In adding this course to your schedule, you have agreed to (and are expected to) attend each class meeting. Students must attend all classes to fully participate in the course, and to not miss quizzes, notes or assignments. While I do not grade a student on their attendance per se, poor attendance invariably impacts other areas of the course that are graded.
Of course, there may be times that you are unavoidably prevented from attending class for reasons such as sickness, family emergency, court date, and weather. When this happens, it is your responsibility to find out what you missed from a fellow student and keep up with the course. Please do not ask me if we covered anything important in the previous class. (We did.)
Mercy College policy requires at least 85% attendance to pass a course. Unlike a typical A-term course that meets twice a week, our classes are double-length and a missed class has twice the impact on your course performance. Students that have already missed two classes (or the equivalent 350 minutes of instruction) by mid-term will be asked to withdraw from the course.
Under no circumstances should you be substantially late for a class (or miss class entirely) because you are late in completing an assignment. While it might seem like a good strategy, missing class only compounds the problem, as students who do this lower their attendance percentage, miss quizzes & assignments, and miss out on crucial class discussion & presentations—information that will make the assignment easier to complete. Ask me for help instead.