Last week, I was back at the continuation high school. It's state testing time, and I had been contracted to help. They did the testing in the morning, and then in the afternoon the students who weren't being tested showed up to have a "normal" school day. (As normal as it could be at a different time and missing half the students.)
On Monday, I covered the afternoon classes of a teacher who was out sick. The orientation classes.
Unsurprisingly, the students who weren't testing arrived wound up and not in a working mood. Since I was going to have them for two hours, this wasn't going to fly. The first thing I had to do was clamp down on them and get them on task.
"I'm done."
There is no "done". Not in orientation. Sure, Alec might have completed the "orientation" portion of the curriculum, but when that happens, the teacher assigns the students work for other classes. If they weren't missing credits from classes they should have already passed, they never would have been enrolled at this school.
Alec claimed he could prove it. Okay, then. Only, he had trouble logging onto the program.
He put in his username. Typed in a 6-digit password. Got an error message. Rinse. Repeat.
I went into problem solving mode. Had he written down the password? No. And he couldn't recall it.
Alec explained that he had done so much weed he couldn't now retain information like passwords. (He's 16.) He told me the teacher usually had to log him in.
Desperate (there was no way I was letting him play slither.io for two hours), I called the counselor, hoping she had the passwords.
She did. Turns out, the password is his birthday. Which she rattled off for me.
I went back to Alec. Told him his password was his birthday. He typed in 6 digits again and still got an error message. He tried this a few more times...
Okay, let me try...
And I logged him in, first try.
And... he was not finished with his assignments. Naturally.
(Funnily enough, Alec got quite a lot accomplished that day, according to his teacher. I talked to her the next day. She was able to monitor what they were doing at home, but that's a whole 'nother blog post.)
Sounds like Alex needs to lay off the weed for a bit and let that THC dissolve or whatever it does out of his system and brain cells. o.O
ReplyDeleteThat would be helpful. Not likely, but helpful.
DeleteThis gave me chills. I hope he gets his life on track. Thanks are owed you and your colleagues for being there to help improve his chances.
ReplyDeleteKeep in mind that him "forgetting" his password was a lie. He was deliberately mistyping it in the hopes that I would give up, go away, and let him play slither.io for two hours.
DeleteI know this was a lie, because the next day when I talked to his teacher, she told me that he used the same login as the one that got him on the computer. He could get on the computer but not into the program? No. He was trying to game the system.
I don't know which is sadder - that he's smoked that much weed or that he can't remember his own birthday.
ReplyDeleteOh dear. That's so very sad. Goodness.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh. He's smoked so much weed that he can't remember information? Maybe he was typing his birthday wrong on purpose because he knew he didn't do the work.
ReplyDeleteThe second one. Because he managed to log onto the computer. And the teacher told me the passwords are the same.
DeleteDespite his lack of intelligence, I'm sure he was a pretty 'chill' dude. ;)
ReplyDeleteMary
Jingle Jangle Jungle
So "chill" he managed to fail enough classes to get him admitted to the continuation high school...
DeleteIf he put as much effort into doing the work as he did into trying to wear you down so he could get out of it he would have graduated by now.
ReplyDeleteEveryone else is commenting on the kid and weed, but I'm unnerved by the teacher watching the kids complete assignments from home. That's creepy. I wouldn't want to be a sub for that class!
ReplyDelete… But glad he got more done than usual. My first assumption when he was struggling to log in was that he was typing in the wrong password on purpose. Who wouldn't want to get out of class work for two hours?
She wasn't "watching" them. All the work is done via a website. When they finish an assignment, it posts to the teacher's login. If it's complete, it goes towards their total points-->credits. If not, she can return the assignment to them to redo until they finish it correctly. She can log in from anywhere.
DeleteHe was typing in the wrong password on purpose. I thought that was pretty clear, which is why I didn't state outright that he was totally lying.
Wowwww! Glad you were persistent and got him logged in though haha
ReplyDeleteIf only he applied that sort of creativity to his schoolwork...
DeleteAnd these people are our future!! Scary!
ReplyDeleteKeep in mind that he self-selected as someone who ended up at the continuation high school. These are not the best and brightest.
DeleteWell, the pot was definitely going to his head as he was too stoned to remember his own birthday! Oh Lord. I remember my weed-smokin' days in school too...But I was a good student. I don't know how I managed to get straight As and still be a burnout! :) Haha
ReplyDeleteThose were the good 'ol days. Nothing like today though. Geez, the kids these days are really into some scary stuff.
Glad you got him working finally. And he did okay! There's hope... :)
Michele at Angels Bark
He remembered his birthday. The weed story was just that, a story. He was totally lying.
DeleteWell, I agree with Paula above. This future generation is scary.
ReplyDeleteKeep in mind that he's not representative of the whole.
DeleteWell, I have to say that I've been known to forget a password or two, but I can't blame it on weed, LOL, more like age; but I'm sure he didn't forget his birthday; he, as you know, was playing you, glad you didn't play along!
ReplyDeletebetty
Oh yeah. He couldn't type in his birthday after several tries? And I got it on the first? That doesn't even seem plausible to me.
DeleteKudos to you Liz!! You have teenagers eating out of the palm of your hand. I used to love the daily teenage challenges :) Very tiring, frustrating at times but on the whole very rewarding. Keep up the great work!! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThere's a future dementia patient. He's already killed too many brain cells
ReplyDeleteAt least, that's what he would like us to think.
DeleteOne day, he'll grow up. And maybe, scarily, he will become an accomplished businessperson. He certainly has learned how to game the system. Let's hope, though, that he has enough spare brain cells for his adulthood. Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteYep, he can certainly game the system. You're probably right; he'll become some kind of entrepreneur. I just hope I don't run into him.
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