As far as days go, today was fine....that is, until it wasn't.
Disaster struck somewhere between 1:05 and 1:07 when I was making my way back to my classroom from the computer lab and my student assistant who, so very young and naive and unschooled on the subject of rotten-to-the-core-9th-grade-boys-who-are-always-on-the-lookout-for-trouble, left a bunch of completed tests on my desk and my classroom door wide-open. Consequently, a whole class's worth of tests are missing for absolutely no good reason except it would be *funny* and terrifically inconvenient to 35 other people.
So, please take a second to close your eyes and envision yourself in my situation. Would you:
A) Excuse the test score for your entire 5th hour because it's not their fault the tests went missing.
B) Make them take the test again, but with some "I'm sorry you got screwed over" bribe, such as 5 bonus points or letting them take it home.
C) Make them take the test again with no "I'm sorry you got screwed over" bribe because life's a bitch, things get lost, shit happens, and best you all start learning that little life-lesson now.
D) Make up a bunch of grades based on what you know about your kids' abilities after teaching them for a full school year.*
E) Other.
*An actual suggestion presented to me by a veteran science teacher in my building. I hope he was kidding.
Seriously, I want to know.
Also, is it bloody-well over yet???
Disaster struck somewhere between 1:05 and 1:07 when I was making my way back to my classroom from the computer lab and my student assistant who, so very young and naive and unschooled on the subject of rotten-to-the-core-9th-grade-boys-who-are-always-on-the-lookout-for-trouble, left a bunch of completed tests on my desk and my classroom door wide-open. Consequently, a whole class's worth of tests are missing for absolutely no good reason except it would be *funny* and terrifically inconvenient to 35 other people.
So, please take a second to close your eyes and envision yourself in my situation. Would you:
A) Excuse the test score for your entire 5th hour because it's not their fault the tests went missing.
B) Make them take the test again, but with some "I'm sorry you got screwed over" bribe, such as 5 bonus points or letting them take it home.
C) Make them take the test again with no "I'm sorry you got screwed over" bribe because life's a bitch, things get lost, shit happens, and best you all start learning that little life-lesson now.
D) Make up a bunch of grades based on what you know about your kids' abilities after teaching them for a full school year.*
E) Other.
*An actual suggestion presented to me by a veteran science teacher in my building. I hope he was kidding.
Seriously, I want to know.
Also, is it bloody-well over yet???
Labels: demonic possession
4 Comments:
Oh God. I got an icky feeling in the pit of my stomach just thinking about it. I would probably choose B, if you can afford to take another day this close to the end. And maybe bribe them with a few extra credit points AND candy. For some reason, they always seem to appreciate the candy bribe more.
And hey, they'll *hopefully* do better on the test the second time, right? Yeesh.
Did it have to be someone in that class who stole the tests? Because if so, you could pull one of those "Unless the person returns them, you all get 30's" ultimatums. Do people do that kind of thing anymore? Does it work? Did it ever?
Clearly, I am no help. Sorry it happened, though.
I also think B's your best bet, since I'm assumming it'd probably be better for your students overall to have their grades based on more assignments and tests. What kind of test was it? Could you make them take it again, but make it open book so it's a little easier on them? I don't know!
Sorry! And remember, come Thursday Ramesh is going to make it all better. :)
Thanks everyone who offered advice. I'm still not positive what I'm going to do - most likely something in the vein of "B" - but I'm pretty sure that Wife's candy idea is a keeper, as most things go down better with a little sugar.
On the bright side, the tour company we're using to take the kids to Italy just gave me a bunch of money for no reason, so cosmic balance, ying-yang, and suddenly I'm smiling again.
(6 more days :)
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