Over the river and through the woods…
Some students will miss a class or two due to Thanksgiving travel plans and may find it difficult to catch up with the work and lectures missed. If you don’t already have contact information for others in your classes get it. Introduce yourself, ask the student if they will be attending the class you will be missing and make arrangements to get copies of lecture notes and assignments you may miss. Speak to your professors as well and make arrangements with them as well if possible.
Business major Mariana Islas found herself missing her Photography class a couple of weeks ago. She missed class due to a family emergency. When Islas knows she will miss a class, she is proactive and will alert her professors. “I email the professor or if I know someone from the class I ask them to tell the professor I will be out.” She will also get information from of what she missed in class from someone she knows.
Undeclared major Miranda Tran has missed several classes this semester due to ongoing family obligations. She also tends to take a proactive approach to get caught up on anything she may have missed by not attending class. She has a few good tips: Hang on to your syllabus and reference it. Many times assignments and what is being discussed is listed in there. “Become friends with your classmates and get their numbers, ask what you missed out or even plan to meet up and have a study session,” Tran said. “Missing out on class has a lot of cons.” One hard thing for her is by not attending class you don’t get the same result from regurgitated information presented to you by your professor or classmates or a classmates notes. When you are in class for lecture you receive all of the information. When you ask someone else you get the information they received.
Photo Adjuncts Professor, Greg Zajack also has advice for students who miss class. “Students usually know when they are going to miss class.” said Zajack. “Contact the instructor.” You can contact the instructor usually by email. Some instructors will give you a phone number or even their cell phone number like Professor Zajack so you can send a text message. He appreciates students who get in touch with him to let him know they will not be attending a class. Sometimes a professor may not begin right away thinking students are running a little behind. He also suggests contacting another student to find out more information you may have missed by not being in class.
Take it from these students who have missed class already. Use their advice and proven ways to deal with missing class if you find yourself travelling or just missing class for any other reason. Be proactive. Alert your professors, they will appreciate it and appreciate you for being responsible. Tell your friend who sits next to you that you will miss class. At least have their contact information for later use. Make those arrangements now along with your travel arrangements so you don’t come back to class and have no idea what you missed out on.
