Ninth grade just left. It really is a good thing that I have a whole period off every day after they leave. I need that time to recompose myself and to try to find beauty in the world again.
We've been learning about graphs of rational functions (crazy looking graphs that have multiple parts), and they've really exceeded my expectations. I thought it would be a huge struggle for them to understand this material, but it hasn't been. They had a quiz today, which I gave them very specific instructions for yesterday. I told them I would give them ONE rational equation, and that they would have to graph it. I said they would be doing it on a half sheet of paper, so they should make sure they have paper with them. I said that if they wanted to do it on graph paper, they could, or if they wanted to do it on loose leaf and draw the graph, that was fine too as long as the graph was neat. I told them to show all their work, especially since the whole quiz was only one problem. I told them that they had 10 minutes to complete the quiz and so they should be prepared and on time. I don't know what else I possibly could have told them short of giving them the actual equation that would be on the quiz.
They have a 10 minute break right before class every day. This is time to eat a snack if they're hungry, go to the bathroom, check in with teachers about any missing assignments, etc. There is a 2 minute warning bell before the end of the break, and students should head to class at that time.
Back to today. Quiz. 10 kids. The final bell rang. Two students walked in late, which for some bizarre reason is a regular occurrence. I told them to sit down and get ready for their quiz. I noticed that one student was rummaging around in my desk. I told her to please get away from my desk and return to her seat. Her answer was, "I need a ruler". Based on my history with this class, I assumed she was not the only one. So I asked the students, "Who needs a ruler? Raise your hand." Six hands went up. I went to my desk, took out six rulers, and passed them out. I saw several students with whole sheets of paper on their desk, so I reminded them to use a half sheet. Some students complained that they didn't have any paper, so I told them to get a half sheet from a friend. Then they whined that the paper wasn't torn in half nicely and they wanted a new half sheet. Ugh...
Two other students decided they needed a ruler, so I went back to my desk and handed them rulers too. One student realized she had left her calculator in my classroom yesterday and asked for it back, so I got that for her. Another student suddenly yelled, "OH NO! I FORGOT TO TURN IN MY HOMEWORK!" which, of course, was echoed by 3 or 4 others. So they all stampeded to the back of the room to turn in their homework, lest it be counted late. By the time they actually started the quiz, they had 4 minutes left of their allotted 10 minutes. I wrote the problem on the board, reminded them once again to graph the equation and to show all work. One student got up and started walking around the room. I asked where he was going, and he replied, "I need a pencil". They got a brief lecture on being prompt and prepared because they are, after all, in high school now, and I don't feel that it is wrong of me to expect them to be able to successfully complete basic tasks. They all said, "Yes, miss" and worked on their graph. I noticed that still THREE students were using a whole sheet of paper instead of a half sheet. I made them start over with a half sheet.
By that point, my hands were shaking from the frustration, and I was doing my best not to scream through gritting teeth at my precious little angels. In an effort to be nice, I generously gave them 2 extra minutes to work on their quiz, but even at the end of that time, nobody was finished.
So I made them turn in their quizzes anyways. They whined and complained about the injustice of it all. Five quizzes were turned in with no name on them. Two were turned in on full sheets of paper.
Tomorrow we will be trying this quiz again. I am giving them a second chance to be on time to class and to come prepared. We'll see how it goes, but I'm not holding my breath...
And oh yeah - they whined about having to do the quiz twice. Even though I'm pretty sure everyone failed today, they don't want to do the work again. One student even said, "But every time I do good on a quiz, you don't count it! This isn't FAAAAIR!!"
I've never once not counted a quiz grade.
*forehead palm slap*
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