It is easy to feel despondent if class numbers drop away.  This is especially likely to occur as examinations approach or students have a major assignment to submit in your course or other courses they are studying.  Poor attendance may be related to other factors.  Your students may feel they can learn more in private study, they may be bored by the method of presentation or dispirited by a lack of opportunity to participate.  You may have some ideas about reasons for patchy attendance by observing the students reactions in class but the surest way to find out is to ask some or all of the students why the class size has contracted.  

Receive regular feedback from your students.  Make a point of arriving early to chat to students or, after a few weeks, arrange for students to give you some written feedback on how they are finding classes.  You can do this yourself, arrange for a student to manage it or ask TEDI to help.  

·        Pass around a list of names so the students can indicate their attendance.  Ask those who were absent last time to indicate why they did not attend.  

·        Showing students that you are interested in who comes to class can often improve attendance.