Last week was the last week of school at the continuation high school. (The other schools have two more days this week. Not sure why they did that...) Those that were graduating no longer had to attend. Those that weren't just kind of hung on for the remaining days.
The students all had things to do. They were supposed to be doing lessons on the computers. Some were. But many were just there. And they had computer access.
Yeah, so many were playing computer games.
I would walk the room, stopping behind those that weren't on task. Tsking them for not being on task. Some had the decency to pretend to work as I'd approach, but not as many as other times in the year.
I approached one boy. Playing game. Not bothering to hide it. I asked him what he should be doing. He informed me that he was working on his assignment. He was just taking a short break.
I scanned the tabs at the top of the screen. I looked at the little boxes along the task bar. There was no indication of the program that should have been open. I pointed this out to him.
He explained that he had hidden the program. There was something new that could hide things from the task bar so that nosy subs wouldn't see what the student was actually doing.
Um, okay. I know I look along the task bar to see what the student has open that he shouldn't have open. But why would he hide the thing that he was supposed to be doing? Shouldn't he hide the game?
I asked him this. He didn't have an explanation.
If only they spent that time and creative energy on their work, they might have been among the graduates last week. Sigh.
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
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Sigh is right. That kid was clever and quick thinking. Too bad the schools couldn't engage him.
ReplyDeleteWhat does a sub do over the summer? Besides starve?
I had a brother who was actually that smart in high school (ages ago). He would pull up an invisible browser with his game--and once he bragged about how he almost captured the teacher's password with a key strokes program. (He's a high end programmer these days.)
ReplyDeleteYes, if only he would use that energy to better purpose.
ReplyDeleteHe came up with such a quick response! Too bad he didn't apply it right. I guess it's why he's not among the graduates.
ReplyDeleteMy kids didn't really have access to computers, and when they did, the machines were actually older than the students, so there was never much game playing, but they certainly found other ways to avoid work. They always do.
ReplyDelete