I can't remember where I read this (I feel so bad, I would love to credit the source) but someone had posted about chorus procedures. One that I knew I needed to improve upon was taking attendance. I hate having to call roll, it wastes so much time, but I hadn't found another way of doing it that worked for me.
Over the summer I bought command hooks and clipboards and this week I attached them to the book cases by my back door. When students arrive for chorus or orff, they have to sign in by putting a dot next to their name. This speeds up the attendance process by a few minutes, which means more time to make music!
Next to each clipboard is a marker attached to the book case with velcro. These markers are actually overhead pens. My plan is to eventually laminate these rosters so that they can be reused from week to week. I just have to wait a couple more days until all paperwork/fees are turned in.
I too found taking attendance a wast of valuable time as I only see my choir once a week at lunch after they have eaten so that only gives me about 20 minutes with them. What I finally came up with is a folder for each child with their name and grade that has the music and song sheets inside. I put them outside the music room in the hallway in piles according to the grade they are in. They grab their folder on their way in. Once choir is over I go out to the hall and collect any folders left there. These are the students who did not attend. Then I check with the office later to see who was actually absent this day. If they weren't absent I go talk to them personally to see why they weren't there.
ReplyDeleteThat's another great way of keeping track of attendance. Thanks for sharing. :)
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