Students suffer when parents take them out of school

I'd like to respond to the letter from a parent who encouraged other parents to ask for independent study packets from teachers when families go on vacation.

I've been teaching for nine years, and during that time I've seen quite a change in student attendance in my classes. There's been a significant increase in the number of children who aren't attending school due to trips to theme parks, early vacations and medical appointments. Let me take a moment to explain why these absences are detrimental to your child's education.

When teachers write lesson plans, they spend hours creating lessons that will allow students to master the hundreds of standards required by the state. These plans are based on a seven-step lesson plan format first begun by a very well known educator named Madeline Hunter. The following are the steps that are included in each lesson:

1. Objectives/Standards

2. Anticipatory Set or Set Induction

3. Teaching: Input

4. Teaching: Modeling

5. Checking for Understanding/Questioning Strategies

6. Guided Practice

7. Closure/Independent Practice

Each lesson that's taught follows this format. Now, take that seven-step plan and multiply it by five. This is the number of lessons that are typically taught in one day in class. Your child has now missed 35 steps of instruction for one day. If your child goes on vacation, the many important steps during the day are then multiplied by the number of days your child is gone.

When you receive a packet of work that is "makeup" what you are really receiving is only a quick check of the last step- independent practice- in this process. Your child will be working on concepts he/she has already mastered and can do independently.

If enough concepts are skipped during a given period, children begin to have "gaps" in their education. This is because each lesson builds upon the last lesson taught. So please keep the complexities of teaching in mind before allowing your child to miss school.

Teachers care deeply about your child's education. Joyce Miller Third-grade teacher Westlake Village