Having piles of pages of make-up after only few days of being gone is a nuisance for students, but what about teachers? Teachers have to grade many papers that get turned in to them late. They have to dig up old keys and stay late most nights to get all of the grading done. Knowing how teachers handle late work and late work policies is important to having a functioning classroom environment.

       When students scramble to get papers in by the end of the six weeks, that leaves many teachers having to grade hundreds of papers in the last few days of the grading period. Wylie High School teacher Mr. Dowell claims that responsibility is the way to avoid the end of the six weeks rush. “I feel that it is my responsibility as a teacher to be prepared, that if a student were to come now and ask for their makeup work for Monday and Tuesday of next week, I would have it all for them in my drawer.” While many teachers subscribe to the idea that preparation is the key to avoiding a chaotic workload, all teachers understand that collecting make-up work is also the student’s job. Teachers can be ultra prepared all the time, but in the end, there must be a conscious choice made by the students to collect their make-up work and take it seriously.

       When students do not take responsibility for their grades, their lack of drive makes entering grades exceedingly difficult for teachers. Students’ lack of drive can become more and more frustrating during the spring semester when many students are frequently out of school for extracurricular activities. “You are choosing to do something extra, but your responsibility is to take care of schoolwork,” Dowell states. When students choose to do extracurricular activities, they are signing up for make-up work.

      In order to have a functioning work environment, students and teachers both must have their work ready on time. Students need to have the self-respect to take their work seriously and do their best.