Overcoming Tardiness

In my four years of Junior High School, there was not any year I was not subject to Community Service because of outnumbered tardiness. And this year, I plan to make myself anew. Infrequent tardiness is understandable, however if it is persistently performed, it may be disruptive to a normal class routine, can be detrimental to a student’s academic performance and are cause for action. Teachers might have come up against various excuses most students make up: overwhelming traffic, inevitable motor vehicle collisions and breakdowns, silenced alarms, left school works, poor motivation, among the rest. Hence, I blog to share with you my proposed potential options to de-escalate the problem and provide the best education for students.

Set firm and stern policies for the specified instances of tardiness within a given term. These consequences should require strict enforcement that the students may be informed that habitual tardiness is unacceptable, and further repetitions merit more demanding disciplinary measures like detention, suspension, and eventual Change of Environment. For instance, the first offense could incur an oral reminder, the second a written warning, the third a parent notification, and a conference with the student shall come subsequent to the succeeding recurrence of the violation. Aside from the aforementioned school policies, the teachers could also cultivate their own approach in curtailing tardy arrivals, like marking latecomers absent, and giving deductions from their final grade to those who have exceeded the maximum number of lates.

Missing parts of the discussion, apparently, do not pose worries on students. However, losing quiz points and bonuses do, thus, students respond to incentives. Incentive is any form of motivation given to an individual to work at his full potential, given the opportunities they are offered, to achieve an objective. And when these incentives are given to students at the beginning of the course, say, a recorded pre-test or activity, an oral recitation, a special exemption, an extra credit, to name a few, they would feel more obliged to get to their seats on time. Incentives do not just come in the form of some sort of material reward, it can be things such as admiration, joy, excitement, among others — Natural Incentive. Students more likely miss class when the teacher is deemed to be uninteresting. It is then important that the teachers make fun the ideal learning goal.

Seek answers from students, "What can the school or the teachers do to motivate you to come to class on time?". Identify and address these factors to best modify them. Teachers should let their students feel at ease when communicating with them the problems that legitimately cause their late arrival or missed class, if not, and give straight-out advices to these. The prior recommended consequences and incentives might not be as competent of a solution as embodied skills, time management, for example. Students should be taught these skills to promptly build competence in terms of punctuality, and that values of accountability, respect, professionalism, dedication may be instilled in them.

There is a proverb that goes “time and tide wait for no man”. Once it is gone, it will be forever. Punctuality, for students, is a great indicator of academic success, and is crucial for life, in general. There is a positive, scrupulous regard for those who discharge a task efficiently within stipulated time, may it be in class, or in workplace. However, the conceivable achievement of timeliness cannot instantly take effect overnight. It takes repeated, step-by-step efforts for an individual get accustomed to it. Even small differences, like planning tasks ahead, knowing prioritizes, could add up to big sums. Start employing these changes in your lives and behold the progress it brings.