Almost every student at Timber Creek has missed a day of school at one time or another — it’s not an unusual occurrence. However, dealing with the make-up work that comes along with missing a class can prove to be extremely difficult, especially with this year’s bell schedule, where every missed class is worth about two of the previous year’s.
You miss a class, and you don’t go back for another day. If you aren’t proactive, it’s easy to fall behind almost immediately. Before you know it, you could end up with an overwhelming list of catch-up assignments and new homework that seems impossible to deal with. So what do you do? If you’ve been having trouble keeping up with days missed this year, here are some tips and trick to — hopefully — make it a little easier.
The most important thing to do, in particular if you’re just home sick and will just be laying around, is to get on top of assignments right away. E-mail your teachers and ask them what you’re missing and for anything they might be able to send to you. Text friends you share classes with and ask for notes. In addition, senior Elizabeth Wood also checks Home Access to see what grades have gone in as missing, and senior BreAnn Brunelle checks Edmodo. If you’re able to take care of it the day of, you’ll already be caught up when you go back.
While junior Jenna Griffith prefers the above method so she doesn’t get behind, she also suggests going to tutorials.
“When I come back [to school], I schedule extensive amounts of tutorials so I can ask my teachers for help on things I may have needed help on,” said Griffith. This can be a good idea for math and science courses, where it is usually harder to teach yourself the material.
So, how do you actually catch up once you have all the assignments and all the information? It appears that the best way is through prioritizing.
“I see what is due soonest and what is quickest to do. I look at everything and see what I can afford to put off until later to meet other deadlines,” Brunelle said.
Griffith said she makes a point to get new assignments done in class, so she only has to focus on catch-up work at home. It’s crucial not to just put off missed work because it doesn’t seem as important — you’ll still be expected to turn stuff in if you weren’t there.
If you’re still completely at a loss for what to do, try breaking your to-do list down into smaller tasks that don’t seem as daunting. It’s easy to put off assignments simply because you don’t know where to start. If you have to do a math worksheet, just start off by doing five problems. Once you’ve done the five, do five more. This can make the process of completing three or four pieces of missed work a lot less stressful.
Really, it does seem that when playing the game of catch up, the best thing you can do is to stay on top of what you’re missing and be quick and efficient. It’s also extremely important not to stress yourself out — the work you do when you’re panicking will not be your best work. So take a deep breath, and get working!