"Each day you will have students who come to class unprepared. They might have left their book at home or simply have no paper or pencil. The question that you face as a teacher is the method in which you deal with this situation.
Two major schools of thought seem to exist on this issue. One is that students need to learn to be responsible. Therefore, if they do not come prepared they should not be able to participate in the lesson or they should receive some other form of punishment. The second school of thought is that a forgotten pencil should not keep a kid from learning. Your opinion on this topic will determine what course of action you are likely to take in your classroom. If you try to go against your natural instincts, you are more likely to fail at consistently enforcing the rule.
However you decide to handle missing materials, do not reduce academic grades because of lack of supplies. When you affect a student's grades, you interfere with one of the main reasons why the students are in your class in the first place- learning. Other effective punishments can be devised to help teach responsibility."
When reading this my mind was going in many different directions. The first thing I did was something close to a giggle. The next was me saying excitedly, "I know, I know, the schools try and compensate for what the kids don't have! That is what they do!" I know many schools have programs to feed, clothe, obtain personnel to make sure students have the proper shelter/care on top of making sure every student has pencils, glue, paper, and crayons. If any of those last few I mentioned are not provided by the school, to the best of my knowledge, those non-basic needs are usually something the teacher often provides. Continuing to read, my thought process started remembering those in my student teaching class who were definitely responsible enough to bring supplies, but because of money or whatever else could not bring in certain items. How am I to punish that? Lastly I was thinking how the lack of materials in schools is not only something between the teacher and student, but also the teacher and the school its self.
I think it is time to face the fact that its going to get worse before it gets better in terms of kids having what they need. The schools are not going to be able to control every student's needs, though it is a nice gesture. What I believe to be the best line in this "tip" is when they talked about how no matter what you can't let what you don't have affect the students learning. If they do not have something or the school isn't providing the proper resources then learn how to compensate yourself. Learn a new way of achieving the same task. It might be a little more challenging, but you will be better off in life if you ask me. Not only will be you checking off standards, but teaching a skill for a life that never hands you exactly what you need for when you need it.
