It's Not Too Late

The Live Lesson page of my classroom that includes links to recorded content.

I love when I feel like I have reached a student. Today I had a conversation that simply made my day. I called a student I’ve been trying to reach for months and has never attended a live class session or returned any phone calls. She barely passed last quarter with a D. However, this quarter is going better for her as she has submitted two assignments for which she earned A’s. When I called her today our conversation went much better than expected. I was greeted with excitement about art and she shared with me that she has been practicing drawing every day in her sketchbook as I encourage my students to do. She has also been watching my videos in the classroom and she says she can see how much she has improved. I am completely thrilled that she has found this inner-motivation and was able to start without feeling like it was too late. In my online classroom, all assignments stay open until the end of the semester, and students like the one I talked to today are encouraged to turn work in whenever it is complete, even if that means it is late. The materials are not put away, and there is no in classroom deadline in which they can no longer work aside from the closing of the semester. As far as teaching students to follow deadlines, this policy teaches forgiveness rather than rules. My goal is always that students learn about art, so if for some that means they wake up one day and decide to take control of their education, so be it. When they have that wake up call they will be able to access to all of their assignments and recordings of live lessons to help them do the best they can.