Class Attendance
- Thread starter Azulx
- Start date
My old dojo was large. It was split into two sections. One for class, the other for weights, bags and everything else, including warming up when class was being taught.
Right in front of the class area, where you bowed in before stepping onto hallowed ground, was a small podium with a large loose leaf notebook, every page numbered and dated. You had to sign in before you took class. Sometimes people forgot. But they only forgot once. Just once.
Because.......at least twice a month as class was lined up about to start, I'd instruct them to start doing pushups....and as I called their name they were to leap up quickly and start warming up with footwork.
I would read the names from the sign in book. If your name wasn't there you spent the ninety minutes struggling to do pushups while everyone trained around and over you.
In twenty years nobody ever forgot to sign in more than one time.
Harsh? Maybe. But I needed people to sign in so I could figure how often they were there, and on what days. And you know what? The students loved it.
BTW - guests were exempt from this, as well as from some other things.
Right in front of the class area, where you bowed in before stepping onto hallowed ground, was a small podium with a large loose leaf notebook, every page numbered and dated. You had to sign in before you took class. Sometimes people forgot. But they only forgot once. Just once.
Because.......at least twice a month as class was lined up about to start, I'd instruct them to start doing pushups....and as I called their name they were to leap up quickly and start warming up with footwork.
I would read the names from the sign in book. If your name wasn't there you spent the ninety minutes struggling to do pushups while everyone trained around and over you.
In twenty years nobody ever forgot to sign in more than one time.
Harsh? Maybe. But I needed people to sign in so I could figure how often they were there, and on what days. And you know what? The students loved it.
BTW - guests were exempt from this, as well as from some other things.
Headhunter
Senior Master
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Ticking names of whoever is there or sign in book....can't really think of any other way to do it and attendance means who's there...isn't that pretty much the universal meaning
Related question/thread drift: Is it important to instructors to have their students sign in? I always forget, but a large part of that is that my instructor does not seem to care. At my current dojo, which is the only one I've been to with a 'sign in' area, I was there for 3 months before he had even informed me of its existence.
I can think of a few reasons it can be considered important.
As well as actual ability, we have minimum time in grade, and also minimum attendance - whichever takes longer. So say it's 3 months, you need to do at least 22 (iirc) sessions. Signing in tracks that.
For places with different price plans, it can help with billing.
Fire safety regulation compliance. For legal and/or facility rules. If you have a 'register' it's a lot easier to be certain everyone got out.
Insurance maybe?
Danny T
Senior Master
We have Attendance Cards for each training system. Individual pulls their card from the card bin at the front desk and is collected by the instructor at the beginning of each class or training session, the card is dated in the appropriate box showing attendance in that class on that date and what was taught. The instructor has a quick reference as to how many classes an individual has & what has been taught. Instructor returns the card to the front desk personnel who marks the attendance in the individual's personal file and returns the card to the bin.
JR 137
Grandmaster
We have a small notebook on my CI’s desk, which is right near the door. Can’t miss it coming in. Whoever opens the dojo writes the date, and everyone signs in before getting changed.
Kyu students write their name and number of classes since last promotion. So if I attend class tonight, I’d write my name and probably a 6 after it, signifying it’s my 6th class since my last promotion.
My CI uses this to keep track of the minimum class requirements. If my CI feels someone’s ready to test, he’ll quickly look at the book to verify where they are. The minimum classes attended is a small part of it, but it’s a part nonetheless. He also uses the book to look at overall trends in attendance if he’s contemplating making temporary or permanent changes to the schedule.
Black belts sign in, but they don’t keep track of classes since their last promotion. Far too many classes in between and not significant enough to make a difference. There’s years of consistent training between dan promotions; kyu promotion minimums range from 30-120 classes depending on rank.
Kyu students write their name and number of classes since last promotion. So if I attend class tonight, I’d write my name and probably a 6 after it, signifying it’s my 6th class since my last promotion.
My CI uses this to keep track of the minimum class requirements. If my CI feels someone’s ready to test, he’ll quickly look at the book to verify where they are. The minimum classes attended is a small part of it, but it’s a part nonetheless. He also uses the book to look at overall trends in attendance if he’s contemplating making temporary or permanent changes to the schedule.
Black belts sign in, but they don’t keep track of classes since their last promotion. Far too many classes in between and not significant enough to make a difference. There’s years of consistent training between dan promotions; kyu promotion minimums range from 30-120 classes depending on rank.
PiedmontChun
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- When I studied Wing Tsun / Wing Chun at an established school - it was not tracked. The instructor was there everyday and had a good sense of how many times per week he saw people and he tried to work individually enough with people to know where they were at development wise.
- When I was part of a Judo club (a total non-profit club but well organized) - attendance was not tracked, but you had to self report your attendance prior to any belt testing as part of the written test. They expected a certain amount of classes to be eligible for promotion, for the parent organization.
- In training BJJ at an established club these days - its completely informal. No attendance is tracked at all. No expected frequency / hours in class. If you don't come, then you don't get better, and it shows. So the end result is what is looked at. I split attendance between two different affiliated schools since one is close to work and the other is close to home, as do some other students, so it gets even harder to know who is training where and how much.
RTKDCMB
Senior Master
We have training cards that are issued to all students that cover a 3 month period that students take home and bring to class. The card gets signed by the branch instructor and when each months training fees are paid they get a stamp. For the young students having a training card and looking after it is good practice for when they have to look after credit cards, licenses and such when they get older.
Sign in sheets by the door. But for us, it's not a huge deal. If you don't attend, you won't progress, so you won't promote. Up to you...
If you're an instructor, especially if you're running the dojo, you're going to be there all the time. And I mean all the damn the time.
You really don't need any attendance sheet, you know who comes to class, how often they come, who does this, does that, does the other thing, yada yada.
Other than having fun with our sign in book, it was a great way for me to learn pople's names. But I don't think one is really needed in most places.
You really don't need any attendance sheet, you know who comes to class, how often they come, who does this, does that, does the other thing, yada yada.
Other than having fun with our sign in book, it was a great way for me to learn pople's names. But I don't think one is really needed in most places.
I'd agree with this, unless the school is really really big.
The reason we have sign in sheets is because the Y wants them.
I don't track it, and haven't for the entire time I've had my program. I've considered it, but can't figure what the point would be, other than to get statistics on what classes had better attendance, seasonality, etc. - all of which require a larger program to get meaningful numbers.
At the school where I trained, every instructor (myself included) took attendance on sheets like you might imagine a school teacher using a couple of decades ago (similar to what you'd see in a "planner" made for teachers). We only reviewed it if someone was asking to test and we didn't think they had put in the required hours. I can't remember that being done more than once or twice.
They (we...) use a commercial solution that comes with a multi function app (does a lot more than track attendance).
If it was simply a self service log I can't see it being that challenging to knock one up.
I’ve toyed with building a custom solution for myself, to handle my curriculum tracking , too. I’d prototype in Access, and migrate to a server-based SQL Server backend with a responsive web front end. It would be a nice challenge - well beyond what I’ve done in the past. I did much of the high level design last year (including some thought-fishing on MT).
