Okay, so what are you going to do about it?

One of my most beloved and dreaded times of the day is when a student comes up to me with some "emergency" that must be solved. I can spot them coming a mile away. As soon as there is one second of transition time between activities, and especially when they are supposed to be getting something out to turn-in, they make a bee-line directly to me from across the room. Their eyes have this strange glint in them and their jaw line is especially taught. Usually their shoulders are slumped and they look at me with this, "Oh my gosh. My life is so difficult" expression. Mostly, they are stressed because they don't have their assignment to turn in or they are not ready for the quiz. Each and every time, the ensuing (this week's vocab word...nice!) conversation usually goes something like this:

Student: reveals excuse for ___________ (see below for examples)
Mrs. McW (AKA me): Okay, so what are you going to do about it?
Student: I don't know, looking shocked that THEY would need to solve this problem, not me
Mrs. McW: What's your plan? How are you going to solve this?
Student: Um, uh...hmmm....maybe I could turn it in tomorrow.
Mrs. McW: Okay. It will be late, though.
Student: Hmmm...maybe I'll look for it one more time.
Mrs. McW: That sounds like a good idea.

The student NEVER FAILS to seem surprised that I will not come up with their solution for them. Do other teachers do that? When a kid tells you that they forgot that _______ was due today, do other teachers really tell them what to do about it?

Here are some of my favorite pleas:

• I forgot my stuff at school last night and couldn't do the assignment. (sorry, kid, that's just called being irresponsible)
• I didn't do it because my mom was at the hospital all weekend. (When asked if she was doing okay, the student told me that his mom was not the patient; his grandpa was and he's doing fine. The student never even went to the hospital.)
• My dog chewed it up. No, really, you can call my mom and ask her. (Just for giggles, I did call the mom and she verified the story...not sure if I really believed her, though)
• I think it's in my locker. (doi, use your hall pass, then)
• My math teacher made me put it away, so I didn't finish. (Are you supposed to work on other homework during math class? No. Shouldn't you have had this finished when you came to school this morning and not rushed through it during a different class? Yes.

Here's my all time favorite. You need a little background to understand this one.

On Friday, the 9th grade student asked if she could take the reading quiz the following week. She had been really busy with basketball the night before and didn't get home until 10:30pm. Feeling gracious and a little sorry for her busy life, I agreed to the extension. The VERY NEXT FRIDAY this conversation ensued (ha! I used it again!):

Student: Um. I had a band concert last night and a basketball game. I'm kind of behind on the reading. Do you think I could take the quiz next week?

Me: When did you know about the band concert?

Student: blank stare

Me: Was it scheduled a while ago, or was it a surprise to you that you had it last night?

Student: I guess I knew about a long time ago.

Me: Okay, how long have you known that you had to go to basketball last night?

Student: blank stare

Me: Was the game scheduled a while ago?

Student: Yeah, I guess.

Me: How long have you known that we have a quiz in here every Friday?

Student: A while ago. (ah, she's getting the hang of this)

Me: Uh huh. So none of it was a surprise. Do you think it's fair to have another extension?

Student: No, I guess not.

Me: Okay, go get ready for the quiz.

Call me callous, but I really believe that even--or especially--busy students need to figure this out. I was a CRAZY BUSY student during high school and had to figure out early on how to deal with it and manage my time. Maybe that's why I'm unsympathetic. I don't know. Either way, she did fine on the quiz.