Motivation to Finish

Today was another CAHSEE day.  It was a small group.  That's a good thing.  It means that more of them have passed the beastie and have that graduation requirement satisfied.  

It was 5th period, and we only had a handful of students left.  Mostly they were working diligently.  I made a tour of the room just to see where everyone was at.  Most had a dozen or so questions left.  One student was on the last five questions of the questionnaire.

At the end of the test is this 15 question questionnaire.  It asks things like, "How did you study for this test?" and "Did you do your best work?"  It's the easiest part of the test, and it should take only a couple minutes.

After walking the room, I returned to the student who was on his questionnaire.  He still had four questions to go.  I stood behind him.  

My job was to pick up the tests and escort the students to the front of the room after the students had finished the test.  So, when a student was nearly finished, I would wait nearby so that I could do my job.  

I watched the student.  He stared into space.  He looked about the room.  Then he answered another question.  Clearly, he was stalling for time.

Normally, I don't hover over students who are testing.  But he wasn't testing.  So, I took a chair from the table in front of him (those students had already checked out), turned it around, and sat directly in front of him.  I didn't say a word.  

The boy sat up, appeared to wake up, and he bubbled in the last question.  He was done.

Apparently, proximity does work.