Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Oblivious


Math class at the continuation high school. They all work at their own pace on a program that takes them through whichever course they're on (algebra or business math).

It's generally an easy day. Most of them can work on their own, going through the examples from the program. Occasionally someone will need a bit more help (which gives me something to do).

They are not to be surfing the internet. (He does allow them to listen to music, so most of them had a music site going in the background with their earbuds in.) And when someone would stray, I would stand over them, and that was generally enough to get them back on task.

7th period. I noticed one boy was on something that was definitely not math related. So, I approached.

Once I stood behind him, I saw that he was playing a boxing game. I said something about that not looking like the math assignment. No response.

He was sitting at the corner computer. I was directly behind him. And he had earbuds in. The way that station was situated, I couldn't get into a position where he could see me from where he sat. (Although, I would think that my presence right behind him would have been noticed.) So I tried again.

The girl sitting next to him tried to alert him to my presence. She tapped him on the shoulder. When he ignored that, she tried more emphatic means of getting his attention. Which he also ignored.

I waved a hand in front of his face. This he ignored, too.

Finally, he realized that I was behind him, and he took an earbud out. I told him to get back to the math. He attempted the stalling tactic. "Can't I just finish this game?"

Since he made some pretense of getting to work (he did turn off the game), I was going to let this slide. (The teacher is very strict.) But then at the end of the period, he really ticked me off.

I have this thing about students writing on the board. The boy pulled out the dry erase marker. I told him not to. But those earbuds were in again. And he completely ignored me (or didn't hear me, but I think the earbuds were an excuse) and wrote on the board anyway.

Another student (on the way out the door) said that I was going to "give" them a bad note. Nope. Just the ones who were clearly not getting anything done.

Also, I'm at Unicorn Bell all this week. I'd love it if you'd stop by and say "hi".

16 comments:

  1. Sounds like a little attitude adjustment is needed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree with Alex. He definitely needs an attitude adjustment!

    ReplyDelete
  3. He totally knew you were there! Just seeing how far he could push it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I can picture the girl next to him, trying to alert him to your presence!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She had her own issues, but at least she was helpful in this.

      Delete
  5. I had my kids on Chrome books this afternoon doing an assignment on Marco Polo. I caught one of them looking up unicorns!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unicorns, eh? I think that's pretty impressive. I usually catch them looking at shoes. (And yes, I do mean the boys. They love them some custom sneakers.)

      Delete
  6. How hard is it to stop yourself from flicking out the ear phones and giving 'em a bit of a tickle?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm not a tickler, but I sure wanted to yank those earbuds out of his ears.

      Delete
  7. You're a far, far more patient person than I am!

    ReplyDelete
  8. As I have said before I couldn't last one minute in a room with these kids. Parents need to start 'kicking asses' like it used to be in the olden days. I know no one likes to hear that but NEVER in any of my classes as a kid did anyone even pretend to get by with this kind of stuff!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The kids of the parents who are "kicking asses" don't end up at the CHS.

      Delete
  9. He just had to do it, didn't he? Couldn't get out of that class without causing a bit of trouble. I agree, including him in your note was a good idea.

    betty

    ReplyDelete
  10. That little brat needs a shoe up his butt! He knew you were there, he was just pushing all the buttons.

    ReplyDelete

I appreciate your comments.

I respond to comments* via email, unless your profile email is not enabled. Then, I'll reply in the comment thread. Eventually. Probably.

*Exception: I do not respond to "what if?" comments, but I do read them all. Those questions are open to your interpretation, and I don't wish to limit your imagination by what I thought the question was supposed to be.