When you skip a class, what comes to mind? Do you think about lessons not working out for your teachers? Do you worry about your own grade, and not being able to catch up? Skipping unfortunately hurts both the teacher and the student. 

AP classes are the most challenging type of classes in the school, and often, missing a single day can set you many hours back, making it challenging to catch back up. Steven Dinenno is a teacher that instructs two AP classes. ‘’You need to be at your classes, particularly mine because they involve writing and research, so if you’re not here, then you miss out on instructions, time with your classmates, your writing and things like that,’’ said Dinenno. 

Many teachers that have taught at Norristown for a while have said the same thing when asked about how skipping has progressed. They say this is by far the year that has had the most skipping. 

And missing classes means missing work. Since students miss work in class, this often leaves them rushing to make it up later and turn it in at the end of the marking period.

“Students think, oh I don’t need to go I would rather do this other thing. But then those are the students that usually fail because if you show up you can pass, but students that don’t show up don’t get the work done and then they fall behind, and then it feels impossible to catch up,¨ said Spanish teacher Leah D’Annunzio.

If you are saving your work for the very last minute, not only does it not help you, but it doesn’t help your teacher. If you do the work at the last minute you’re not getting full credit because it’s late and you most likely rushed it. That means your teachers need to cram last-minute and it’s not fair on them when you had many opportunities but didn’t use them.

And although absences, in general, are a problem, skipping specifically disconnects students from their teacher, making it more difficult for the teacher to help.

“I have a student in class who is absent more than maybe they should be, but they contact me, they email me and they do the work at home and keep up with assignments and they are doing fine,’’ said Dinenno.

Students who have skipped aren’t done for, though. You can turn it around and can at the very least get a passing grade. If you put in the work, your GPA won’t be as low as it would if you just said, Well I’m already failing, might as well just keep doing it.

“Whatever is pulling you into the hallway, whatever is making it so that you don’t want to be in class, it can be fixed,” said Dinenno. “If it’s a teacher that you don’t like if it’s the subject that you feel you don’t understand or doing well in or if it is that you just can’t sit still for 90 minutes, instead of just getting up and leaving, talk to your teacher and guidance counselor before it becomes a problem.’’ 

Even though it’s the end of the year and you can’t turn it around this semester, you can try to build habits now for next year.

¨It’s not too late to catch up, anybody can turn it around. But it’s the mindset. You have to sit down and be like ok, I am going to catch up and then you go in Schoology and you make everything up,¨ said D’Annunzio.

When you skip, you get more accustomed to doing it and feel more detached from class. After a while, you will feel like you shouldn’t be in class, but your teachers definitely will want you to be there.

¨When you go back, just ask them what you have to do, and most teachers will be happy to help you if you are willing to actually do the work,¨ said D’Annunzio.