“You ask me if I keep a notebook to record my great ideas. I’ve only ever had one.” Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)
“Why are our days numbered and not, say, lettered?” Woody Allen (b 1935)
Welcome to a one-day, non-Buddhist festival of attachment. In Exponential Blind Date I described the compiling of record of work books for my five schools. Had I been able at that point to attach files, I’d have done that and not described them. A picture paints a thousand words – at about a hundredth of the speed.
I’d like to attach them all here for two reasons:
- To prove to myself that I have actually mastered the art of attachment (I was going to ask my seventh wife, but shes at the lawyers right now).
- On the off-chance that they might prove useful to anyone who needs a pre-dated register and/or record of work template for the coming academic year.
In the event that anyone would benefit from these, all you need do is change, for example, Monday School to the name of your institution of the day. If you need a separate register for lessons and rehearsals then simply resave and rename. I’ve removed the names of the victims from the register. These are usually typed in before printing for the sake of neatness. This is not possible with the record of work pages as they need to be photocopied.
The record of work pages are designed as follows:
- Page 1 & 2 are meant to be facing pages for each group. It’s easier to see the big picture this way
- There is an extra wide space to allow for staples – and not having to write next to them
- So that the record is not too thick to staple, I use back-to-back copying for the record of work pages
- This results in a spare page 2 before the first set of facing pages, which proves handy for jotting down odd notes e.g. the names and classes of new pupils inquiring about lessons
The layout of register pages is comparatively straightforward. I always have them at the front, as a right hand page and avoid back-to-backness, so that there is plenty to lean on.
Just out of interest, let me note the symbols I use in the register:
Tick = present
Circled tick = present but only after being fetched from class*
L = late (I know this seems niggly but if it becomes persistent and you have no record of it, its difficult to make the case)
A = absent (on absence sheet)
E = excused with advance warning where possible (reason usually noted in record page)
Circled E = excused retrospectively due to lack of advance warning
T = test (incl. NAB, class test etc)
Circled T = test without advance warning (had it been possible)
Tr = trip
Ex = exam leave
X = lesson missed for no reason
A dot – until I’m sure of the situation – at which point it can be converted into the appropriate symbol.
One reason for such a fussy code is this. A series of Xs, combined with a less than perfect memory, could lead to writing in a report that a pupil had a poor record of attendance. It might then transpire that most of these were completely justified and unnecessary friction could arise. My experience is that if the rules are clear then few problems arise.
* I suspected that there might be many occurrences of this when Knox and NBHS opted for splitting hour long periods into two half-hour instrumental lessons at the beginning of June. Despite the absence of bells for second-half lessons, punctuality has been impressive.