Thursday, November 16, 2017

Must Do "Work"


The previous day, the English class had to do the writing assessment that this school district requires of all its students. So, on this day, the teacher left them a video.

You'd think they'd be happy to have a video. Some were.

This one boy, however, was quite upset. He needed to get some work done. He wanted a computer.

The schools now have class sets of Chromebooks (read: lightweight laptops) that teachers can use for various lessons. As this class wasn't going to need the Chromebooks for this lesson, the computers weren't accessible.

The boy insisted. He needed to get something accomplished. I thought this laudable, so when he asked if he could borrow a Chromebook from another class, I allowed it. (It was supposed to be a relaxed day for them, so if someone wanted to do work...)

In the end, six students went and got Chromebooks.

But, they were rather noisy for those doing classwork...

I quick peek over their shoulders, and I found out what all the noise was. Were they working hard on class requirements? Of course not. They were playing a first person shooter game.


Figures.

Later in the day, Terrence showed up. He informed me that he needed a computer. (No, he didn't ask. Apparently, asking permission is for others.)

Well, I stopped him. I asked him if he actually planned to work. I'm sure you can imagine his response.

(I explained what I had observed earlier in the day. He promised me he was going to do work.)

You know I didn't leave it at that. I went to look over his shoulder...

To find him doing work. Slowly. But, not games. So, progress.

14 comments:

  1. At least he was doing work and not playing games lol!

    ReplyDelete
  2. At least someone was actually doing work. I can't believe those kids actually thought they'd get away with it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. And Terrence appears again....someone was at least working...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, I try to keep track of "named" students and let you know how they're doing from time to time.

      Delete
  4. Take the progress as you can get it :)

    betty

    ReplyDelete
  5. I just amaze how they use tech. Back in my day we had a thing called books

    ReplyDelete
  6. Why the heck would school computers even have games on them?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Internet. These are Chromebooks, so there's very little memory. Mostly they work online. Google Classroom. They must access websites and such. Submit finished work to the teacher. So, with internet access, they can access just about anything.

      Delete
  7. Kids on computers in classrooms get up to all sorts of mischief! It's so tempting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is. Depending upon the assignment, I'll keep lists of those not on task.

      Delete

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.