I love that "did I miss anything?" approach.
When I was teaching high school (near Chicago), students would say
such things as, "Oh, I was suspended last week. Did I miss anything in
your class?" or "I'm going to be gone all next week. Are you going to do
anything important in class that I will miss?"
I always told them, "Every syllable that I utter and every recitation
from
one of your classmates, every half-sheet of paper that I pass out, and every
chalk mark on the blackboard is a gem. You absolutely need to get every
crumb of information."
Yes, we missed you. Pat
