When I extended the deadline for the sophs' short stories, I told them that they'd still have to hand in complete rough drafts on the Friday before Thanksgiving break.
"Okay!" they said, cheerfully.
Then, on that Friday, some of them convinced the sub that it would be okay to just show him their drafts and then take them home again. They were annoyed when I took one of their draft points away because of this.
"But the sub said!" they said.
"But I told you to hand in a complete rough draft."
"But that's confusing because we asked the sub!" they said.
"But I had already told you," I repeated. "I was very clear."
They appeared stumped, but I was finished explaining. Some other sophs have been pulling paper games like this one: "Oh, hey! I just realized I only printed half of my story! Can I bring just the rest tomorrow?!"
In ten years, I still don't know the right response to these types of ploys. Today, I told a kid I knew she was scamming me and felt trapped by the situation. She just shrugged and walked away.
2 comments:
They are pulling some hi jinx, but they wrote really nice podcast comments, so all is forgiven.
just found your blog. too fun! and this struck a chord with me because i work with younger kids mostly and even when they're young they're manipulators. AND they love to play authority figures against each other. i am convinced they know what they're doing and we absolutely should not let them get away with it. stick to your guns KC! stick to 'em!!!
quendy
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