It was one of those easy days. 12th grade English. They had a writing assessment to do. (It's something they've done four times a year every year since they were freshmen.)
At lunch I ran into another sub (Ms. I.). (Those of us who have been around a while are on friendly terms with each other.) She also had an English class (10th or 11th graders, I think). They were also doing the writing assessment.
So, we were comparing notes.
The writing assessment is done the same for all English classes. A day or so before the writing day, the kiddos are given a set of articles (two or three), and sometimes they also get a video to watch. These all tie in to the topic of the essay. They have the period to read the articles and annotate them. They can make as many notes as they wish. Then they leave the articles with the teacher.
On the writing day, they get their articles back, and they also get the writing prompt. They have the period to write.
Ms. I. was telling me about her group. Same as me, her day was going pretty smoothly. Except there was this one boy...
Ms. I. had the usual cell phone battle with him. (I was lucky enough to tell my group no cell phones, and they complied.) She told him to put his cell phone away, and he took his time doing it. Then he needed to use the restroom. And he was gone a good 15 minutes.
So, they got to the end of the period, and the boy wasn't finished with his essay. He asked Ms. I. if he could come back in the next class to finish it.
I laughed. I probably would have laughed in the boy's face, too. Ms. I. is nicer than me, though. She did not, however, let him continue working on the essay.
They had the period to complete the essay. It's not our problem if they wasted that time. I think we need one of those signs, kind of like the "a lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part".
These same kids grow up and come into our office. That saying is in on the wall of my colleague's office. She does the bankruptcies and the people must fill out a monthly chart showing their income and expenses. She shows them the chart, goes through it with them, sends out letters informing them to have the charts ready. When they come in for the 2nd appointment, close to when they are discharged, she asks for the charts and she usually gets "What chart?" They try to argue with her that she never told them but she shows the proof and so on and so on
ReplyDeleteI feel her pain. Yes, I've seen this. So many times.
DeleteAnother pointless waste of time. I don't understand it. Meanwhile, of course, I'm messing around instead of working on my manuscript for National Novel Writing Month. ~oops~ Closing down web browser in three... two...
ReplyDeleteAnd on a time limit. If you were on a time limit, you wouldn't be online. You know you still have time to get your writing done for the day. That's the difference.
DeleteGood point, my dear.
DeleteI love that saying.
ReplyDeleteYeah no kidding. Sounds like time management is part of the lesson, duh!
ReplyDeleteA bit. It's not like the prompt was sprung on them. They had a day to plan.
DeleteWow yeah that's not yalls fault he was messing around
ReplyDeleteNope. Nor do we feel the least bit bad about calling time on them.
DeleteIt's like, maybe if you hadn't disappeared for 15 minutes or spent all your time on your phone, you would have gotten it done.
ReplyDeletethey waste time, and then blame the teacher. of course.
ReplyDeleteYup. It's always someone else's fault.
DeleteYou think by 12th grade he would have gotten the hang of staying in class and getting to work on what was assigned to him :)
ReplyDeletebetty
Funny that he would prefer to spend the time in the toilet! Kids eh. Meanwhile I'm on the Internet instead of writing reports ;)
ReplyDeleteIt's an avoidance tactic. I get it.
DeleteDo subs have the ability to provide extra time on assignments? I think I would have told him that he'd have to ask his teacher when s/he returns. Like you said, not your problem.
ReplyDeleteDepends on the assignment and the day. In this case, the teacher wouldn't have even given him extra time if she'd been there. It was an assessment given by the district. Therefore, it was timed. They had one period and one period only to complete it. They knew this. (The district gives a writing assessement once per quarter to all the English students, so he would have had this last year, too.)
DeleteThis is why I laughed and would have laughed in his face. He wasted the only time he was going to get.
Hopefully, this student learned that procrastination didn't get him anywhere.
ReplyDeleteNot likely. But maybe he'll think twice at the end of the next quarter.
DeleteI love that quote. It is posted in the business where I take my car for oil changes. I always get a chuckle from it. I'm glad she didn't let him finish the paper!
ReplyDeleteThere are times when it is so apropos.
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