What did we do in class today? Watch a video and find out!

I've started a new experiment using short videos to tell absent students what the rest of us did in class on any given day. I now have a webcam and I've been making very short video clips announcing the assignments. I upload the video file to my wikipage and then put a link to the wikipage on my class pageflakes home page. I'm not sure that's the most efficient way to do this yet, but it seems to be workable. I'm going to introduce the class pageflakes page to my new group of students tomorrow. I'll keep you posted about their feedback. In the meantime, feel free to check out the first two video clips. You'll find the link in the left column under the calendar "flake."

More Email Messages From Students About Attendance

Berenice wrote in an email message:

From: a7bXXXX@gaggle.net (Berenice)
To: bbakin@gaggle.net
Subject: (No subject specified)
Date: Tue 07 Aug 2007 04:47:21 PM -0700

Hi teacher this is Berenice. I have to be absent for a few days. My sister in law is pregnat and I have to care for her during the morning. I hope to be in class next week. Please, don't miss me a lot...

Sincerity.....

Berenice

Gloria wrote in a message the other morning:

From: a7graXXXX@gaggle.net (Gloria R) Add to Address Book
To: bbakin@gaggle.net
Subject: No attending classes
Date: Mon 06 Aug 2007 09:59:20 PM -0700
I'm sorry for not attending classes lately, I'm not feeling very well


Vilma is a student I had last year. She wrote earlier this week:
HELLO TEACHER I WANT TO BACK TO SCHOOL AFFTERNOON BUT I DON'TKNOW WHEN IS
STAR OF THE CLASS CAN YOU TELLME WHEN IS STAR, I TELLING YOU I CHANGE OF
WORK NOW I WORK IN THE UNIVERSITY ... .TAKE CARE SEE YOU SOO.......

After I responded to her message she wrote back:

Hello teacher thank you for answer my massege I am happy for back to school
I need to learn English. I'm nervous with my new job because many people
are speack English, so I don't nkow how can I speack with them but I nkow I
can do it if I go to school tanks again teacher ................. take care see you soon....................................

>VILMA



Email, while not the only option that students can use to communicate with a teacher, is simply another channel to keep the lines of communication open. Perhaps, in fact, students might feel more comfortable writing a message then speaking...

Email and student retention

Once again, the efficacy of using email with students has interacted with the issue of student retention. After not having seen Luis in class for a complete week (one of the students who usually attended almost every day) I called (the more traditional method of student teacher contact) and left a message. A day later, I received the following email message:

From: luis c.
Sent: Tue Jul 24 17:29:43 PDT 2007
To: bbakin@

Subject: Hi Mr Bakin


Hi Mr Bakin,well, yesterday i recieved yor message and i call you at PSC but it was at 15:30 pm, I´m working in a factory ans this is the reason why i´m not going to school, thank you very much for everything, God bless you and I´ll see you in another time, but i dont´l leave the school completely, I´m now enrolled at PSc saturdays, you know, the education is the most important in my life, it´s my future and any day I´ll get a better job with of course with a better payment after to get my GED certificate in English, this is one of my first short term goals.


See you later Mr. Bakin. Good Luck.


Luis C.


Apparently, he tried to return the call, but I wasn't at the school, so he emailed me! Having a secondary information pathway kept me informed about his status and I know that he hasn't "dropped out," just changed to a different program.