, and other educational things with other teachers and students around the nation and possibly around the world. It is essentially a mix between Twitter and Moddle. The teachers are able to set up their class on there with a specific classroom code to enter into it. Reflections, readings, and ideas can be put on here and shared with other teachers and their classes across the nation. This would be a very useful way to connect with other PE teachers and classes across the nation. There are so many ideas and activities that are going around to improve the wellness and fitness of the students. It is intended for students of all grades and the teachers of these students. It is difficult to really get into without having a real classroom to post things for.

Prezi is basically the same as PowerPoint in that it is a slide show app. Instead of just being a boring slide after slide app, it is like a bulletin board that flies from one part of information to another. There is a lot going on in Prezi so it is necessary to watch the instructional video that they have. I would say it is intended for adults and the older students, more 8th grade through college. It would be tough to integrate this into my PE class setting. I would say that I could post different out of class assignments for them to do on Prezi or have them do an informational assignment using it.

WOU Lacrosse Information

I have added links on the right side on my page for the WOU Lacrosse team. If anyone is interested, go check out the pages. --------------------------------------------------------------------->

Homework Week 1

1.  Discuss your thoughts about blogging with students.  What are some steps that should be taken to prepare students before blogging?  How might you approach that topic of internet safety?  How might you use blogs in your classroom?

I have never been in a situation where I used blogs in a class room setting. I think that it might be tough for some students to use them at a lower levels of school. I have read a lot of blogs but never used one at all for myself. I would make sure my students have no questions about how the blogging website is used and how to upload everything through the website. I think that we can monitor what kids do at school but there isn't much us as educators can do while away from school. It will be tough using blogs in my PE classes but I might do things such as post articles, exercises, and activity/wellness logs for the students. 

2.  Examine your national and state technology standards.  Include a link to them in your blog.  What standards would be met by classroom blogs?  Give an example or two.

The national standards are pretty much identical to the standards for the state of Oregon. I would be able to meet the Research and Information Fluency standards. I would be meeting the requirements by having the students be able to gain access to my blog and understand the exercises that I post in my blog.

3.  What are the lesson objectives?  What technology is incorporated?  Explain how the lesson meets the national and state technology standards.  What is your personal reaction to the lesson?

There are no lesson plans for Physical Education. However, if I was going to use a lesson plan in my blog, I would make it very easy to access. I would include the exercises or tasks I wanted the students to do and possibly put in a YouTube video as an example.