Difficulties or Excuses?

Wednesday. The continuation high school. Computer aided drafting.

Wait. A subbing day...?

Yes, it is still technically summer. The first day of school is in about a week and a half. But the continuation high school starts early (mid-July), so this time of year there's always a chance that I might get to work. If something pops up, I grab it. 

I've covered this teacher's class many, many times, so I knew the drill. They had projects. (They work on Solidworks, completing various drafting activities.) They get their credit upon completion of the assignments, so if they goof around, it's only hurting their own graduation. 

Third period. Joey's task was to program a robot to "dance" to a song of his choice. 

Joey? He explained that he needed Mr. G's help. 

This happens all the time. I asked Joey if there was some way we could figure it out. He booted up the computer (which ran an old Windows because that's what the robot was connected to), and connected to the necessary software. The robot moved. But, as Joey attempted to add to the program, he could get nothing to "stick". Every movement he input disappeared as soon as he tried to get it to work. 

I am sure that we're missing something obvious. But as I'm unfamiliar with the software, I don't know what that obvious thing is. Sigh. 

I'm used to these students making excuses, so I try to push a bit. 

Sixth period. Two girls were "concerned" that I was "standing too close". I was just making sure they could log in. Then Elian had all sorts of excuses as to why Instagram was on his computer rather than the CAD software. 

I gave them time to get their music set up. But Elian was still not working. Why? He said he was done. 

On a Wednesday? 

Generally, the teacher gives an assignment for the week. Most of them slow walk it, finishing by Friday, maybe. The rest of the classes, it didn't look like the kiddos were doing much, but it was the kind of fiddly work that doesn't look like much. They were enlarging their screens to the point that they were looking very closely at detail. And making minute changes. 

I've watched kiddos work in this class before. That is the sort of thing I expect. 

Elian? Done? 

I mean, he could be. It's possible. But unlikely. 

But, if he doesn't complete the project, he doesn't get credit. It's his grade. 

I left a note that Elian said he was done. And I left it at that. 

If he's scrambling in May to get credits done, he can remember the goofing off he did in July. 

And now back to my summer vacation.