It's on like Donkey Kong!

This post is dedicated to Stephanie Hart.

Top Figure: Schematic of Phylgebrics classroom: 8 work suites, 2 teachers at 2 doors during passing period. Work suite icons match icons on attendance board.
Bottom Figure: 1st Period Attendance board with student names blotted out.

Main Entry: at·tend·ance board
Function: noun
Definition: a laminated board (see bottom figure) used as a tool to efficiently record attendance and gather notes on group work
Eatamology: I came up with the first version of this while student teaching at Austin High as a survival tool. One of my Uteach mentors – Sharon Ploeger suggested that I laminate it or cover it in a sheet protector and write on it with transparency markers to save paper. Last year, Tara Craig (former co-teacher) helped me to improve upon the board – she might still be using a version of this board for her classes.
Dates: Fall 2006, Fall 2008

When I was student teaching, one of my first classroom management challenges was surviving the first 10 minutes of each period. During this time, I had to learn how to simultaneously start a lesson plan, welcome kids into class, and record and electronically log in attendance. When I first started, my brain was not ready to multitask at this level so I had to develop tools to cheat my way through it. What I eventually settled on was a seating chart with student names and spaces underneath each name to record a week’s worth of attendance. This enabled me to take attendance fast enough (using spatial patterns) that I could log the attendance before a riot broke out in my IPC class.

In my current class, I don’t have a seating chart – I have a work suite chart but the principle is the same. The rows in my current work suite chart are arranged in the order of 1 continuous zig-zag around my room. I have adjusted my eyes and brain to recognize all my students by sound and by sight from several different angles – some by only a tiny piece of the backs of their heads. During the passing periods, I stand by one of the doors and log the attendance of people I see walk past me and students I hear come into the room. Then I do a visual sweep and log as many people I can see from my door while simultaneously monitoring students in the hallway until the passing period ends.

By the time each period starts, I have nearly all my attendance recorded on the board. I complete the last couple details by asking students from teams with missing members if they have seen those students on campus so I can preemptively mark them tardy or absent before they come through my door. Then I verify my attendance with my co-teacher who records the attendance on his own set of boards (we each have a set – 1 board per period). Finally we log the attendance into Skyward well before our groups finish their warm-ups which are due 10 minutes after they enter class.

At the end of the week I scan all the boards and upload their images into documents for future records. Then I clean them off with nail polish remover and set them up for next week. I actually have 2 sets of boards. I keep the previous week’s boards unerased for one week. This way I have a hard copy of the previous week’s attendance and group notes so I know how to better facilitate issues that arise in groups when team members are absent several times.

This is why Stephanie Hart was really foolish to challenge to me to an attendance contest. I think she’s doing this to remind herself to log her attendance quickly, accurately, and consistently. I hope this "contest" really motivates her to improve her attendance logging skills. However if her goal is to beat me at this game – I hope she’s a gracious loser and that her inevitable defeat won’t negatively impact our friendship.