Cut the Cord Personal by Joel Wagner - February 27, 2010June 30, 20100 For the first time since started my blog three years ago, I am going to be taking a break for at least a month. No writing, no checking stats, no emails, no nothing. In fact, I'm pulling the plug on my cable modem as soon as I finish writing this. This is not just a blog issue, but I am going to be away from Facebook almost entirely for a month. In fact, I deleted Facebook from my phone a couple of weeks ago and noticed a substantial improvement to my productivity at work. My free time isn't spent checking to see who else is slacking off at work, but rather in avoiding the temptation to slack myself. I've
Student Absences & Make-Up Work…What Do You Do? General by Joel Wagner - July 15, 2008July 1, 201011 This article was recently featured in the Carnival of Education, #180. Check it out if you haven't already! I was recently asked about how I handle student absences and make-up work. As a band director, generally an absence simply means they missed out on a rehearsal and we don't have a lot of make-up work to assign. This gives me limited experience dealing with the issue. I am confident that most of the readers of this blog have far more experience in this realm. So it got me thinking, and I want to throw some questions out you you. How do you handle make-up work for students? What steps do you take for students with excessive absences? What