As part of my pre-holiday “push” to “stop the bleeding” in my classes (see HERE’S HOW I’M COMMUNICATING WITH STUDENTS ABOUT SHAKING UP OUR CLASSES and I’m Worried About My Students – Very Worried. And Here Is What I’m Planning To Do About It ), I’ve been sending the above text – or a variation of it – to students with spotty attendance.

I’ve received very positive responses from most of those students, and I expect to see most of them on Thursday or Friday when I discuss the very substantial changes I’m making in my classes, and when I’ll make time to have short individual meetings with each one of them.

There’s a week-and-a-half until our Winter Break begins.  I figure that this gives me enough time to try-out some class changes, discuss how they’ve gone with the leadership teams in each class, and to make some kind of re-connection with a number of students who have dropped off the radar.

The final part of my class revitalization plan is to reach out – once again – to those students who have never shown up for class.

It’s going to be tough to find the time to do anything before break, but I figure I can at least call and send an text/email to each one (there are about five) and then try again when we get back – using the start of a new year as “hook.”

Right now, though, my priority is to retool my classroom and try to re-connect with those who are more likely to start coming again.

What a year….