I've been dithering about, trying to figure out who I was going to blog about today. And it's hard. Because I have two great candidates.
It was Friday in a biology class, and they had a test. Well, it was more of a quiz. And for the most part, the classes behaved well (except for 5th period, but they were awful in the usual way). So, I was stumped as to how I was going to make a blog post out of it.
But, there were two interesting students. I don't know that either of them deserves a full blog post, though.
In 3rd period there was Nia. When she saw the quiz, she announced loudly that she knew nothing on it. (It was 11 questions: 5 multiple choice questions, 4 true/false questions, and 2 short answer questions.) The class got to work, and I didn't think too much more about Nia.
Then, as I was walking the room, I found Nia stretched out across her desk, head down in a pose of one who is most put upon. There were sighs coming from her direction. I intervened when she started drumming on her desk.
About the time when half the class had finished, I found Nia rifling through her notebook. With her biology notes.
I took her quiz and walked away.
Nia protested. She wasn't finished. Then what was she doing in her notebook? She explained that she was looking for some homework to complete for when she had finished her quiz.
So many things wrong with that explanation I don't know where to start.
Then in 4th period I got into a conversation with Brandon. (This was after everyone had finished the quiz and they were supposed to be working on a worksheet which I gave them.)
It started out as what seemed like a joke. Brandon explained that all he wanted to do with his life was become a drug dealer. As the conversation progressed, I became more and more convinced that he was serious.
Just picture me shaking my head.
On the bright side, aside from 5th period these were the problems of the day. So, in all, not too bad.
How do you convince a 14-year-old boy that he can do more with his life than become a drug dealer?
Wait. I know the answer to this one...
Friday, October 31, 2014
9 comments:
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I...I... I just don't know what to say. he sees the money and that's all. I shake my head with you and pray he isn't serious but, from what you think, he probably is and has already done stuff which is frightening. Where are his parents?
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness. I wonder if you ever see any of these students again after they have matured a little. I would be so curious to see how they turn out.
ReplyDeleteEasy, tell him drug dealers on average only make the same money as a regular job (about 30 grand a year, but hey, no taxes) and work more hours. Plus the whole possibility of being arrested or worse. You don't get fired from being a drug dealer. You get shot in the head.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine went to a "tough" high school down here. She reached down one day to get something on the floor and happened to look in the backpack of the guy sitting in front of her and saw a gun (she knew he dealt drugs). She just quickly got want she reached for and didn't say a word.
ReplyDeleteThere's good money in dealing drugs; even if it is against the law and so wrong.
betty
Too much watching Breaking Bad I think. Sometimes they only say things like that for shock effect. I hope that's all he was doing.
ReplyDeleteInitially I was certain he was only saying it for the shock effect. As the conversation went on, however, I started to wonder if he wasn't actually serious.
DeleteThat is disturbing. Maybe convince him to move to a state where pot is legal and open his own marijuana dispensary!
ReplyDeleteI wasn't convincing him of anything.
DeleteSome people are just born to be criminals and prey on the rest of us. This kid sounds like a real loser.
ReplyDelete