Absence Issue Advice Please

<p>I have an English class in which they check attendance every time there's class. I have missed 3 out of the 4 last class sessions due to oversleeping. I have already missed a class earlier in the semester but it was excused due to being really sick that day. This class is at 9 AM. I don't understand why I keep missing this class because I have 8 AM classes on other days and I do not oversleep into them. In this class only 4 unexcused absences can be obtained before failing the course. I am going to a counseling session tomorrow to help with the issue, but I would like to hear some feedback on the best way to email my teacher about me missing my classes. I understand it is irresponsible, but I can't find the best way to word my email. I am extremely stressed and genuinely angry at myself for missing this class because it is a prerequisite for my English class next semester and I don't want to start off my first semester at this university with an F, I do all the work for this class and get good grades for it and I don't want all that work going to waste just because of four absences. I have tried putting my alarm on the other side of the room and setting multiple alarms, but I'm still having issues. Because of missing this class, it ruins the rest of the day for me.</p>

<p>I would get up at the same time every day even if the class is later. I have to get up at 8:30 twice a week and 9:30 twice a week and the class I sleep through is always the later one for some reason. Waking up at 8:30 every day instead of giving myself the extra hour some days has helped, as well as going to bed earlier.</p>

<p>telling the professor tht your are stressed and truly angry at yourself may work for you. actually the entire thing that you wrote about being upset the entire day, not wanting F, etc, should make them be a little bit relaxed toward you. Professors are generally not monsters so want to help out. If they see you strive, and believe that youre not blowing them off it may help. Good luck. ps Do you have a roommate that can make sure that you are actually out of bed, or someone on your floor?</p>

<p>Are you sleeping through your alarm, or are you hitting “snooze”, or, worse turning it off entirely and gonig back to sleep? Are you using an audible alarm clock or a bed-shaker or a flashing light or some combination of those? Is your alarm clock far enough away that you have to get out of bed to turn it off?</p>

<p>Are you getting a full night’s sleep? Are you sleep-deprived in general? Are you going to bed at the same time each night? Are you falling asleep pretty quickly once you go to bed? Are you getting up at the same time each morning?</p>

<p>Do you feel prepared for the class the night before? Have you done the reading and/or writing? Are you looking forward to going to class, or do you think it’s a waste of time? Do you do anything between getting up and going to class, and is it anything you like to do?</p>

<p>Have you missed the last three classes, or did you miss three in a row and then go once, or did you miss one or two, make one, and then miss one or two again? Do you have any idea what is different about the day that you did get there?</p>

<p>For me, the keys to getting up when I need to, even if it isn’t when I actually want to get up are: getting up immediately upon being awoken and not using a snooze button at all, getting up at pretty much the same time every day, going to bed at pretty much the same time every day, using melatonin or Benadryl when I’ve had a few nights of insomnia so that I’m not exhausted in the morning, and making sure that I have something to look forward to and nothing that I’m dreading first thing in the morning. At times I have also put my alarm clock as far away from me as I possibly can and still have it in my room, or – at a point when I was working from 7 am to 11 pm two days a week and from 11 pm to 9 am four nights a week, which was really not a good schedule for me – had multiple alarm clocks all set to go off at about the same time, and all scattered around my room. Left to my own devices, I’ve tended to go to sleep around 2 or 3 and get up around 10 or 11 every day since I was in my early teens; but there have been many times in my life when that just wasn’t an option. These days, I get up at 4 in the morning. It’s not my idea of fun, but I do it.</p>

<p>I’ve also found that I am not very good at choosing when to cut class. Almost every day I have what seems like a good enough reason not to go, especially when I am in a warm bed and I am sleepy and going to class means being cold for a little while and awake for quite awhile. So I simply never allow myself to miss a single class, ever. There are people who can make a decision to cut, but only occasionally, and they make sure they get the notes and keep up with the work. I’m not judging them, but that’s not something that I have been able to do responsibly.</p>

<p>Here’s my advice - but at times, even I still wake up late.</p>

<p>I’m notorious for waking up late and a few days ago I actually slept through the dorm fire alarm (I had ran 3 miles that day for the first time in years, and acquired a fever later - so that’ll really hit ya and put you out.)</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Get an alarm that sounds like a nuclear meltdown/ air raid/ fire alarm/ you’re in the middle of Baghdad. Maybe even one that sounds like a semi truck bearing down on you.</p></li>
<li><p>Place said alarm across the room; the furthest from your bed as possible (so you have to get out of bed to turn it off).</p></li>
</ol>

<p>And 3. Get three alarms - set them for staggered 15 minute intervals - and place them as inconviently as possible throughout the room.</p>

<p>Now, this isn’t fool proof. You certainly won’t SLEEP through this scenario. However you’re utterly tired morning self (and I’m often dead tired after 7-9 hours sleep) and it’s monkey brain will try and desperately find ways to deactivate the trap and go back to sleep. Often times the alarm will be so terrible you will find yourself waking up 5-10 minutes before the alarm (no matter when you set it) - and scrambling to shut it off so you “can rest just for 30 more minutes.” This is the advantage of 3 alarms - it will take more energy and will to deactivate, especially if you’re digging for one, and you might just say screw it and “wake up” for the day.</p>

<p>“Mhmm”, the OP should definitely not request for his roommate to make sure he is awake at these times. His roommate is just that; his roommate. Not his parent. I would suggest that you, OP, simply set an alarm out of your arm’s reach so you have to get out of bed to turn it off, and do anything that works; splash cold water on your face, jumping jacks, hurry and leave your dorm, ect. I’d also suggest getting as much sleep as possible the night before, though that’s a given.</p>