Starting Off on the Wrong Foot

Thursday. Fifth period geography. 

Tuesday had been a scramble. There weren't enough desks for the students. I let them sit anywhere as I hadn't had a chance to set things up. And then they had a video to watch that many of them ignored. 

Thursday was a whole different ballgame. Because I had adequate seats, I had randomized the seating assignments. They had a lot of work to complete, but they had time to get it all done. 

While on Tuesday the class was talkative, on Thursday they were quiet. Most were busy on the 200 point assignment that was due. (They could have started it on Tuesday. Most had.) 

I had two boys having a conversation. About sports. The boy on the soccer team was scrolling on his phone...

I reminded the boy that he had to maintain his GPA to be eligible to participate in his sport. He said he knew this. He said he was done with his work. 

Because I'm going to be covering this class for three weeks, Ms. B had given me access to the Google Classroom. So, boyo was done with his work? I could check. 

He had done about half of the 200 point assignment. Enough to earn about 50%. Which is an F. Fs make him ineligible to play. (And I will track down who his coach is and send them an email about the student's lack of work if that becomes necessary. I've done it before.) 

I pointed out to the boy that he had quite a lot to still complete on his assignment. And that he should maybe do that rather than scrolling on his phone. 

Did he see my point? Not really. But freshmen sometimes need to learn things the hard way. He's on sub behavior, not realizing that things are going to be graded in a timely manner. It'll be fun when he finds out just how quickly he can get behind when he chooses to scroll his phone in class rather than getting his work done.