Avoiding the Final

For the last two days of the semester, I was covering a special ed co-teacher. She was going out of town for the holidays. Way out of town. Africa. So, not even on the same continent. 

For the first two finals of the day, I sat in the back of the room and watched them work. But for the third final, Mr. S had something for me to do. 

One accommodation that special ed students get for tests is to take the test in a different room. It helps some of them concentrate better. When there is a co-teacher, that teacher will take the students to that other room and remain. (And if there's a co-teacher, about 1/3rd of the class is designated special ed.)

Mr. S knew one of his students would want to test in the separate room. And, he decided that it would be better for all concerned if Lou was removed during the final as well. 

As I am well-acquainted with Lou, I saw the wisdom in that decision.

We went to the learning center. It's the room the special ed students can go to to get extra help on assignments. But, it was finals day, so anticipating a large number of students, the teachers in charge of the learning center that period sent us to the overflow room. (This was just a different classroom where the teacher didn't have class that period.) 

Once in the overflow room, I parked myself next to Lou. And... Well, he logged in. (The test was online.) He looked at the test. But he didn't touch it. Sigh.

I prodded. It was time to start. He didn't have that much time to work. He should get started.

(The other student with me worked well on her own on the other side of the room. I kept an eye on her, but she was fine.) 

Lou needed to "step out". (Technically it was a restroom break.) Hoping he'd come back ready to work, I allowed it.

But then he was gone for a long time. I kept waiting, and waiting, and waiting. 

Finally, he returned. He had a story about a member of the security staff "hassling" him. She told him to get back to class. I don't know why he didn't tell her that he was in the overflow learning center room. Instead, he tried to lose her, hid from her, and once he lost the tail, he returned.

At that point, there was maybe fifteen minutes left of class. I hoped rather than expected it would be enough time for Lou to finish. 

It turned out it was. But that's only because Lou quickly marked random answers on the test rather than actually doing it.

Five minutes later, Lou wanted to return to class. But that was a hard no. I asked Mr. S before we left, and he thought it would be better if Lou wasn't in class to disturb the other students.

Considering how Lou behaved during testing time, that was a wise choice.

(Lou was beyond caring. He said that he had an F in the class and that the final wasn't going to make a difference.)