Get to class!

Teaching at an alternative school, sometimes you have to use new ways to ensure your students come to class. Thus far, I have resorted to telling my students to pull out their cell phones and text other students who are not in class, but need to be. But today I took it a step further. My students were taking their midterm. It's a practice SOL exam--a two part exam: reading and writing. Contrary to popular belief, SOL stands for Standards of Learning (though ironically it also fits the more common usage because if students don't pass this high-stakes test, well, they really are SOL and can't graduate).

Our school is on the semester system--meaning you can finish a year of English in January. My class, however, is not a semester class. It's a year-long class. It's technically two classes compacted into one: English 10 and Expanding Literacies. Expanding Literacies is a class for students who have been identified as at-risk students or students who will have difficulty passing the SOL--which just happens to be all of my students. But just as life goes, there is always a loophole. And so it is with my class: the midterm exam that I mentioned above. My 10th grade students take a practice SOL exam. In VA the SOL is given in 11th grade, so essentially my 10th graders are taking an 11th grade exam. But if my students pass both the reading and writing exams with a 75% or higher, they can move onto 11th grade at the end of the semester.

Anyway, now that you have all the background knowledge you could possibly want (and more), let's suffice it to say that my students were in the middle of the SOL midterm. And on the second day, one of my students did not show up to class. I had already seen her at school that day. I knew she was upset by her score from the previous day (which actually wasn't bad at all), and so I assumed she didn't show because she was planning on giving up. I had to pull out all stops. And that's what I did:

Me: Has any one seen *Angie?
Students: Yeah, she was in the hall downstairs before class.
Me: Yeah, I saw her earlier too. Where is she?
       Jessica, give me your phone. I'm going to call Angie.
Students: Gasp! Giggles erupt. No way Miss Thackeray!
Ringing
Angie: Yeah?
Me: Angie, this is Miss Thackeray. Where are you? I need you in class now! And bring Johnny with you.
Angie: Okay, okay. I'll be there in a minute.
Me: Okay, good. See you soon.
Students: Giggling almost uncontrollably.

One minute passes. No Angie.

Me: Jessica, give me your phone.
Ringing
Me: Angie, you're still not here. Come on. I need you to take your test. I talked to Mrs. G today and she said if you do well on the second part of the test there is a chance you'll be able to move on to 11th. Get here!
Angie: Okay, Miss Thackeray. I'm coming. Johnny left though.
Me: Okay, don't worry about Johnny, just get here and get started. I want you to have enough time.

Angie walks in.

Angie takes test. Angie scores 85% on the second exam, does a retake of the other exam and scores an 80%. Angie moved on to 11th grade.

And so did 7 other students. 8 of my 26 students passed both exams with a 75% or higher. And that 26 students include at least 6 who have not been here since the beginning of the year, so I think I can claim that 1/3 of my students passed their 11th grade exam at the end of the semester. And the reason these students passed? They come to class everyday. They work really hard on their assignments. They're awesome. Oh, and I'm awesome too.

*These names have clearly been changed...I don't have any white students, so students at my school don't have names like Angie, Jessica, or John.