A Day of Deadlines...

Don't roll your eyes. Today was another day where I was learning the balance.

I love drafting days for several reasons: first, I get to see student creativity - so fun; second, I get to see students put into practice what we have learned in class; last, I get to meander around the room, give feedback, and leave the learning to them at that point. Don't you love assessment time?

But it's also the time to become the MOST frustrated. To the student who - after 3 days of drafting - has still not picked a topic, I don't know what more to do. It's due tomorrow, kids! I mean, c'mon!

Then I start to feel guilty. I knew that student was behind, but I assumed after I talked with him about topics on the first day he actually picked one.

Not so.

So was that my fault? After I knelt at said student's desk for 5 minutes asking probing questions to help him choose a topic that would be personal to him, I decided that the student was not behind because of me. If I did any more for that student, I would actually be typing his project for him. But still - how do you not become frustrated at that point? How do you not become frustrated when the handfull of students you talked to the day before, saying, "You HAVE to work on this at home today or you will not be able to finish in time," come into class with nothing done. Still.

I'm realizing that, more often than not, students fail because they don't work and they don't try. Maybe they're scared. Maybe they're confused. Maybe they don't give a darn about their future at that moment because they're going to be an NBA star and NBA stars don't need to know how to write in complete sentences.

And I put my realization to the test. I made a list of students who need to work on our current i-Can statement because my last assignment to assess their progress showed me that they still weren't getting the concept of making inferences and using supportive evidence. Do you know how many of those students were failing my class? None. Most of them had C's, but the students who were failing had shown me that they understood the concepts. They just aren't doing work and have zeros across the board.

Gah.

But I'm getting better about avoiding the Death Eater lectures - no more booming voice and fierce eyes threatening students into submission. Nope. (I'd like to say I have never had those moments, but I have). Now, I'm just honest: "If you are not finished with your draft by the end of the day today, you are going to be in a lot of trouble with tomorrow's deadline," or "I hope you're planning on working on that at home tonight. You're going to need that extra time." Leave it at that. If they don't care, there's not a lot I can do to make them care (which goes to show you that leaving students in charge of picking their topic is not a surefire way to ensure student engagement. Just sayin).

Are the majority of my students ready for the deadline tomorrow. Oh yes. But as a teacher, I sorrow for the 3-4 individuals in every class that have a paragraph written and are probably going home to play video games all night. You few students - how can I reach you? You even decided to write about video games - something you know all too much about - and that's still not enough to get you to do the work.

I think I remember having this moment last term - the moment when I realized that 30+ students are failing my class simply because they're not turning in their work or using class time wisely.

Hmm...

I should just realize that the moments before a big deadline are going to be disappointing - but the time I spend assessing student progress will be much more rewarding. I cannot wait to read my little 7th grader's blog post about "How to Respect Teachers," or "How to make good friends," or the news article about "Taylor Lautner's Popularity" or the podcast about the "History of Batman." I'm so stoked.

Consider this deadline lesson learned.